Columbus Library

Although she has written short stories and essays, The Sisters is Jensen's first novel.  To me it seems more like a book of interconnected glimpses into the lives of generations of sisters, but that doesn't make it less interesting. There is a family tree diagram at the start of the book that helps you keep the characters straight.  Jensen covers a lot of ground, starting in 1927 with sisters Bertie and Mabel in Juniper, Kentucky and ending up in 2007 with their great-granddaughters. Bertie's and Mabel's mother died giving birth to their step-father Jim Butcher's stillborn son in 1922.  This left the two girls alone with the abusive man.  The girls were very close and devoted to each other, with Mabel acting as a surrogate mother to Bertie, who was five years younger.  At fourteen, Mabel became the victim of her step-father's sexual assaults, which she endured to protect Bertie.  When Bertie was getting ready to graduate from eighth grade, Mabel realized Butcher was planning to do the same thing to Bertie, so she hatched a plan to save them both.  Unfortunately, there was a missed connection and the two never saw each other again.  Bertie married and had children.  Mabel took another course, but never stopped wishing to find Bertie, sending letters that Bertie received but never opened.  Bertie's two girls were not very close, and were not alike in how they viewed the world.  One daughter, Rainey, also had two daughters who repeated this unhappy pattern of her mother's.  Mabel, on the other hand, had an adopted daughter, who she had actually stolen from an abusive father, who gave her joy and contentment throughout her life.  Through eighty years, the story of the Fischer women is filled with sadness, bad choices and missed connections.  The book makes you wish for a happier ending for these strong women.