A Sister in My House

Using spare prose and keen insight, Olsson (Astrid & Veronika) explores how two estranged sisters come together and face difficult elements of their shared past. Maria, the narrator, lives in the small Spanish town of Cadequés, where she had planned to move with her lover, Maya, from nearby Barcelona, until Maya died in a car accident. Nearly a year after the accident, Maria’s younger half-sister, Emma, comes to visit, accepting an invitation made two years prior at their mother’s funeral. Their relationship has numerous complications, including the fact that Emma’s husband, Olof, who has just left her, was Maria’s boyfriend and lover first. As each day passes, the sisters, awkward at first, become more comfortable in each other’s company; they reveal their darkest secrets and enlighten one another about their disparate perceptions of their troubled childhoods and who they have become as adults. The sisters’ relationship is ultimately (and satisfyingly) transformed, as are their self-understandings, clarified by the outside perspectives they give each other. While the author solidly explores each sister’s distinct arc, an underlying lack of heart and depth undermines the power of the story. (Apr.)