My Sister, Esther

Caroline Mack is a librarian in Beckenham, Kent, England.

Martha Baillie’s first novel is about the complexities of family
relationships and the enduring effects of childhood events.

Baillie skilfully evokes the unhappy childhood of sisters Esther and
Muriel—life with an ineffective mother and a bullying, self-centred
father. The sisters themselves have a love-hate relationship. As they
reach adulthood, Esther withdraws into anorexia and self-mutilation;
Muriel restlessly roams the world, unable to settle or form a lasting
relationship.

The failure of this novel to resolve many of the questions it raises is
redeemed in part by the lyric quality of Baillie’s prose.