Summer Reading Project, BookLikes Satellite

Michelle Lovric's The True and Splendid History of the Harristown Sisters is a dark tale. The seven Swiney sisters, born in poverty in rural Harristown, Ireland, spend their days fighting with each other. Black-haired Darcy, the eldest, has them all in fear of her temper and her fists. The brunette twins, Berenice and Enda, hate the mere sight of each other. Red-haired Manticory runs away to the fields to read and write in peace. The youngest three, blonde Oona and brunettes Pertilly and Ida, often get lost in the shuffle—though the sisters agree that Ida is not all she might be. Their mother insists that their father will return someday, but the Swiney sisters are gossiped about throughout the village because of their missing parent and because of their long, abundant hair. Manticory is our narrator as Darcy turns her family into a commercial empire before leading them into ruin in Venice. Lovric's tale is the kind that you know from the beginning will not end without trials and tribulations for everyone...

Read the rest of my review at Summer Reading Project.