The best sibling relationships in books

In Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility, the Dashwood sisters are left financially vulnerable after their father passes away and leaves the family estate to his son from his first marriage. Elinor, Marianne, and Margaret, along with their mother, are forced to leave their home and stay with distant relatives, setting off a series of distinctly Austenian adventures and misadventures as they search for love, stability, and security. Throughout it all, the sisters shape one another and show that in life, love, and family we all need a healthy balance of sense (Elinor) and sensibility (Marianne) to thrive. (Side note, I always thought it would be fun to write a queer reimagining of the novel from Margaret’s perspective and have her fall in love with a woman.) 

There’s a reason this classic is included on so many lists of the top books about sisterhood. Little Women follows the four March sisters – Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy – and their mother as they navigate life in Massachusetts while their father serves as chaplain for the Union Army during the American Civil War. A coming-of-age story told mostly from the perspective of Jo, a quick-witted tomboy who defies the limitations and expectations placed on women at the time and dreams of becoming a writer. The novel tenderly captures the love, loyalty, rivalry, and endurance of sisterhood. It is also a reminder that regardless of historic circumstance, birth order matters and siblings have an enormous influence on who we become.

In another semi-autobiographical novel about siblinghood, George Eliot’s The Mill on The Floss brings us a story about the complicated bond between a brother and sister. Set along the banks of the river Floss in rural Lincolnshire in the early nineteenth century, the novel follows Maggie and Tom Tulliver. Deeply connected as children, their bond is tested as they come of age and grow more different in temperament and how they chose to live their lives. As in many real life stories of family, the tensions seem impossible to resolve, until an unexpected tragedy puts everything into perspective.

Anytime I pick up a novel by Charlotte Mendelson, I know I’m in for a juicy family drama. In The Exhibitionist, the Hanrahan siblings gather for the weekend to celebrate their father’s latest art exhibit. Leah is her father’s loyal champion, Patrick strives for his own selfhood, and Jess faces an important decision that could change the course of her life. In the end, though, their mother has the power to upstage them all – a reminder of the burden and blessing of siblings when it comes to managing our parents. 

The three siblings of The Connellys of County Down had a difficult upbringing, but the challenges they face now as adults are the real test. Tara, recently released from prison for drugs, returns home determined to get her life together even as the detective who arrested her keeps popping up in unexpected places. Her brother, Eddie, a single father, struggles with the impact of a traumatic brain injury from years earlier. Meanwhile, their sister, Geraldine, holds secrets that threaten to unravel her life at any moment. A longing for love, forgiveness, and healing radiates throughout the novel. I’m all for a story about second chances – for a person, a couple, a family – and this one delivers all that and more. 

If you’re more interested in stories of chosen families, Maeve Binchy’s Circle of Friends is for you. The novel traces the friendship between two young women – Benny and Eve – as they attend university in Dublin in the mid- twentieth century and negotiate the arrival of new friends, lovers, and ideas about class, politics, and culture for the first time. An important reminder that friendship can be its own form of sisterhood.

The three Ryan sisters are all together at their family's Long Island house for the first time in years. Each brings with them a secret. Cait still feels guilty for her role in a boat accident two decades earlier, an accident that drove their brother to suicide. Alice's career, and marriage, are under threat. And Maggie is finally bringing the woman she loves home to meet her devoutly Catholic mother. As they prepare for Thanksgiving dinner, old tensions boil over and new truths surface.