My Brilliant Sister

by Amy Brown

While Stella Miles Franklin took on the world, her beloved sister Linda led a short, domestic life as a wife, mother and sister. In a remarkable, genre-bending debut novel Amy Brown thrillingly reimagines those two lives – and her own – to explore and explode the contradictions embedded in brilliant careers and a woman’s place in the world. Sliding Doors meets Wifedom .Stella Miles Franklin’s autobiographical novel My Brilliant Career launched one of the most famous names in Australian letters. Funny, bold, often biting about its characters, the novel and its young author had a lot in common. Miles went on to live a large, fiercely independent and bohemian life of travel, art and freedom. Not so her beloved sister Linda. Quiet, contained, conventional, Linda was an inversion of Stella. A family peacemaker who married the man Stella would not, bore a son and died of pneumonia at 25. In this reflective, witty and revealing novel, Amy Brown rescues Linda, setting her in counterpoint with Stella, and with the lives of two contemporary Ida, a writer whose writing life is on hold as she teaches and raises her young daughter; and Stella, a singer-songwriter who has sacrificed everything for a career, now forcibly put on hold. Binding the two is the novella that Linda might have written to her sister Stella – a brilliant alternative vision of My Brilliant Career . Innovative and involving, My Brilliant Sister is an utterly convincing (and hilarious) portrait of Miles Franklin and a moving, nuanced exploration of the balance women still have to strike between careers and family lives. It gives a fresh take on one of Australia’s most celebrated writers and an insight into life now.

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Audiobook, Australia, Feminism, Literary Fiction, Contemporary

272 pages, Paperback

First published January 31, 2024

Reviews

[Gumble's Yard - Golden Reviewer · Rating 5 out of 5]

The last period of the day is free and I use it to prepare literature lessons. We are analysing chapter six of My Brilliant Care, Revolt'. The heroine, Sybylla (who is not Franklin herself, I will remind the class, but is reminiscent of her), fights with her mother. The family is poor, and as the eldest sibling, Sybylla could be earning her keep. But she has no feminine skills whatsoever; she doesn't sew or cook, she loathes the notion of teaching, and she refuses to marry. In contrast, her younger sister Gertie is demure and dutiful. 'I am capable,' Sybylla declares, of more depths of agony and more exquisite heights of joy in one day than Gertie will experience in her whole life. The arrogance of this sentence propels me along the corridor to my bedside table to retrieve the biography and letters, to read about the real Gertie, Franklin's sister, Ida, nearly two years her junior. Ida was for some reason known as Linda.

In Melbourne for business, on what I discovered was the day before the Stella Prize longlist announcement I decided to visit a large branch of chain bookshop (Dymocks) and (having eventually found their significant Australian fiction section having initially despaired at the apparent dominance of UK and US books in their stock) decided to buy some books with the key criteria being: female author, book featured either on best of 2023 or books to look out for in 2024 lists and unavailable in the UK.

This 2004 published book featured all three criteria (although will not be eligible for the Stella Prize until 2025 as the prize works off a retrospective calendar year – and possibly as the author is from New Zealand living in Australia for a number of years).

However it is very closely fitted to the Stella Prize as its effectively an autofictional/historical fictional biography/contemporary fiction triptych all based around Stella Maria Sarah Miles Franklin – who has given her name to two of Australia’s big national literary prizes (her real first name to one, her chosen pen name based on her fourth name and surname to another) and is famous, at least in Australia, for her classic and widely-studied-in-schools 1901 heavily autofictional novel “My Brilliant Career”.

As an aside I don’t think it is necessary to read that novel to appreciate this book but I would recommend – looking up some details of Franklin’s biography (particularly also her differences from her sister Linda/Ida), reading a plot summary of her classic novel and buying a copy for occasional reference (as a out of copyright classic its available for close to nothing on Kindle for example).

The autofictional section is a first person account by Ida – a New Zealand academic she met her Australian partner at University in Wellington, before the latter took a more prestigious job at a University in Melbourne.

Their relationship is a very literary one – they argue over his love of Sebald, she dreams at one stage that he marries Rachel Cusk. She now juggles bringing up their young daughter with a job teaching English language at a school. The section is set largely in different parts of lockdown and Ida gets increasingly aware that while her husband is still acting as an academic her own world has contracted – resorting to remembering Claire Louise Bennett’s “Pond” while making a stir fry. These aspects of this section made it really enjoyable for me to read.

We walk the rest of the way silently, each, I assume, thinking about our work. He is currently a cultural theorist, having been a poet, literary critic, and philosopher. I am currently a schoolteacher, having been a poet and a university tutor in English literature.

At the same time while taking her class through the set text of “My Brilliant Career” and reading around the text – she is drawn to the character of Linda and the way in which she accepted a path of domesticity which her sister appears (at least via her fictional avatar) to despise – and this – plus some thinking time when she has pneumonia and her husband has little choice but to take over child care and domestic tasks - leads her to re-assert her own needs. As some other reviews have noted with perhaps with a little too-good-to-be-true success to as her husband starts to re-engage with her as an intellectual equal and allows her time and space to pursue her own writing – an imagined version of Linda Franklin (with elements of both Ida herself, and Gertie from “My Brilliant Career” merged in).

The lengthy middle section of the novel is I think best thought of as Ida’s works – the thoughts of Linda, travelling with her husband and young child to a new home, away from her own mother and where she grew up, addressed to her sister Stella, now a famous author living in America. Through her thoughts she looks back on their upbringing and life – on Stella’s attitude and arrogance but particular on how she herself feels about the choices she has made to take on marriage and motherhood and at what points she could have taken a different decision. This section, despite my limited knowledge of either Stella or her novel, was very engaging if feeling at times like rather conventional fictionalised historical biography.

The final section features a famous pop singer – Miles (birth name Stella, her stage name a deliberate nod to the novelist Franklin) visiting her family’s old beach house in New Zealand during lockdown. Over time we realise that the normally London based Miles has had a brief affair just ahead of lockdown with her bass player, who is in a more permanent relationship with one of Miles’s rivals (an even more famous singer). The affair causes Stella/Miles reflects on her choice to have rejected any form of attachment and permanent relationship (particularly marriage and children) and instead focus on her artistic career and a life of abandonment.

I must admit I found this section the least engrossing of the novel – the central character did not really interest me and the narrative drifted a little too much for me… but then I realised this reflected my own bias in the lifestyle choices and characters of Miles (and the historical Stella) compared to Ida (and historical Linda) which lie at the very heart of the novel’s conceit.

The links between the books are (sorry for the pun) brilliant. In the middle section we read of Linda and Stella’s younger daughter (whose character is something of a blend of theirs but who dies of pneumonia – and pneumonia features in both the other stories. Various other details of the historical Linda and Stella’s life are reflected in the modern day Ida and Miles’s stories (although I am sure I missed many). Both modern sections open with an almost identical swimming scene, both have side characters who at the least share the same name and who may even be the same person etc (I am sure I missed on a first read may links between the two modern sections which would be more obvious on a second read).

And perhaps strongest of all each character concludes their section by imagining a twin absorbed in utero and then imagining what their sister’s life may have been – and both effectively imagine each other and a zoom conversation between them as each silently evaluates the other’s life choices (domesticity versus bohemia).

Overall I thought this was an excellent novel – highly recommended. If the author is eligible this must be a strong Stella Prize and Miles Franklin Prize contender.

[Bianca · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

I almost DNF this, but other readers convinced me to keep going.

My Brilliant Sister is a genre-bending novel, made up of three stories. It starts with the story of Ida, a Kiwi who moved to Melbourne with her husband, a writer, and their young daughter. Ida is stressed, working as a high school English teacher during the pandemic no less, in a city which frequently locked down. Juggling a demanding job, a young child and a household doesn't allow for much time to do what one wants - writing a novel and/or trying to get a position as an academic. She's resentful of her husband, whose life is smooth, he's unencumbered by domestic mundanities, carving many hours to do his thing. Besides, he unilaterally decided that the family should move to Melbourne.

The second and longest part is a fictionalised account of Stella Miles Franklin's sister, who by all accounts was nowhere near as passionate, restless, and challenging as her older, famous writer sister, who wrote My Brilliant Career a famous, autofiction novel that is still studied in Australian schools today. (I'm yet to read it, although I have a copy on my bookshelf). Via letters to her sister, Linda paints a picture of accepting domesticity and one's diminished role. Fair or not, this longer account got boring to me after a while, so I considered abandoning the audiobook.

The last part is about Stella, a famous musician from New Zealand, who's dealing with the loss of a relationship with a band member and finds herself alone and lonely.
There's a price for everything, every choice has a consequence. Domesticity, motherhood, and careers seem to collide, pull and push. How many of our choices are free will? Are there people with no regrets, people who wondered about paths not taken?

My Brilliant Sister is an excellent debut novel that showcases Brown's writing skills. I'm looking forward to reading her next book.

[Claire · Rating 4 out of 5]

Clever, inventive storytelling in this book which is both closely and loosely inspired by the life of Australian author Stella Miles Franklin, and her book My Brilliant Career. Brown constructs three separate, but parallel narratives about women adjacent in some way to Miles Franklin and/or her novel. These stories also bear parallels to the themes of her novel, and the questions a study of her life might raise. Importantly this is a novel that asks about the tension between expectation and desire, the weight of motherhood, and whether anyone truly lives without regret about paths untraveled. I found it super immersive and very thoughtfully executed.

[Daniella · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5

Not something that I usually read but I'm glad I gave it a go! As someone who hasn't read My Brilliant Career I think this does stand up on its own, but you would probably get more out of it if you'd read that before going into this.

Fun to see the author playing with tone and voice across the three parts, and how they connected. Themes of motherhood, gender roles and family running throughout.

Overall a really solid read that I would recommend to anyone looking for a unique mix of contemporary and historical fiction.

[Nicki · Rating 1 out of 5]

Had NFI what was going on.

[Theresa Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an interesting novel in terms of structure. It’s pretty much three novellas more than one novel, to my mind, connected by theme rather than character or plot. In the first one, we meet Ida, a young mother who has moved to Melbourne for her partner’s career. Her career is on the backburner while she mothers and manages the bulk of the domestic duties while juggling a teaching job throughout the Covid pandemic. She feels stranded within her own life, so far from her own mother who is back home in New Zealand, her friends which are also back home, devoting time and energy to a job that is not her passion, but which pays the bills, while her husband devotes endless spare time to his passion, shirking domestic duties and reaping all of the benefits of the unpaid domestic and emotional labour of his partner. This was all too familiar.

In the final one – and I know I’m jumping ahead here – we meet Stella, stage name Miles, a singer from New Zealand who is hunkering down back home through the Covid pandemic, suffering a broken heart, and a career crisis. She’s taking time to find herself but appears to be just getting more lost in herself in the process. Contemplating her life against that of her best friend, childless by choice for her career while her best friend has a daughter, a partner, a home, all the trappings. This put me in mind of the whole notion that women always have to choose, that unlike men, society is not structured for us to have it all. We always have to choose. This or that. There is always a sacrifice.

Which brings me to the middle one. The bridge between the two, even though none of the characters in each of the sections intersect. This bridge is a letter, or a diary perhaps, written by Linda Franklin, to her sister Stella Miles Franklin. In it, she shakes out her childhood, her adolescence, her early adulthood, and contrasts it to that of her sister. The compliant second daughter, the homemaker, the delicate one, the one who trod the expected path in comparison to the older, brasher, independent sister. In this piece of writing, Linda seems to know instinctively that she is at the end of her life, despite only being in her mid-twenties and a new mother. It’s like the diary/letter is a bold goodbye, a statement of what could have been, a desperate last-minute plea to been seen. I really liked it and found it quite moving.

The middle section has nothing to do with New Zealand but the first and third ones do. In the first, the protagonist is missing her home, Australia just that bit too different from home. In the third, the protagonist is reluctant to leave New Zealand again now that she has been back again and forced to remain on account of the pandemic. She feels that much has become unfamiliar about her home and she seeks a reconnection with the place. The author is New Zealand born but lives in Melbourne now. I felt an infusion of the personal into these two characters.

‘Rain, I am learning, is revered in this country. We don’t have the same relationship with water in New Zealand. Nor with fire. He was pleased to be leaving the earthquake-prone capital, and feels safer in Melbourne, away from fault lines. But there are other dangers.’

I really enjoyed this novel. There was so much within it to contemplate. Highly recommended.

Thanks to the publisher for the review copy.

Book three of #AYearofNZLit.

[Meg · Rating 5 out of 5]

I devoured this book almost entirely in a single day, and it was one of the most delightful days of my year so far. The delicacy with which this intricate tale is woven together, the clever use of narrative structure, the warmth and relatability of the characters and the fascinating insights into a well known historical figure and her lesser known sister made this a joy to read. I would thoroughly recommend this book, and as a teacher, I’d also recommend it as great supplementary reading to any Year 12s studying My Brilliant Career this year.

[Lizzie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read Miles Franklins 'My Brilliant Career' when I was 28 and freshly back in Australia. It would have resonated with my thoughts at that time on 'what next' for the trajectory of my life and I remember loving it. I often think about re reading books that I LOVED but I don't for the fear that I won't like it as much at a different point in my life. Reading 'My Brilliant Sister' almost confirmed that for me because while a lot of of it is from the point of view of Franklin's Sister, it doesn't paint Stella Miles Franklin in a very gracious light.
This book hits on a lot of those same themes of women questioning marriage, motherhood and what is expected of women. The parallels between the three women/parts of the book were very beautifully written and not immediately obvious (to me at least). The discontent and anger at societal expectations, and by being let down by those who had expectations for them in their lives.
After being in Melbourne for the first year of the pandemic in 2020, the first third of the book triggered memories that I must have pushed away somewhere else in my brain. But almost because of the relatability of Ida's feelings, I think the first third was my favourite of the book.
Amy Brown writes beautifully and there were so many parts that I wanted to highlight but couldn't because it was a library book. I feel like this book would be even better on a second read because you would have the point of view of all the women at once when reading.

[Tilly Spro · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well written, however, a bit too cerebral for my present desire to avoid unpicking things.
Part 3 Stella: my life right now feels like I’m sitting alone on a seesaw, making myself bounce up and down to appear independently happy. Really, my knee is sore and I’m lonely. I know the answer is to swap to the swing instead, or dig in the sandpit ❤️

[Rina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Inspired by Stella Miles Franklin’s autobiographical novel My Brilliant Career, this book instead zoomed in on Miles’ quiet, contained and conventional beloved sister, Linda. This alternative version of My Brilliant Career was wedged between two contemporary stories about Ida, a writer whose writing life was on hold as she taught and raised her young daughter; and Stella, a singer-songwriter who had sacrificed everything for a career, now forcibly put on hold. This novel provided nuanced exploration of the balance women still had to strike between careers and family lives.

I don’t know what I was expecting, but it definitely wasn’t a collection of three Stella Miles Franklin-themed novellas that it was. If you know me, you know short stories/novellas and I don’t usually gel - but surprisingly, I didn’t mind this one at all.

‘Ida’ was my favourite part, as it was modern and totally relatable. Not surprising as I’m guessing it was the auto-fiction part of the book that drew similarities to Amy Brown’s personal life situations.

‘Stillwater’ was quite entertaining, as it provided a cheeky response to Stella’s depiction of her supposedly meek and plain sister, Linda. I could definitely appreciate the sarcasm in this part.

‘Stella’ unfortunately didn’t really hold my attention. Supposedly the edgiest part of the book, with Stella’s life re-imagined in modern setting, I was surprised to find that I didn’t relate to her at all. I guess by this point, I had had enough of her point of view, either as analysed by Ida in the first part, or responded to by Linda in the second part, so I felt like there was nothing left of her I wanted to know more of.

My personal preference for reading sequence would probably be Stella first, followed by Stillwater, then Ida last 😄, but that’s just me. What was extra interesting for me was the amount of notes I had (that made up this review). I never knew an autofiction could be so interesting to analyse.

(Thanks to Simon & Schuster Australia for a gifted copy in exchange for an honest review)

See my bookstagram review.

[Kayla (Kiki) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Amy Brown's debut novel 'My Brilliant Sister' is an innovative wonder that encapsulates sisterhood in its many forms. Rating: 3.5/5

The novel features three storytellers which weave together a heartwarming and connected production. We first meet Ida, who is a teacher and young mother in the midst of the COVID pandemic. When Ida begins to write again, she begins to think of Stella Miles Franklin's autobiographical novel My Brilliant Career and her unknown and provincial sister Linda. We then get to know Linda through the author's imagining of her childhood and experience in contrast to Stella's in My Brilliant Career. We also meet a contemporary Stella who is a musician in personal and professional limbo due to the pandemic.

When I started reading, I wasn't really sure what this book was going to be but I am glad that I stuck with it past my discomfort as upon finishing the novel, I could see how the parts fit together and what Amy achieved. This is a novel about sisterhood (conventional and found), while examining wider discussion about changing societal values of womens roles in the world, and the more contemporary dilemma of children versus career. This book is so unique because it blends classical fiction with contemporary fiction, and it works. I fell in love with Linda through the mundanity of her life, and enjoyed getting to know both Stella and Ida. For fans of Wifedom, you will love this.

[Alice · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a beautiful and thoughtful book. I savoured every sentence and felt really impacted by the uniqueness yet universality of the experiences of our three heroines. More lyrical and layered than Anna Funder's 'Wifedom', Amy Brown's debut novel offers an array of textures that I know I'll continue to mull over for a long time to come.

[Kanako Okiron · Rating 2 out of 5]

Might have helped if I knew who Miles and Stella Franklin were. Do your research!!!!

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is divided into 3 stories. The first is the story of Ida, a teacher who wants to be a writer, surviving the COVID lockdown with her husband and small child. The second is the imagined story of Linda, the real-life sister of Miles Franklin (who was known as Ida within her family) who lived practically and creatively in the shadow of her strong willed and famous sister. The third story is about Stella (which is also Miles Franklin's first name), a famous musician who is feeling isolated and adrift in NZ during the pandemic.

When I first finished this book, I wanted to give it 2 stars as I was feeling negative overall - I was not at all engaged with the last story as I couldn't relate to the protagonist and her views on child rearing and marriage, although it is reflective of Miles Franklin's attitude - I skimmed through this story. However, on reflection, I thoroughly enjoyed the first section and the writing style, and could relate to the mother's struggles with juggling a relationship, work and a small child. I appreciated that Ida had gripes with her husband's contribution to their domestic responsibilities, but she raised those issues with her partner and they reached a resolution of sorts - maybe not an equal division of responsibilities but progress that allowed Ida to pursue her desire to write.

I also enjoyed the second story of Linda, and I'm sure my enjoyment of this section was enhanced by the fact that I was listening to the audiobook of Miles Franklin's My Brilliant Career around the same time, so I was getting Miles' perspective on the stories that Linda was telling. Although this section dragged a little towards the end, I still enjoyed it, and like the first story, the writing style was very readable (compared to the third story).

Overall, I feel like this book takes a relatively negative attitude towards marriage and child rearing, and I was left with the impression that the author considers 'traditional' concepts of marriage and children as only hard work with little joy. I don't disagree that marriage and parenting is hard work - all relationships are hard work because we are all individuals. But there are rewards to be had if there is love, friendship and compromise, and a bit of yelling and disagreement from time to time. While I appreciate that many find themselves in loveless or abusive relationships, I felt like this book didn't explore the good to be had in family relationships - except maybe in the first story.

The best thing about this book is that it encouraged me to listen to the audiobook of My Brilliant Career - I can't remember if I've read it before but I absolutely loved it this time :)

[Francesca Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

My Brilliant Sister questions whether women can have it all. It asks what makes a good life? What makes a worthy life?
l
These questions resonate through the viewpoints of three strong female voices and their subtly interlinked story lines.


The second viewpoint narrated by Linda, Stella Miles Franklin's younger and “traditional” sister. She describes herself as both a hare and a hound. At once stifled by traditional expectations and a desire for change, Linda encourages all the women in her life to go and vote on her wedding day. I loved how this voice described the domestic, and at once questioned whether a good life had to be a grand life, as well as called out her sister for minimising her life on paper to being that of 'Gertie'.

The third viewpoint is that of Stella, a superstar musician who is living out COVID lockdown in her hometown, and having a mid life crisis. This modern Stella is supposed to be the modern day reincarnation of Stella Miles Franklin, however I feel that this is the voice that missed the mark and was disingenuous. It had the opportunity to really delve into a woman's viewpoint and choice to pursue a career over a family (not just children but significant other's) but this was an undertone of her story. This third viewpoint, whilst it had moments of clarity and there were scattered lines of beautiful prose that resonated with me, overall felt clumsy and stiff.

As a whole, this story resonated with me in its ability to link both the past and present expectations of society on women. It shows how far we have come, but also renders clearly the sacrafices that come with this progression.

[Megan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a shadow novel to My Brilliant Career. Three essays from three perspectives examining how our choices in life rely in part on the choices of others. In My Brilliant Career Sybylla/Stella resists societal boundaries, leaving Gertie/Ida(known as Linda) to feel she must be the Good Girl by comparison. This book considers Linda’s life.

My experience of the book is impacted by my expectations. I thought it would be a dual narrative between a present time character and Linda Franklin. Instead it’s a triptych: Ida in the present day reflecting on a similar life choice as 1890s Linda, a historical
Fiction rendering of Linda’s life and then a third section about Stella a musician (stage name Miles) reflecting on her own choices to step away from the expected path.

It’s the third section that didn’t do it for me. I feel I would’ve rated this book much higher if we returned to Ida’s story - even though I get, in principle, the balance of the triptych.

And as a person quite obsessed with My Brilliant Career I wasn’t bought into the shadow side.

Beautiful writing though.

[what_amanda_read · Rating 3 out of 5]

After her autobiographical novel My Brilliant Career made Stella Miles Franklin famous, she led a bohemian life. Not so her sister Linda, who accepted a path of marriage, motherhood, domesticity, and died at the young age of twenty-five.

In this novel, the author rescues Linda from obscurity, placing her story alongside two modern counterparts: a mother who has put her writing on hold while she works and raises her daughter; and a singer-songwriter who has sacrificed everything for fame but is now unravelling, isolated by the sea.

Written in three distinct parts, this is an intelligent, innovative, illuminating exploration of the balance women are still compelled to strike between their work, their families, their dreams, and ambitions.

"Of course, I've no brilliant career to speak of, but I'm nonetheless harbouring an egotistical wish to share with you a story all about myself, which in turn must be a story about you, dearest, for I believe we're parts of each other...."

[Caren · Rating 1 out of 5]

(DNF) Into the third section of the novel, forty pages from the end, I stopped reading. What the author had intended with her three-part narrative unfortunately missed its mark with me. Brown portrayed the personal struggle of three women for their identity in a world that pulled them between domestic obligation and personal fulfilment. This much I understood. The 2nd section, written from the perspective of Stella Miles Franklin’s sister, certainly projected a woman who felt inferior to the bohemian lifestyle of her celebrated sister. The two modern women, whose struggles bookended that of the Franklin sister, were less clear to me, especially that of the songwriter, whose story utterly confused me. With disappointment, I gave up.

[Suz Bennett]

This novel is more like three novellas under one theme that of career choices and what they cost you. Definitely talking to women more than men and what happens when you marry and have children and the difficulties of making a career when you have home responsibilities.
Miles Franklin saw her choice to be an author as preventing marriage and family. Women have been trying to work out a way to have both ever since her time. The portrayal of her sister seems very bleak. Though true to her story as she did die.
Is it well-written? Probably my fault for expecting it to be about Miles Franklins sister and getting lost in the telling. I found the third part about another Stella who called herself Miles as confusing as Stella was confused.

[Pauline · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first two sections of this book really grabbed me, the third section less so. Told from the perspective of Ida (One), Linda Franklin (Two) and Stella (Three) Brown has placed the story of Miles Franklin's unknown sister alongside two modern counterparts: a mother (Ida) who has put her writing on hold to care for her daughter and Stella, a singer/song writer who has sought and found stardom but is left feeling isolated and alone. Brown brings all three women alive and imagines an alternative view of Franklin's My Brilliant Career while focusing on the choices women are forced to make and the impact these have on their lives. Really interesting and enjoyable read.

[Ruth Lorraine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Written in 3 voices this is a modern day comment on Miles Franklin. The first voice is set in Melbourne based on a girl who has moved from NZ with her young child and her husband has been employed by a Melbourne uni. This is in time of covid and she gains employment as a teacher. The second voice is Miles' younger sister who lives up to parental and societal expectations of the day at the expense of her own ambitions. The 3rd is a modern day Stella who is a well known musician living her own way!

[Peter Mathews · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the first section, which focused on Ida. The book seemed to run out of steam with the depictions of Linda Franklin (sister of the famous writer Miles) in the second and the contemporary musician Stella (who goes by the stage name of "Miles"), both of which are rather predictable and thus lack any of the suspense that marks the beginning of the book.

[Fofo · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just fine I guess? It started off on a clever premise but meh I didn't feel like it was grounded in any sense. Some pretty pedestrian observations and themes around expectations of women through the ages. If I had to pick the best in the genre it would be Wifedom by Anna Funder - much better researched and able to draw the reader in.

[Janie Hoogesteger · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think this is supposed to be three different perspectives on the same life but the third makes absolutely no sense. I’m about 10 pages from being done and I still feel like shutting the book.
The stories are obviously not linear, but there’s nothing tying them together either. I’m just super confused.

[Cosied · Rating 3 out of 5]

Three separate stories that for loosely together. The second story is the one related to the title and is written from the perspective of Stella Miles Franklin’s sister, Linda and should really be the first story. All stories are good on their own but I don’t think they have been well incorporated into a cohesive whole.

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

I finished reading this a few months ago but wasn't quite sure what I wanted to say about it apart from enjoying the story. It did jump from a modern story to the historical setting and that jarred a bit for a while. I really wanted more of the historical story but I think I grew to enjoy the modern story too.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ida and Miles offered fascinating perspectives, very much more literary and creative than my own. Ida was my favourite, Miles was a little more disjointed and challenging. Sadly I was let down by Linda’s story & the large portion of the book it occupies

[Katie Snell · Rating 2 out of 5]

The first section of this book is really interesting and has potential. However, the next 2 sections didn't hole my attention - especially the last. The writing is beautiful and I'm keen to see what the author does in the future.

[Vivian · Rating 2 out of 5]

Written in 3 unremarkable parts
Part 1 a whining teacher wants to write a book
Part 2 Slightly better, an apologetic young woman besotted by her bullying, pretentious sister. An equally unhappy soul as in Part 1.
Part 3 Simply an assortment of meaningless words

[Blair · Rating 5 out of 5]

Disclaimer: I know Amy. But still, this novel is, dare I say it, brilliant. Beautifully conceived and structured. Thoughtful and elegant prose. What more could you want in a novel?