Literary Sisters

With 3 sisters of my own, the portrayal of sisters in literature is something I've always found interesting. Here are a few of my top literary sisters:

The Marches, Little Women: It's hard not to adore Louisa May Allcott's Little Women, arguably the most loving of all these sets of sisters. At times they seem like a family unit within themseleves, with Meg acting as a mum and Jo as a dad. They all play their parts as sisters well, Meg as the responsible eldest sister, Jo the outgoing, loud yet fiercly protective one, Beth quiet, caring, shy (and sickly) and Amy the spoilt youngest. (This is in no way a metaphor for me and my sisters...)

I still have the same hair and love of peter pan collars...
 

Elizabeth and Jessica Wakefield, The Sweet Valley Twins: Elizabeth and Jessica, despite being twins, are complete opposites. Elizabeth bookish, academic and career-minded, whilst Jessica thinks mainly about boys, clothes and being popular. In spite of their differences and some sibling rivalry, deep down they're the best of friends and are always there for each other through various scrapes they seem to get themselves into. Undoubtably the series, which according to Wikipedia spans over 100 books, is pure cheese but it remains a classic for millions of girls of the late 80s and 90s. Myself included.

The Lisbons, The Virgin Suicides: Shown only through the eyes of the boys who loved them, at first sight the Lisbon sisters seem like your average group of siblings. But as one by one they commit suicide it quickly becomes apparent that all is not as it seems. Quite what drives them each to end their lives remains unknown. However, despite what must be a deep rooted unhappiness in each of them, perhaps somewhat due the strict ruling of their parents, the strong ties of sisterhood remain, each keeping the others secrets and perhaps even to some extent all commiting suicide as some sort of unspoken pact.

Cecilia and Briony Tallis, Atonement: As the novel opens, Cecilia and Briony are shown to have a stereotypical relationship where the younger looks up to the older one. However, this doesn't last long and over the course of one evening their relationship changes beyond repair. Through Briony's young imagination and foolish lies she condemns both Cecelia, and esentially also herself, to a life of unhappiness and regret. As the story unravels it becomes clear that no amount of repentence can repair the damage done be the 11 year old Briony. Although she does give Cecelia the happy ending that she so tragically stole from her in 'real-life', it's all too little too late and the Tallis family is torn apart forever.

Running with the Christmas themed photos.

Five Fictional Friends

Whilst reading I often decide I either want to be or want to befriend characters. Were they real, of course!

Here are just a few on my list: 

Elizabeth Bennet - Pride and Prejudice: We could go for walks, talk books and she could introduce me to Mr Darcy's rich friends. Perfection.

Emma Morley - One Day: In spite of her many flaws, Emma Morley is one of my favourite characters of all time. There are certain similarities between myself and her: both aspiring writers, share a love of literature, Scrabble and France. My real-life best friend even joked on seeing the film that they could have based the character on me. However, the same is likely to be said by millions of women around the world. For these reasons, were she a real person I would happily attempt to befriend her. Perhaps ever so slightly narcissistic of me.

Bernard - Not Now Bernard: Nobody has any time for little Bernard. Not only does he deserve a friend but also a protector from monsters.

Marty - The Woodlanders: In true Hardy style, life is tough for poor Marty. During the course of the novel she loses a tree, her hair, her father, her home, her job and the love of her life. I reckon she could do with a friend.

Neville Longbottom - Harry Potter: By the final book Neville had gone from geeky classmate to unlikely hero. Definitely someone worth having around, even if just to kill Basalisks.