The Dark Sisters

by Anna Kavan

The Dark Sisters is set in the London of the twenties, in a world in which the convulsions of the First World War, female emancipation and general social upheaval have made possible the life towards which Beryl Dean aspires. The sisters, Emerald and Karen, live an independent metropolitan life: Emerald as a successful but manipulative fashion model. Her younger sister Karen seems to be unmotivated and content to live in a fantasy world of her own making, so Emerald tries to engineer a match with a rich young man. As in A Charmed Circle, the novel seems to end with a return to the status quo. Emerald, afflicted by guilt, takes Karen back to London, where she can return to her imaginary life. (from The Case of Anna Kavan: A Biography by D.A. Callard)

Genres: Fiction

236 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1930

About the author

Anna Kavan was born "Helen Woods" in France on April 10, 1901 to wealthy expatriate British parents.

Her initial six works were published under the name of Helen Ferguson, her first married name. These early novels gave little indication of the experimental and disturbing nature of her later work. I Am Lazarus (1945), a collection of short stories which explored the inner mindscape of the psychological explorer, heralded the new style and content of Kavan's writing. The change in her writing style and physical appearance coincided with a mental breakdown. During this time, Helen also renamed herself Anna Kavan after a character in her own novel Let Me Alone.

Around 1926 Anna became addicted to heroin. Her addiction has been described as an attempt to self-medicate rather than recreational. Kavan made no apologies for her heroin usage. She is popularly supposed to have died of a heroin overdose. In fact she died of heart failure, though she had attempted suicide several times during her life.

Reviews

[S̶e̶a̶n̶]

As with all of Kavan's earliest work, a sense of doom pervades this long out-of-print novel, now resurrected via public domain entry by Principle Press. Issues of social class, gender roles and relations, familial complications, and urban-rural dichotomy all clash together in the gloomy depths of Kavan's often overly adverbial prose. While some of its themes may feel familiar, zealous readers of Ice should not race excitedly to follow up that experience with this one. That said, Kavan completionists may want to hop on board and flail along with the Dark Sisters as they careen toward a bitterly ambivalent end. As a character study of the titular sisters, it's a captivating read.

[Pam]

You'll find this book at the University of Tulsa in their special collections. This and all of her other books should be published as a set. Amazing writer and accurate portrayal of depression, hyper-sensitivity, and rumination.