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They Were Sisters
'They Were Sisters is a compulsively readable but often harrowing novel by one of Persephone's best writers, who always manages to make the ordinary extraordinary,' writes Celia Brayfield.
This, the second Dorothy Whipple novel we have republished as a Classic, is, like the others, apparently gentle but it has a very strong theme, in this case domestic violence. Three sisters marry very different men and the choices they make determine whether they will flourish, be tamed or be repressed.
This, the second Dorothy Whipple novel we have republished as a Classic, is, like the others, apparently gentle but it has a very strong theme, in this case domestic violence. Three sisters marry very different men and the choices they make determine whether they will flourish, be tamed or be repressed.
464 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1944
102 people are currently reading
6471 people want to read
About the author
Dorothy Whipple
29 books343 followersBorn in 1893, DOROTHY WHIPPLE (nee Stirrup) had an intensely happy childhood in Blackburn as part of the large family of a local architect. Her close friend George Owen having been killed in the first week of the war, for three years she worked as secretary to Henry Whipple, an educational administrator who was a widower twenty-four years her senior and whom she married in 1917. Their life was mostly spent in Nottingham; here she wrote Young Anne (1927), the first of nine extremely successful novels which included Greenbanks (1932) and The Priory (1939). Almost all her books were Book Society Choices or Recommendations and two of them, They Knew Mr Knight (1934) and They were Sisters (1943), were made into films. She also wrote short stories and two volumes of memoirs. Someone at a Distance (1953) was her last novel. Returning in her last years to Blackburn, Dorothy Whipple died there in 1966.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 284 reviews
August 16, 2024
Watching Charlotte, Lucy was sad. She had loved Geoffrey with all her heart. Too much. “You shouldn’t love as much as that,” thought Lucy. “It’s a bit abject. You should keep something of your self.”
Dorothy Whipple is probably the most underrated classic author I've ever read and she deserves to be as well known as Austen or the Brontes.
It's always hard to write reviews of books I really loved, especially when they are novels driven by character dynamics instead of clever concept or fast-paced plot. How do I begin to articulate how brilliant it is?
This is, in short, a story about three sisters who grow up, get married, and have three very different lives. Each one walks a different path and this book is a careful and heartbreaking exploration of the choices women make in love and marriage.
Most of the story is from the perspective of the eldest sister, Lucy. Through her we view Charlotte's life with the tyrannical Geoffrey and the destruction of their family at his hands. So much of what happens here is horrific. Geoffrey slowly consumes Charlotte, eating away at her health until she becomes reliant on drugs and alcohol.
“it seemed that in lovely, reckless Vera there was someone who was lost, seeking, who wanted something that wasn’t there, something undefined, but lacking, and Lucy had to suppress a strong desire to ask what it was so that she could comfort her.”
The youngest sister, Vera, made quite a different match. Beautiful and vivacious, she marries a very wealthy man whom she does not love. Nannies raise her children while she swans from party to party, entertaining young lovers.
I would not describe this as a message-driven narrative, yet a message came through loud and clear to me nevertheless.
She had all youth’s intolerance for the failure of adults. They ought to have been able to manage, thinks youth. Why shouldn’t they? Youth thinks that to be grown-up is to be master of one’s fate.
Charlotte makes a match with a man she is obsessed with to the detriment of her own person; Geoffrey completely eclipses her personality and desires with his. Vera, instead, chooses a man whom she neither loves nor respects and, while her newfound wealth provides lots of comforts, she discovers very little satisfaction in her life. And like many women who are stunningly beautiful in youth, she bitterly tries to hold onto beauty and the desire of men as she ages.
Only Lucy marries a man who is her friend and her equal (as much as the time permitted). William and Lucy have a mutual respect for one another; their relationship is loving but with a total lack of melodrama. Despite not having the wild intense love Charlotte had for Geoffrey, or Vera's life of beauty and riches, it is clearly Lucy who has triumphed.
The message then is clear. Your partner should be neither your lord and master, nor someone you view with disdain, but just that-- a partner. Happiness is found when two people value each other equally, and a woman will not be happy if she views her husband as above her, or, indeed, beneath her.
May 23, 2024
This was an intense book with so much emotion that it became quite oppressive to read at times. Most of its characters were deeply flawed, and some were devoid of any redeeming qualities at all. But these characters - even the players of cameo roles like the maids and the neighbours - were sketched with such incredible depth, and the plot remained so relentlessly unpredictable that I found it almost impossible to put down. Easily one of the best books I've read this year!
March 2, 2020
"Katherine Mansfield wrote a tale about a fly upon which a man, over and over again, idly dropped a great blot of ink. Over and over again the fly struggled out, dried its wings, worked over itself, recovered, became eager to live, even cheerful, only to be covered by another blot. At last, the fly struggled no more; its resistance was broken. Charlotte was like that fly.”
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Three sisters; the setting is England between WWI and WWII. The youngest, Charlotte marries Geoffrey whom she adores and idolises. Vera, the middle sister is stunningly beautiful and knows how to keep her many admirers at bay until she finally marries “Solid, stolid Brian”. Having lost their mother at an early age, eldest sister Lucy is mother hen. Being the mother figure she is often, to her own resentment, excluded from their moments of fun. Once the other sisters are married she marries the perfect partner for her, even though her sisters can’t imagine what she could possibly see in the quiet William.
They Were Sisters focuses on the three very different marriages. There are abusive relationships and dysfunctional families, but there is also a happy marriage. Lucy is juxtaposed against her sisters. They, blonde-haired (bobbed) and blue-eyed, lead very different lives to dark-haired (long and in a bun) Lucy who contentedly continues to give moral support where she can. She is the stable leg of this tripod.
Geoffrey is a tyrant who destroys those around him. It is not physical abuse, but mental abuse that he specialises in, "malicious ambiguity” being a way of life for him. Even at the time of his proposal and later at their wedding celebrations he commits hurtful “pranks”, and so the marriage so desired by Charlotte is off to not such a good start. As abused women so often do, Charlotte continues adoring him and blames herself for annoying him. She becomes cold and detached when her sister or anyone else tries to advise or help. Geoffrey is manipulative and takes pleasure in torturing his wife and three children. The servants know which side their bread is buttered and consequently suck up to him. He is always posturing, his every gesture calculated - ‘look at me’!, ‘look at me’!!! a constant subtext. He would have fitted perfectly into a world of selfies had it existed at that time. He makes his eldest daughter Margaret his pet, but even here he acts insidiously; slowly but surely he draws her into the web he has selfishly devised for her. Even when he occasionally does something that makes the family happy, you just know that something bad is inevitably just around the corner. Eventually Geoffrey commits a shocking act of cruelty which turns his son against him. Charlotte eventually realises that he is not to be trusted nor worthy of love and this ultimately destroys her.
Beautiful Vera is utterly self centred and neglectful of husband Brian and their daughters. They live in a very nice home, have servants, entertain lavishly, but the neglect is in the form of emotional neglect of her family. As she gets older she desperately tries to retain the beauty which once captivated every male in her orbit. She starts to wonder just why it is that Lucy is so contented.
Lucy and William live in the country where they provide a safe haven for any of the family who need tender loving care, even though William cherishes being alone with Lucy with whom he enjoys companionable silences as they read.
And as WWII looms, so some of these families disintegrate.
“Nothing bloomed in her; the dry, teasing, tiresome wind of Geoffrey blew over her spirit and parched everything up.”
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Dorothy Whipple ramps up the tensions in these homes and tells a chilling tale of the destructive power of mental abuse. It is not only the physically abused who suffer; mental abuse can be horrific. She sometimes combines words incongruously to make a point, as in "violently good-tempered”. The characters are very well portrayed.
Charlotte's degradation has echoes of another novel that I read recently, A Mummer's Wife, except that in that book the wife was the abuser whereas in this one the wife is the abused.
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“You could no more touch Charlotte than you could touch a sea-anemone without its closing up altogether.”
“Talking about themselves restores most people. It was only exceptional people like William, thought Lucy, who had no need to talk about themselves.”
“‘The master’s the mistress here,’ the housemaid had explained to the new cook.”
“He felt something like awe, not of her, but of the effect his anger had on her. Obscurely, he felt a pride in his domination of another human being. In the background of his mind, the line of reasoning he pursued was that he must be important if what he did had such disastrous consequence.”
“It was typical of him, as of all tyrants domestic or otherwise, that he forced people to cringe and then despised them for cringing.”
“In the room, with the comforts he had assembled round himself, standing before the fire, his eyes intent, he was like a spider in the centre of his web, waiting for an unwary fly.”
“We only see one side of the medal. We see our opinion of the child, but we don’t see the child’s opinion of us, except at moments like this.”
“Judith fingered the discarded flowers. It seemed to her that Auntie Vera was always throwing things away. She didn’t seem to value anything, but threw away and turned to the more that was always coming in.”
“Vera often made a stir, but was rarely stirred.”
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Thanks to Goodreads friend Bill who introduced me to the writing of Dorothy Whipple. Bill, I’m sold!
Thank you to Persephone Books (https://www.persephonebooks.co.uk) for resurrecting these almost forgotten female authors.
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This novel was filmed in 1945 starring James Mason as Geoffrey Leith.
May 1, 2023
Everyone is alone in this house, she thought forlornly.
Having long wanted to read Dorothy Whipple, I put They Were Sisters on my Old and New Challenge at the Catching Up On Classics group. It is the only challenge that cannot be altered; it is set in stone; if the book is there, it gets read. I could not have made a better decision.
They were sisters, but what fully individual women they became. Lucy, the oldest, is a bastion of love and concern. When her mother dies at eighteen, all her plans and dreams go on hold and she cares for her father, the home, and her two younger sisters. Her caring remains a part of her character for her lifetime, even when her sisters should be well able to care for themselves and their respective families. She has a sweet and strong husband, a man of moral quality (and thank goodness for that), but she is not allowed to live her calm and peaceful life because she worries constantly for her sisters.
The other girls, Charlotte and Vera, have very different lives. Charlotte is the victim of a bad marriage, with a man who makes me want at times to crawl into the pages of the book with a baseball bat, madly swinging. The frightening thing about Geoffrey is that you know he could easily have existed, might easily exist even today. What struck me the most was how completely caught a woman still felt in the 1930’s when she had made a bad marriage, and how little recourse anyone had to save the woman or the children, even close family members. Men ruled and no matter how extreme their behavior, society primarily tsked and turned their heads away.
Nothing bloomed in her; the dry, teasing, tiresome wind of Geoffrey blew over her spirit and parched everything up.
The youngest sister, Vera, is a drop-dead beauty, and as such never has to work for anything and never appreciates anything she has, including the sister who worries so for her welfare, husband who provides for her, or the children she has been given. Her fear of aging and the loss of her beauty called to my mind women I actually know. I think it might be easier on those of us who never stunned anyone in the first place.
When people said she was the loveliest woman in Trenton, she smiled indifferently. It was too easy. What competition was there? If it had been in London or in Europe, it would have been different.
As the book progresses, the lives of these women become more and more tangled, and our sympathies shift to the next generation, the children who must survive all these bad decisions. My deepest angst was for the oldest of Charlotte and Geoffrey’s children, Margaret. The unique relationship she has with her father made me cringe. Like her mother, I felt she had no possible avenue of escape.
Man made such a mess of everything, thought Lucy. God must almost despair waiting for man to be as strong to do good as he was to do evil.
Like a favorite author of mine, Elizabeth Taylor, Whipple tells a deceptively simple tale, these are just ordinary lives being lived in rather usual ways; but there is so much more beneath the surface than that, so much is hidden. Still waters run deep, and this is an ocean.
Having long wanted to read Dorothy Whipple, I put They Were Sisters on my Old and New Challenge at the Catching Up On Classics group. It is the only challenge that cannot be altered; it is set in stone; if the book is there, it gets read. I could not have made a better decision.
They were sisters, but what fully individual women they became. Lucy, the oldest, is a bastion of love and concern. When her mother dies at eighteen, all her plans and dreams go on hold and she cares for her father, the home, and her two younger sisters. Her caring remains a part of her character for her lifetime, even when her sisters should be well able to care for themselves and their respective families. She has a sweet and strong husband, a man of moral quality (and thank goodness for that), but she is not allowed to live her calm and peaceful life because she worries constantly for her sisters.
The other girls, Charlotte and Vera, have very different lives. Charlotte is the victim of a bad marriage, with a man who makes me want at times to crawl into the pages of the book with a baseball bat, madly swinging. The frightening thing about Geoffrey is that you know he could easily have existed, might easily exist even today. What struck me the most was how completely caught a woman still felt in the 1930’s when she had made a bad marriage, and how little recourse anyone had to save the woman or the children, even close family members. Men ruled and no matter how extreme their behavior, society primarily tsked and turned their heads away.
Nothing bloomed in her; the dry, teasing, tiresome wind of Geoffrey blew over her spirit and parched everything up.
The youngest sister, Vera, is a drop-dead beauty, and as such never has to work for anything and never appreciates anything she has, including the sister who worries so for her welfare, husband who provides for her, or the children she has been given. Her fear of aging and the loss of her beauty called to my mind women I actually know. I think it might be easier on those of us who never stunned anyone in the first place.
When people said she was the loveliest woman in Trenton, she smiled indifferently. It was too easy. What competition was there? If it had been in London or in Europe, it would have been different.
As the book progresses, the lives of these women become more and more tangled, and our sympathies shift to the next generation, the children who must survive all these bad decisions. My deepest angst was for the oldest of Charlotte and Geoffrey’s children, Margaret. The unique relationship she has with her father made me cringe. Like her mother, I felt she had no possible avenue of escape.
Man made such a mess of everything, thought Lucy. God must almost despair waiting for man to be as strong to do good as he was to do evil.
Like a favorite author of mine, Elizabeth Taylor, Whipple tells a deceptively simple tale, these are just ordinary lives being lived in rather usual ways; but there is so much more beneath the surface than that, so much is hidden. Still waters run deep, and this is an ocean.
February 7, 2022
Dorothy Whipple has stolen my heart. This is the third book I have read of hers and I absolutely loved it! To me she is the queen of domestic drama and character driven narratives.
“...there was something strange and deep about being sisters...”
Three sisters, three marriages, and all three so different. Lucy, the eldest ( and my favourite) - the caregiver and nurturer. Charlotte, the middle sister- insecure and fragile. Vera, the youngest- the beautiful one, the self centred one. Their lives all take different turns. The glue that binds them all is Lucy, who still feels a duty to her sisters and their families.
Believe it or not, this is an unputdownable novel. Based on the storyline, you might not think that, but once I started this book, it completely took over my thoughts and I could not stop reading.
“ All our lives we are seeking for theirs to share our pleasures and when at times we find them, life takes on a new warmth and we bloom.”
Who gets to bloom in this book and who doesn’t? So heartbreaking at times and so joyous at other times. There is a character in this book that I hated so much that I honestly wanted to scream. Dorothy Whipple creates people- real people. Luckily they had no resemblance to anyone I knew.
As I turned the last page, I wished that there was still more. It is so hard to leave such a brilliant book.
Published: 1943
“...there was something strange and deep about being sisters...”
Three sisters, three marriages, and all three so different. Lucy, the eldest ( and my favourite) - the caregiver and nurturer. Charlotte, the middle sister- insecure and fragile. Vera, the youngest- the beautiful one, the self centred one. Their lives all take different turns. The glue that binds them all is Lucy, who still feels a duty to her sisters and their families.
Believe it or not, this is an unputdownable novel. Based on the storyline, you might not think that, but once I started this book, it completely took over my thoughts and I could not stop reading.
“ All our lives we are seeking for theirs to share our pleasures and when at times we find them, life takes on a new warmth and we bloom.”
Who gets to bloom in this book and who doesn’t? So heartbreaking at times and so joyous at other times. There is a character in this book that I hated so much that I honestly wanted to scream. Dorothy Whipple creates people- real people. Luckily they had no resemblance to anyone I knew.
As I turned the last page, I wished that there was still more. It is so hard to leave such a brilliant book.
Published: 1943
March 23, 2020
Excellent. Loved the characters!
May 1, 2023
I did not always enjoy reading this fine novel. No fault on the part of Dorothy Whipple other than her genius at characterization. The problem was that the stories of these sisters and and their husbands hit a bit too close for comfort. I didn't know that Whipple knew my mother and her sisters, let alone their husbands and offspring. Huh. Strange.
I adored Lucy for obvious reasons to those who have read the book. She reminds me so much of my late, beloved Aunt Miriam. Here's to loving and sane aunts.
I adored Lucy for obvious reasons to those who have read the book. She reminds me so much of my late, beloved Aunt Miriam. Here's to loving and sane aunts.
June 20, 2018
I read this massive chunk of a book in two sittings.
Dorothy Whipple is an amazingly understated writer. I am so thankful to Persephone books for re-releasing her work to a wider audience. She writes with wit, candor and seemingly light years ahead of her time. I have only read 2 of her other books but I adore her style of writing.
'They were sisters' follows the lives of three sisters - Lucy, Charlotte and Vera.
Lucy is the 'mother' of the group, always looking out for the other two and being available at the drop of a hat. Vera is opinionated and beautiful, she believes men should fall at her feet and that life should be easy. Charlotte is weak, cannot speak up for herself and is scared of showing her real personality to anyone.
One by one, the sisters marry. 1 sister is happy, 2 are not, and this is the story of how those marriages shape the sister's later lives. I ADORED this.
Dorothy Whipple is an amazingly understated writer. I am so thankful to Persephone books for re-releasing her work to a wider audience. She writes with wit, candor and seemingly light years ahead of her time. I have only read 2 of her other books but I adore her style of writing.
'They were sisters' follows the lives of three sisters - Lucy, Charlotte and Vera.
Lucy is the 'mother' of the group, always looking out for the other two and being available at the drop of a hat. Vera is opinionated and beautiful, she believes men should fall at her feet and that life should be easy. Charlotte is weak, cannot speak up for herself and is scared of showing her real personality to anyone.
One by one, the sisters marry. 1 sister is happy, 2 are not, and this is the story of how those marriages shape the sister's later lives. I ADORED this.
May 4, 2023
Beautifully written.
Dorothy Whipple showed great depth of understanding her characters. A book could have been written on each distinctive sister separately.
Lucy, Charlotte, and Vera (different as can be) were
delicately developed over the course of the book.
Great storytelling…
….character-driven realistic-messy-engaging —
Loved it!
Note - needing a break from writing full comprehensive reviews— and being online too much —
It happens eventually-
— well to me anyway.
Dorothy Whipple showed great depth of understanding her characters. A book could have been written on each distinctive sister separately.
Lucy, Charlotte, and Vera (different as can be) were
delicately developed over the course of the book.
Great storytelling…
….character-driven realistic-messy-engaging —
Loved it!
Note - needing a break from writing full comprehensive reviews— and being online too much —
It happens eventually-
— well to me anyway.
July 19, 2022
This was the one novel of Dorothy Whipple’s I had not yet read, and so, having read it, I am finished with her oeuvre, at least for the first go-around. 2.5 stars. My memory is such a mess that I can start again tomorrow and it will be like reading her novels as if I never read any of ‘em. 🙁
‘They Were Sisters’ was easy reading but at some points along the way I felt I was not experiencing the lives of the characters, but rather I was experiencing Whipple writing (in the words of a Goodreads reviewer: It pulls me out of the narrative to hear a writer writing). Some of it I thought was just so artificial. But again, it only took me 2 days to go through 445 pages of the Persephone re-issue — easy, and for the most part, enjoyable reading. Enjoyable in the sense that it held my attention. But not enjoyable given what happened to the different characters. This is a dark book.
It's coincidental I guess that one of the sisters was named Vera in this book, the eponymous character in the novel of Elizabeth von Arnim. In that novel that was really dark, Vera was married to the devil on the planet Earth, Weemyss, a cruel son-of-bitch who at the very least mentally tortured Vera. In this novel there was Charlotte’s husband, Geoffrey Leigh, who rivalled Weemyss for the meanest son-of-bitch on the planet Earth.
So overall I very much enjoyed Whipple’s books and writing.
Note: There was a movie made from this book (1945) and James Mason played Geoffrey Leigh.
Reviews:
• Nicely written review http://agirlwalksintoabookstore.blogs...
• https://thebookshelfofemilyj.com/2019...
• https://thebookcastle.blogspot.com/20...
• https://heavenali.wordpress.com/2008/...
• https://bagfullofbooks.com/2015/11/20...
My ratings for the Whipple novels are:
• Young Anne (1927) —4 stars
• High Wages (1930) — 4.5 stars
• Greenbanks (1932) — 3 stars
• They Knew Mr. Knight (1934) — 2 stars
• The Priory (1939) — 4 stars
• They Were Sisters (1943) —2.5 stars
• Because Of The Lockwoods (1949) —5 stars
• Someone at a Distance (1953) — 5 stars
‘They Were Sisters’ was easy reading but at some points along the way I felt I was not experiencing the lives of the characters, but rather I was experiencing Whipple writing (in the words of a Goodreads reviewer: It pulls me out of the narrative to hear a writer writing). Some of it I thought was just so artificial. But again, it only took me 2 days to go through 445 pages of the Persephone re-issue — easy, and for the most part, enjoyable reading. Enjoyable in the sense that it held my attention. But not enjoyable given what happened to the different characters. This is a dark book.
It's coincidental I guess that one of the sisters was named Vera in this book, the eponymous character in the novel of Elizabeth von Arnim. In that novel that was really dark, Vera was married to the devil on the planet Earth, Weemyss, a cruel son-of-bitch who at the very least mentally tortured Vera. In this novel there was Charlotte’s husband, Geoffrey Leigh, who rivalled Weemyss for the meanest son-of-bitch on the planet Earth.
So overall I very much enjoyed Whipple’s books and writing.
Note: There was a movie made from this book (1945) and James Mason played Geoffrey Leigh.
Reviews:
• Nicely written review http://agirlwalksintoabookstore.blogs...
• https://thebookshelfofemilyj.com/2019...
• https://thebookcastle.blogspot.com/20...
• https://heavenali.wordpress.com/2008/...
• https://bagfullofbooks.com/2015/11/20...
My ratings for the Whipple novels are:
• Young Anne (1927) —4 stars
• High Wages (1930) — 4.5 stars
• Greenbanks (1932) — 3 stars
• They Knew Mr. Knight (1934) — 2 stars
• The Priory (1939) — 4 stars
• They Were Sisters (1943) —2.5 stars
• Because Of The Lockwoods (1949) —5 stars
• Someone at a Distance (1953) — 5 stars
April 17, 2021
4.5 stars rounded up for the superb characterizations. Not only for the 3 sisters, but for their spouses, children and household servants. You know the 3 households intimately throughout not only their youth, but during their middle lives, as well.
Whipple tells you gently. But the situations are far, far from gentle. Quirks of temperament for pets, children, servants and their masters/ bosses always there in strong nuance consistently. And reflects in the superb layered dialogues. Not to understate how physical space (rooms or outside niches) are also used as relationship windows. This is one of the few novels I can recall where specific rooms were "staked out" by habits and manipulations so excellently as they were in these family abodes.
This is also a great example of people taking roles in their birth family hierarchies quite young and not much deviating over decades and separations. That too I have observed in large family siblings in my own life. Especially a girl who takes a caretaker stance (either for other brothers or sisters or for a parent) almost from the cradle. And also how the power of unconditional love (parent to child, or in reverse- not only between spouses) can backfire. With great fallout detriment. In modern genre, I can't think of more than a handful of books which approach this aspect either.
Fabulous cognition, perception study tale too. We see what we want to see, understand context to what interests us- and in vast areas of "other" many, no most, humans overlook or ignore what we cannot much alter that close to our own reality. Or don't care to truly contemplate enough to want to understand. Not empathy in understanding either, but for any action that recognizes the "knowing" beyond an emotional reactive one.
After I finished the book and read the copy that was added at the end about the film etc. I did then recall the James Mason role. He was as manipulative nasty and vocal abusing as the individual in the book. And he did it without any foul language or massive physical assault methods too. Just like Whipple does here with Charlotte's husband. With continual insinuations and impugning commentary.
Oh it would be a better world if all lost children and young adults had an Aunt Lucy to go to. Now, I feel and see, that most wouldn't go there if they did. Too many pitfalls and distractions now possible on the way.
Solid and long study of at least 11 or 12 characters. They enthralled me. Very interesting in locale considerations too, as this is MIDDLE CLASS England basically and mostly between the world wars. You usually get the ends of extreme wealth or stifling want or mindless jobs poverty and never much any economic or class middle. All hail, Dorothy Whipple.
Whipple tells you gently. But the situations are far, far from gentle. Quirks of temperament for pets, children, servants and their masters/ bosses always there in strong nuance consistently. And reflects in the superb layered dialogues. Not to understate how physical space (rooms or outside niches) are also used as relationship windows. This is one of the few novels I can recall where specific rooms were "staked out" by habits and manipulations so excellently as they were in these family abodes.
This is also a great example of people taking roles in their birth family hierarchies quite young and not much deviating over decades and separations. That too I have observed in large family siblings in my own life. Especially a girl who takes a caretaker stance (either for other brothers or sisters or for a parent) almost from the cradle. And also how the power of unconditional love (parent to child, or in reverse- not only between spouses) can backfire. With great fallout detriment. In modern genre, I can't think of more than a handful of books which approach this aspect either.
Fabulous cognition, perception study tale too. We see what we want to see, understand context to what interests us- and in vast areas of "other" many, no most, humans overlook or ignore what we cannot much alter that close to our own reality. Or don't care to truly contemplate enough to want to understand. Not empathy in understanding either, but for any action that recognizes the "knowing" beyond an emotional reactive one.
After I finished the book and read the copy that was added at the end about the film etc. I did then recall the James Mason role. He was as manipulative nasty and vocal abusing as the individual in the book. And he did it without any foul language or massive physical assault methods too. Just like Whipple does here with Charlotte's husband. With continual insinuations and impugning commentary.
Oh it would be a better world if all lost children and young adults had an Aunt Lucy to go to. Now, I feel and see, that most wouldn't go there if they did. Too many pitfalls and distractions now possible on the way.
Solid and long study of at least 11 or 12 characters. They enthralled me. Very interesting in locale considerations too, as this is MIDDLE CLASS England basically and mostly between the world wars. You usually get the ends of extreme wealth or stifling want or mindless jobs poverty and never much any economic or class middle. All hail, Dorothy Whipple.
November 14, 2025
He leído Eran hermanas, de Dorothy Whipple, con el corazón encogido y la mente en vilo. Publicada en 1943, en plena posguerra británica, nos transporta a un tiempo en el que las apariencias pesaban más que la verdad y el silencio femenino era casi una norma. A través de tres hermanas que toman caminos muy distintos tras el matrimonio, Whipple construye un retrato minucioso de la parte más turbia de la vida doméstica: sus rutinas, sus esperanzas y sus tragedias calladas.
A simple vista parece una novela costumbrista, amable, casi luminosa, pero pronto se revela como una historia mucho más oscura y valiente. La autora aborda con una sensibilidad impresionante el tema del abuso doméstico, sin sensacionalismo ni dramatismo fácil. Lo muestra con un realismo doloroso, desde dentro: cómo destruye poco a poco la confianza y el amor propio, cómo marca a los hijos y cómo deja impotentes a quienes observan desde fuera, queriendo ayudar y sin saber cómo. Esa impotencia es uno de los aspectos más humanos y devastadores del libro, junto a la necesidad de saber pedir ayuda cuando nos estamos ahogando y la gratitud de aceptarla cuando llega.
Lo que más me ha sorprendido es la fuerza de sus personajes: magníficamente construidos, sólidos, llenos de vida, de contradicciones, de esperanzas y preocupaciones. No hay artificios ni excesos, sino personas de carne y hueso que parecen respirar dentro de las páginas. Esta maravillosa psicología hace que la trama brille, porque son ellos quienes soportan el peso del vaivén emocional y moral de la historia, y lo hacen de forma impecable.
Eran hermanas es una novela sobre el amor y el miedo, sobre lo que se calla, sobre los lazos que pueden sostenernos o destruirnos. Es más sombría de lo que parece al inicio, más brillante de lo que esperaba encontrar. Con una prosa elegante y contenida, Whipple logra emocionar sin alzar la voz, mostrando que las batallas más duras son, casi siempre, las que se libran puertas adentro. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (5/5)
A simple vista parece una novela costumbrista, amable, casi luminosa, pero pronto se revela como una historia mucho más oscura y valiente. La autora aborda con una sensibilidad impresionante el tema del abuso doméstico, sin sensacionalismo ni dramatismo fácil. Lo muestra con un realismo doloroso, desde dentro: cómo destruye poco a poco la confianza y el amor propio, cómo marca a los hijos y cómo deja impotentes a quienes observan desde fuera, queriendo ayudar y sin saber cómo. Esa impotencia es uno de los aspectos más humanos y devastadores del libro, junto a la necesidad de saber pedir ayuda cuando nos estamos ahogando y la gratitud de aceptarla cuando llega.
Lo que más me ha sorprendido es la fuerza de sus personajes: magníficamente construidos, sólidos, llenos de vida, de contradicciones, de esperanzas y preocupaciones. No hay artificios ni excesos, sino personas de carne y hueso que parecen respirar dentro de las páginas. Esta maravillosa psicología hace que la trama brille, porque son ellos quienes soportan el peso del vaivén emocional y moral de la historia, y lo hacen de forma impecable.
Eran hermanas es una novela sobre el amor y el miedo, sobre lo que se calla, sobre los lazos que pueden sostenernos o destruirnos. Es más sombría de lo que parece al inicio, más brillante de lo que esperaba encontrar. Con una prosa elegante y contenida, Whipple logra emocionar sin alzar la voz, mostrando que las batallas más duras son, casi siempre, las que se libran puertas adentro. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (5/5)
April 27, 2019
Everything I said about Someone at a Distance applies here as well. But what I also want to talk about here is how good Whipple is with the limits placed around women. Her stories are founded on, structured around and made possible by the realistic rhythms of daily life women are likely to experience, their typical education and the usual limits placed on their actions and experiences. She then has them make choices that are likely to result from those things if they are a certain kind of person. As with Someone at a Distance, she insists on her characters' unique personalities- but here she shows how despite the uniqueness they start with, many women get flattened into things are are more expected by experiencing the same responses to them trying to be people over and over. Or never even getting to try because the very idea of them getting to be a person was taken away before it ever truly began.
Whipple has this wonderful acceptance about her that I find more attractive as I've gotten older. An acceptance that one's childhood, personality, and experiences truly do shut down so many lives before they begin- and yet a refusal to mourn in a melodramatic way about that. In this book it takes a woman with a personality we don't particularly like to resist being influenced by what's around her- it implies there's something admirable, something magical about it, but also something not quite fully human about it. Her protagonists are fully connected to their lives and to those around them- there are no pieces of them turned off. They've made it to adulthood still wanting to connect with others and able to express that openly. It's a kind of bravery that I think should be celebrated more- the kind that makes it out of challenges whole and with faith in the world intact. I'm not personally religious these days, but it makes sense that Whipple's characters are, and I don't tune out the way that I usually do when God comes in to save a difficult moment. Because I can see Whipple is trying to get her characters out whole and alive, and can't see another way to do it. It's not that different from what I saw Tolstoy do when he'd thought it all through and arrived at a wall that he couldn't think his way out of. It frustrated me when I saw him do it- I wanted him and his male privilege to leap over the wall and get there and do what comes next after you do that. With Whipple.... I think her women facing that wall and admitting to themselves that it was there was devastating enough that I was just happy to see any of these women face it and turn and walk away intact.
I think Whipple must have agreed with me, even if only subconsciously. This book is about the main character trying to save whoever she can from the rubble of that experience, for as long as she can. She knows her limits- she has to do it in secret sometimes, she has to do it by subterfuge, by implication. Sometimes she can only give her input and watch as people don't listen to her. Sometimes she has to watch those she would save go through years more of pain before she can safely access them. But while she won't drown herself to save them, she won't walk away either. She'll stay and watch and wait for her opportunities to help until one of them finally works. She proves she cares by her persistence and her care, not by dramatic gestures and histronics. She gets what she wants- but only in the end, and only after years and years, only when its right and its too late for any sort of unscarred happy ending.
And only after many failures, only after waiting for the moment when they have enough power to do anything, only after they are forced to live with humiliation and smallness and fear for long enough for it to seep into the skin. People find peace, but only at last.
It's just such a genuine, realistic picture of my experience of how it actually works. Bring on all the quietly triumphant, adult moments of realizing only a kind of triumph in a small way. Moments of celebration never 100% untainted by doubt or regret or questioning about how you could have done it better. Accomplishments that come with a ton of responsibilities and potential regret.... and yet peace. In spite of all of that, peace.
Whipple has this wonderful acceptance about her that I find more attractive as I've gotten older. An acceptance that one's childhood, personality, and experiences truly do shut down so many lives before they begin- and yet a refusal to mourn in a melodramatic way about that. In this book it takes a woman with a personality we don't particularly like to resist being influenced by what's around her- it implies there's something admirable, something magical about it, but also something not quite fully human about it. Her protagonists are fully connected to their lives and to those around them- there are no pieces of them turned off. They've made it to adulthood still wanting to connect with others and able to express that openly. It's a kind of bravery that I think should be celebrated more- the kind that makes it out of challenges whole and with faith in the world intact. I'm not personally religious these days, but it makes sense that Whipple's characters are, and I don't tune out the way that I usually do when God comes in to save a difficult moment. Because I can see Whipple is trying to get her characters out whole and alive, and can't see another way to do it. It's not that different from what I saw Tolstoy do when he'd thought it all through and arrived at a wall that he couldn't think his way out of. It frustrated me when I saw him do it- I wanted him and his male privilege to leap over the wall and get there and do what comes next after you do that. With Whipple.... I think her women facing that wall and admitting to themselves that it was there was devastating enough that I was just happy to see any of these women face it and turn and walk away intact.
I think Whipple must have agreed with me, even if only subconsciously. This book is about the main character trying to save whoever she can from the rubble of that experience, for as long as she can. She knows her limits- she has to do it in secret sometimes, she has to do it by subterfuge, by implication. Sometimes she can only give her input and watch as people don't listen to her. Sometimes she has to watch those she would save go through years more of pain before she can safely access them. But while she won't drown herself to save them, she won't walk away either. She'll stay and watch and wait for her opportunities to help until one of them finally works. She proves she cares by her persistence and her care, not by dramatic gestures and histronics. She gets what she wants- but only in the end, and only after years and years, only when its right and its too late for any sort of unscarred happy ending.
And only after many failures, only after waiting for the moment when they have enough power to do anything, only after they are forced to live with humiliation and smallness and fear for long enough for it to seep into the skin. People find peace, but only at last.
It's just such a genuine, realistic picture of my experience of how it actually works. Bring on all the quietly triumphant, adult moments of realizing only a kind of triumph in a small way. Moments of celebration never 100% untainted by doubt or regret or questioning about how you could have done it better. Accomplishments that come with a ton of responsibilities and potential regret.... and yet peace. In spite of all of that, peace.
April 10, 2023
My reviews kept short at the moment due to study commitments . This is first Dorothy Whipple book, but certainly will not be my last. This is a character driven novel that I found surprisingly modern in its content, and i was shocked by the dominance of men in the 1930s and what pitiful rights women had even those from established families. I particularly enjoyed the focus on Judith and Lucy’s relationship, and they became my two favourite characters, This book will stay with me for a long time and thoroughly recommend.
January 15, 2023
As I finished this, I'm dealing with the seeming paradox that a book can be both five stars and almost unbearably sad. There were times as I was reading this that I didn't know if I could keep reading. This is my fourth Dorothy Whipple, so I knew her novels are much more sad generally than someone like D.E. Stevenson's novels, but I wasn't prepared for the intense portrayal of an abusive husband and father. Thank goodness for the times the narrative shifts to Lucy and William's home at Underwood, the calm "safe harbour" in the storms of Lucy's sisters' lives.
The book opens with Lucy's reminiscences of her earlier life. When she was eighteen years old, her mother died and she became the mother figure to her two younger sisters, Charlotte and Vera, both five plus years younger than herself. Through Lucy's eyes, we see Charlotte's determination to marry a prankster young man with a Wilhoughby-like charm and beautiful Vera's rather cold-hearted decision to marry a steady, dull young man with a fortune. When Lucy is free of her mothering role for her two sisters, she herself marries a good man named William and moves with him to a Midlands village.
Fast forward in the narrative. Charlotte and Vera have each been married for a number of years. Charlotte has three children and Vera has two children. Lucy is childless and her home is a hub for the family. From here, we move into Charlotte and Vera's homes to see what has become of their marriages and their motherhood. Charlotte's husband Geoffrey is a domestic tyrant. This is the tragic thread of the novel and is, by far, the saddest storyline. Geoffrey keeps his whole family on tenterhooks. They never know how he will react, and I felt the same way as the reader. I kept thinking how much material there was with Geoffrey for a modern psychologist reading this novel. The youngest daughter, Judith, becomes a main character in the second half of the novel as she comes of age. Will she repeat the "sins" of her mother? There is always hope for Judith because of the time spends with Lucy.
Vera's story has a lighter note to it at the start, but it becomes increasingly troubling. Vera herself is the source of the trouble, and I honestly was happy for her husband when he made some choices for himself. I think this would be open to debate, though, and I'd be curious to hear other opinions on Brian and Vera. Vera's daughter, Sarah, also becomes a main character, and I felt for both her and Judith so much. They both suffer at the hands of their parents, though in very different ways. It's sad that even the "unsinning" parent in each marriage still inflicts cruelty on their children. There is only Lucy to give the children a safe harbour...
Though we don't get much of Lucy and William's relationship, there are some lovely details woven into the story that show how well suited they are to each other. I love that William recognizes and accepts that Lucy's devoted love to her sisters will carry through to the bitter end, even though it's clear at several points that there is a limit as to how much one human being can help another. And yet...it's the good that Lucy almost unconsciously does that radically changes the lives of her two nieces. There is hope for the next generation, even with the onset of war. There is irony in Lucy's own childlessness, and I love that Whipple is intimating that not physically bearing children does not mean a woman is not maternal. There is always a place in the world for a caring person who sacrifices for the wellbeing of the vulnerable. And oh how vulnerable each person in this story is, even the selfish ones!
Oh, and there's a brilliant scene with Janet, Lucy's housekeeper, at the end. And one of the most moving final paragraphs I've read in a long time. I'm honestly not sure if I'll have the emotional wherewithal to read this novel again. But the power of its story and characters is going to stay with me a long, long time.
The book opens with Lucy's reminiscences of her earlier life. When she was eighteen years old, her mother died and she became the mother figure to her two younger sisters, Charlotte and Vera, both five plus years younger than herself. Through Lucy's eyes, we see Charlotte's determination to marry a prankster young man with a Wilhoughby-like charm and beautiful Vera's rather cold-hearted decision to marry a steady, dull young man with a fortune. When Lucy is free of her mothering role for her two sisters, she herself marries a good man named William and moves with him to a Midlands village.
Fast forward in the narrative. Charlotte and Vera have each been married for a number of years. Charlotte has three children and Vera has two children. Lucy is childless and her home is a hub for the family. From here, we move into Charlotte and Vera's homes to see what has become of their marriages and their motherhood. Charlotte's husband Geoffrey is a domestic tyrant. This is the tragic thread of the novel and is, by far, the saddest storyline. Geoffrey keeps his whole family on tenterhooks. They never know how he will react, and I felt the same way as the reader. I kept thinking how much material there was with Geoffrey for a modern psychologist reading this novel. The youngest daughter, Judith, becomes a main character in the second half of the novel as she comes of age. Will she repeat the "sins" of her mother? There is always hope for Judith because of the time spends with Lucy.
Vera's story has a lighter note to it at the start, but it becomes increasingly troubling. Vera herself is the source of the trouble, and I honestly was happy for her husband when he made some choices for himself. I think this would be open to debate, though, and I'd be curious to hear other opinions on Brian and Vera. Vera's daughter, Sarah, also becomes a main character, and I felt for both her and Judith so much. They both suffer at the hands of their parents, though in very different ways. It's sad that even the "unsinning" parent in each marriage still inflicts cruelty on their children. There is only Lucy to give the children a safe harbour...
Though we don't get much of Lucy and William's relationship, there are some lovely details woven into the story that show how well suited they are to each other. I love that William recognizes and accepts that Lucy's devoted love to her sisters will carry through to the bitter end, even though it's clear at several points that there is a limit as to how much one human being can help another. And yet...it's the good that Lucy almost unconsciously does that radically changes the lives of her two nieces. There is hope for the next generation, even with the onset of war. There is irony in Lucy's own childlessness, and I love that Whipple is intimating that not physically bearing children does not mean a woman is not maternal. There is always a place in the world for a caring person who sacrifices for the wellbeing of the vulnerable. And oh how vulnerable each person in this story is, even the selfish ones!
Oh, and there's a brilliant scene with Janet, Lucy's housekeeper, at the end. And one of the most moving final paragraphs I've read in a long time. I'm honestly not sure if I'll have the emotional wherewithal to read this novel again. But the power of its story and characters is going to stay with me a long, long time.
February 24, 2023
Gripping, engrossing; a book that I won't soon forget .
When one reads of the restrictions women endured as recently as the 1930's ( had to, if married , basically obey their husbands and they couldn't hope for the chance to divorce if the marriage was bad ) it makes one appreciate our more liberal culture , in western society, certainly.
As harrowing as the descriptions and actions of one sister's horrible husband are , the reader happily isn't compelled to dwell on them. Each sister is given an equal part of the story. Like in a good movie, the plot moves along and there is a reprieve.
Whipple's strength is definitely her characters, they are so well developed that it almost feels as though one actually knows them in real life(certainly they will remain in my mind for a long time..).
When one reads of the restrictions women endured as recently as the 1930's ( had to, if married , basically obey their husbands and they couldn't hope for the chance to divorce if the marriage was bad ) it makes one appreciate our more liberal culture , in western society, certainly.
As harrowing as the descriptions and actions of one sister's horrible husband are , the reader happily isn't compelled to dwell on them. Each sister is given an equal part of the story. Like in a good movie, the plot moves along and there is a reprieve.
Whipple's strength is definitely her characters, they are so well developed that it almost feels as though one actually knows them in real life(certainly they will remain in my mind for a long time..).
May 16, 2015
Absolutely delightful! I read this book like a cat laps cream and loved every minute. Brilliantly written, it has wonderfully deep characters which carry the very poignant story forward to a satisfying end. I recommend this book to all my friends and will definitely try to get my hands on the other novels Dorothy Whipple wrote. And thank you, Claude, for introducing me to this excellent author!
P.S. At the end of the novel, the Afterword by Celia Brayfield makes good reading too.
P.S. At the end of the novel, the Afterword by Celia Brayfield makes good reading too.
January 27, 2011
I would very rarely rate a book this high--and I'm wondering at myself. I am not likely to re-read this book, and until now, I have only rated re-reads this high. But I find 'They Were Sisters' remarkable in craft of characterization, clear writing style, and being able to keep me up long past bedtime because I could not put it down.
This is the story of family, of sisters, of children and men and women, of what happens when people live with abuse--verbal abuse, which is so subtle and also accepted and thus far more deadly than the overt physical kind. I wish there had been more tender moments in the book. The story is saved by the tender moments, and I could have used more of them. But those tender moments do come at just the right points. Everything seems to come at just the right point.
I'm grateful to my friend, Dee Nash, for recommending Dorothy Whipple, and for Persephone Books for republishing this classic writer of the 1940s.
This is the story of family, of sisters, of children and men and women, of what happens when people live with abuse--verbal abuse, which is so subtle and also accepted and thus far more deadly than the overt physical kind. I wish there had been more tender moments in the book. The story is saved by the tender moments, and I could have used more of them. But those tender moments do come at just the right points. Everything seems to come at just the right point.
I'm grateful to my friend, Dee Nash, for recommending Dorothy Whipple, and for Persephone Books for republishing this classic writer of the 1940s.
July 12, 2025
Como nos adelanta su título al abrir esta novela nos encontramos con la historia de tres hermas: Lucy, Charlotte y Vera.
Las tres hermanas sin diferentes con personalidades y formas de ver la vida distintas. Consecuencia de esto es que sus esposos también son hombres muy diferentes entre sí y la vida matrimonial diametralmente opuesta.
Si bien en principio puede parecer una novela de lectura ligera, liviana para pasar el rato la autora aborda temas muy duros como la violencia intrafamiliar, adicciones y maltrato animal. Todos esos temas los toca poco a poco, logra construir una atmósfera de terror silenciosos, especialmente en una de las casas de las hermanas que están tan bien logradas que al menos en mi, me provocaron más un escalofrío.
Otro aspecto que me resulto interesante de la obra es el punto de vista del servicio doméstico de lo que sucedía en los lugares donde trabajan, de darles voz y mirada crítica, eso me gustó y no es común en novelas de la época. Al menos en las que yo he leído.
Por último decir es una historia enmarcada en el mundo guerras. Si bien fue publicada en 1943 la historia transcurre entre la Gran guerra y los albores del comienzo de la segunda. Este contexto histórico ayuda a analizar algunas de las posiciones de los personajes, los esquemas familiares y sociales de transición de la época en una Inglaterra que cambiaba.
Una novela que me gustó leer y me alegro que la editorial española Trotalibros la haya rescatado y traducido al idioma español.
Leí el libro en digital porque aun no ha llegado a Uruguay pero ni bien lo pueda conseguir lo quiero en mi estantería de clásicos.
Las tres hermanas sin diferentes con personalidades y formas de ver la vida distintas. Consecuencia de esto es que sus esposos también son hombres muy diferentes entre sí y la vida matrimonial diametralmente opuesta.
Si bien en principio puede parecer una novela de lectura ligera, liviana para pasar el rato la autora aborda temas muy duros como la violencia intrafamiliar, adicciones y maltrato animal. Todos esos temas los toca poco a poco, logra construir una atmósfera de terror silenciosos, especialmente en una de las casas de las hermanas que están tan bien logradas que al menos en mi, me provocaron más un escalofrío.
Otro aspecto que me resulto interesante de la obra es el punto de vista del servicio doméstico de lo que sucedía en los lugares donde trabajan, de darles voz y mirada crítica, eso me gustó y no es común en novelas de la época. Al menos en las que yo he leído.
Por último decir es una historia enmarcada en el mundo guerras. Si bien fue publicada en 1943 la historia transcurre entre la Gran guerra y los albores del comienzo de la segunda. Este contexto histórico ayuda a analizar algunas de las posiciones de los personajes, los esquemas familiares y sociales de transición de la época en una Inglaterra que cambiaba.
Una novela que me gustó leer y me alegro que la editorial española Trotalibros la haya rescatado y traducido al idioma español.
Leí el libro en digital porque aun no ha llegado a Uruguay pero ni bien lo pueda conseguir lo quiero en mi estantería de clásicos.
February 24, 2008
Wow this is a hugely readable almost unputdownable novel. First published in 1943 - it is only slightly dated - the siter's of the title employ maids,make trunk calls, send telegrams travel first class etc. Apart from those small details this novel remains as topical today as it ever was. It concerns the slow destruction of a once happy woman; Charlotte married to a man who turned out to be a vile bully. The effect this has on their three children is terrible, as over the course of their childhoods they become more and more cowed by their father. Charlotte's sisters, Lucy, dependable, supportive and nurturing is happily, but quietly and childlessly married to William. While Vera, beautiful and shallow, married to Brian who bores her takes little notice of her two young daughters.
This excellent Dorothy Whipple novel re published by Persephone takes a poignant look at what today might be called disfunctional families - the unhappiness of children caught up in the destruction brought about by adults is keenly felt.
This excellent Dorothy Whipple novel re published by Persephone takes a poignant look at what today might be called disfunctional families - the unhappiness of children caught up in the destruction brought about by adults is keenly felt.
August 8, 2017
I adored this book about three middle-class Midlands sisters, their marriages, and their children. Lucy has to take charge of her younger siblings when her mother dies. The brothers soon disappear from the pages, but we follow the three girls over the next 20 years as they marry three very different men.
Vera's beauty is her undoing; Charlotte's bullying husband is hers; and Lucy is better off because of the positive attitude she has to her husband and her life, though it lacks a lot of the apparent advantages and interests of her sisters' lives.
I think this is my favourite Dorothy Whipple so far ... but I think I've said that before, so maybe there are still more delights to come.
Vera's beauty is her undoing; Charlotte's bullying husband is hers; and Lucy is better off because of the positive attitude she has to her husband and her life, though it lacks a lot of the apparent advantages and interests of her sisters' lives.
I think this is my favourite Dorothy Whipple so far ... but I think I've said that before, so maybe there are still more delights to come.
March 8, 2021
This is the second book I have read by British novelist Dorothy Whipple. The first was Someone At A Distance. While both were captivating stories, this one I liked the best because there were more characters to be concerned about, as well as more insight into why those characters thought and behaved as they did. At times, it was almost like psychological analysis, but Ms. Whipple fortunately never forgot she was a novelist telling a story, not a writer trying to teach psychology to readers. This book was first published in the 1940s, so I can imagine, though, it did help many readers to better understand what contributed to marriage breakdowns, unhappy children, and addictions acquired by women who feared they had no control over their lives and never would.
The three sisters were Lucy, Vera and Charlotte. Lucy was planning at the age of 17 to go to Oxford, but her mother died suddenly and she ended up staying home to care for her two younger sisters. Vera was the family beauty and did whatever she pleased. Charlotte, the youngest, appeared to be the most vulnerable one, but was tight with Vera and often joined her in complaining about Lucy’s attempts to mother them. The sisters would all marry very different men. Lucy married an older man who provided "salt and sense", plus genuine love, and had the best marriage of the three. Vera married a man with money who turned out to be too dull and sensitive for her. Charlotte married an insufferable jokester who turned out to be an insufferable malignant narcissist.
Hence, Charlotte had the absolute worst of it, as did her three children, who were always walking on eggshells, fearing what their father would say or do next. Vera’s two daughters weren’t as troubled, but still family divisions caused them emotional problems and left them not close at all. Lucy had no children, but was very close to one of Charlotte’s daughters, and wanted to rescue her from her father, as she wanted to rescue Charlotte. The story goes back and forth between what was happening in the homes of the sisters. Things end up well for some of the characters and badly for others, just like real life. I intend to read all of Dorothy Whipple’s available novels. I really like her writing style, her insights and her storytelling skills.
The three sisters were Lucy, Vera and Charlotte. Lucy was planning at the age of 17 to go to Oxford, but her mother died suddenly and she ended up staying home to care for her two younger sisters. Vera was the family beauty and did whatever she pleased. Charlotte, the youngest, appeared to be the most vulnerable one, but was tight with Vera and often joined her in complaining about Lucy’s attempts to mother them. The sisters would all marry very different men. Lucy married an older man who provided "salt and sense", plus genuine love, and had the best marriage of the three. Vera married a man with money who turned out to be too dull and sensitive for her. Charlotte married an insufferable jokester who turned out to be an insufferable malignant narcissist.
Hence, Charlotte had the absolute worst of it, as did her three children, who were always walking on eggshells, fearing what their father would say or do next. Vera’s two daughters weren’t as troubled, but still family divisions caused them emotional problems and left them not close at all. Lucy had no children, but was very close to one of Charlotte’s daughters, and wanted to rescue her from her father, as she wanted to rescue Charlotte. The story goes back and forth between what was happening in the homes of the sisters. Things end up well for some of the characters and badly for others, just like real life. I intend to read all of Dorothy Whipple’s available novels. I really like her writing style, her insights and her storytelling skills.
February 3, 2020
Whipple is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors. They Were Sisters examines the complicated and broken relationships between three sisters: the eldest with no children but a happy marriage; the second consumed by vanity and ease; and the third slowly disintegrating under the constant barrage of verbal abuse from her husband. The story spans from childhood into middle age. Each character, including the sisters and husbands and children, is drawn so clearly, with flaws and strengths on display, that they inspire empathy even when at their lowest. Whipple just seems to have so much insight into human nature and our capacity for both good and evil, shown in the mundane lives of ordinary people. And it is also striking that the story, while set in early 20th century England, feels incredibly modern, showing how little people have changed through the decades. I can't recommend this book enough and am so thankful Persephone Books brought it back to life.
December 15, 2025
Published in 1944, this is the story of three sisters from an English middle-class family in the 1930s. After their mother dies, eldest sister Lucy abandons her plans for Oxford to raise her younger siblings, Charlotte and Vera. Lucy finds companionship in her marriage. They are unable to have children but appear mostly content. Charlotte falls for a handsome man with a cruel temperament. Vera marries a wealthy man but neglects him and their daughters while pursuing her own pleasures.
This novel looks at emotional abuse, neglect, and psychological control. The author has a knack for portraying how ordinary moments can, over time, result in life-changing consequences. The book's depiction of emotional abuse is realistic. Charlotte must constantly must “walk on eggshells” to avoid provoking her husband into one of his episodes. I admire the author’s ability to create tension within mostly domestic settings. It is easy to feel for these women and their children. It will appeal to readers who enjoy psychological and historical realism.
This novel looks at emotional abuse, neglect, and psychological control. The author has a knack for portraying how ordinary moments can, over time, result in life-changing consequences. The book's depiction of emotional abuse is realistic. Charlotte must constantly must “walk on eggshells” to avoid provoking her husband into one of his episodes. I admire the author’s ability to create tension within mostly domestic settings. It is easy to feel for these women and their children. It will appeal to readers who enjoy psychological and historical realism.
May 26, 2015
Dorothy Whipple was born in 1893. She wrote nine highly acclaimed novels between 1932 and 1953, two of which were made into successful films. Even so, when a widely-read friend recommended I try her out, I was sceptical. Stories of domestic ups and downs in the 1930s, however accomplished the writing might be, sounded inevitably quaint and dated to me. If I am completely honest, I think her name may have prejudiced me a bit as well: DOROTHY WHIPPLE. It doesn't exactly have the ring of 'Dostoevsky' or 'Shakespeare', does it?! Instead I found myself picturing some dear sweet lady with a writing hobby, taking curtain-tweaking peeps at the world, incapable of unpleasantness or boat-rocking or shock-treatments of any kind.
I could not have been more wrong. On the surface Dorothy Whipple's characters do indeed move in 'ordinary' domestic worlds set during an era dominated by preoccupations of times long distant from ours. And yet beneath this surface, as with all great fiction, the subjects she addresses are universal. The main characters of 'They Were Sisters' are - as one might expect - three sisters, who have experienced a close upbringing but taken very different roads as adults. Their personalities, each so different, are acutely and tenderly drawn. One is head-turningly beautiful, one is shy and in a hurry to grow up, one seems duller and more sensible. They all marry 'well', but only two of them manage to have children. The novel opens when a reunion visit is being planned at the house of the sister who is childless. Any reader who thinks they could guess what will unfold from that visit would be mistaken.
Dorothy Whipple writes with such a lightness of touch, but has a razor-eye for human flaws. Everyone in this novel, from the sisters, to their various husbands and children, is utterly believable. As the years pass the contact between the three women ebbs and flows, but their deep bond of shared childhood remains. Problems arise, some of them terrible, but while wanting to help each other, they also recognise the need to live with the consequences of their own decisions. This creates a tension that builds and builds as the novel progresses until, behind the veneer of their civilised and genteel world, the most unforseeable and hideous tragedy takes place. The character at the core of this tragedy is as chilling and realistic a monster as I have come across on the written page. It sends shivers down my spine just to think of him. We have such monsters among us still, millions of them. We read of them every day in the newspapers, crushing those unfortunate enough to cross their path.
Dorothy Whipple is both so accomplished and so respected in the literary world that it is hard to believe she is not more widely known. I have thanked my friend for the recommendation and already read a second ('Someone At A Distance')that was just as good. Now I am now beating the drum myself. Taste and enjoy!
I could not have been more wrong. On the surface Dorothy Whipple's characters do indeed move in 'ordinary' domestic worlds set during an era dominated by preoccupations of times long distant from ours. And yet beneath this surface, as with all great fiction, the subjects she addresses are universal. The main characters of 'They Were Sisters' are - as one might expect - three sisters, who have experienced a close upbringing but taken very different roads as adults. Their personalities, each so different, are acutely and tenderly drawn. One is head-turningly beautiful, one is shy and in a hurry to grow up, one seems duller and more sensible. They all marry 'well', but only two of them manage to have children. The novel opens when a reunion visit is being planned at the house of the sister who is childless. Any reader who thinks they could guess what will unfold from that visit would be mistaken.
Dorothy Whipple writes with such a lightness of touch, but has a razor-eye for human flaws. Everyone in this novel, from the sisters, to their various husbands and children, is utterly believable. As the years pass the contact between the three women ebbs and flows, but their deep bond of shared childhood remains. Problems arise, some of them terrible, but while wanting to help each other, they also recognise the need to live with the consequences of their own decisions. This creates a tension that builds and builds as the novel progresses until, behind the veneer of their civilised and genteel world, the most unforseeable and hideous tragedy takes place. The character at the core of this tragedy is as chilling and realistic a monster as I have come across on the written page. It sends shivers down my spine just to think of him. We have such monsters among us still, millions of them. We read of them every day in the newspapers, crushing those unfortunate enough to cross their path.
Dorothy Whipple is both so accomplished and so respected in the literary world that it is hard to believe she is not more widely known. I have thanked my friend for the recommendation and already read a second ('Someone At A Distance')that was just as good. Now I am now beating the drum myself. Taste and enjoy!
January 13, 2016
Whipple gets it quite right, doesn't she? No matter this is set from 1918-39, she still captures the truth in people and their relationships.
I'm the eldest in a family with three daughters, like Lucy in They Were Sisters. I understood her anxiety and worry, her wish to protect her younger sisters. I am much luckier than Lucy in that I have little to worry over - but when .
Whipple wields extraordinary strength in character development. She is stunning. I have to say that Geoffrey Leigh ranks high on my all-time villains list. It's hard to imagine someone higher at the moment. What a psychopath! I think she defines moments well for characters too - those moments where you cease to be the person you were before. She also does well by her side characters - always admirable. I have to admit, Janet-the-grouchy-but-loyal-maid was one of my favorite characters. Also, Beatrice the maid and her mother! That mother! It's like two paragraphs, but so expertly done.
One final observation - clearly, at the end, Whipple wants us to identify hope for the next generation. Dear William says, essentially, that Judith and Sarah have the jump on their mothers, as they care more for each other than their selves (or men). So, even though ... I have to say that I wondered at their future. The threat of war, their families strewn over the world, Lucy's safe haven feeling not so safe... I believe the end of the novel was supposed to be comforting, but for me, gave pause.
I'm the eldest in a family with three daughters, like Lucy in They Were Sisters. I understood her anxiety and worry, her wish to protect her younger sisters. I am much luckier than Lucy in that I have little to worry over - but when .
Whipple wields extraordinary strength in character development. She is stunning. I have to say that Geoffrey Leigh ranks high on my all-time villains list. It's hard to imagine someone higher at the moment. What a psychopath! I think she defines moments well for characters too - those moments where you cease to be the person you were before. She also does well by her side characters - always admirable. I have to admit, Janet-the-grouchy-but-loyal-maid was one of my favorite characters. Also, Beatrice the maid and her mother! That mother! It's like two paragraphs, but so expertly done.
One final observation - clearly, at the end, Whipple wants us to identify hope for the next generation. Dear William says, essentially, that Judith and Sarah have the jump on their mothers, as they care more for each other than their selves (or men). So, even though ... I have to say that I wondered at their future. The threat of war, their families strewn over the world, Lucy's safe haven feeling not so safe... I believe the end of the novel was supposed to be comforting, but for me, gave pause.
September 23, 2021
Surprise, it's a story of three sisters: Lucy, Charlotte and Vera. They all marry, and the latter two become failures at motherhood, whereas Lucy remains childless. Guess who picks up the slack?
I ordered this because Persephone books published the wonderful Elizabeth Jenkins' book I read, Harriet, and I also loved Jenkins' other novel, The Tortoise and the Hare. The press focuses on 'neglected' women authors of the 20th century, and I'm all for that.
In any case, I enjoyed "They Were Sisters." It had interesting, sympathetic characters, a heroine, a villain. There weren't big surprises and given the personalities, things turned out as one would expect. One slightly jarring thing was the entrance of God near the end. Suddenly Lucy gets a bit preachy and yet the book until then had zero to do with religion. That was awkward and unnecessary in an already long book.
Although Persephone says it publishes neglected authors, Dorothy Whipple seems to have been very popular in her day. This book, for example, was made into a film with James Mason. In any case, I like the general vibe, and when I ordered this I also ordered another Whipple book, that I will now start. Kind of sorry about that -- wish I'd ordered another author to try, but I don't think it's the end of my relationship with Persephone, which makes beautiful editions.
I ordered this because Persephone books published the wonderful Elizabeth Jenkins' book I read, Harriet, and I also loved Jenkins' other novel, The Tortoise and the Hare. The press focuses on 'neglected' women authors of the 20th century, and I'm all for that.
In any case, I enjoyed "They Were Sisters." It had interesting, sympathetic characters, a heroine, a villain. There weren't big surprises and given the personalities, things turned out as one would expect. One slightly jarring thing was the entrance of God near the end. Suddenly Lucy gets a bit preachy and yet the book until then had zero to do with religion. That was awkward and unnecessary in an already long book.
Although Persephone says it publishes neglected authors, Dorothy Whipple seems to have been very popular in her day. This book, for example, was made into a film with James Mason. In any case, I like the general vibe, and when I ordered this I also ordered another Whipple book, that I will now start. Kind of sorry about that -- wish I'd ordered another author to try, but I don't think it's the end of my relationship with Persephone, which makes beautiful editions.
March 11, 2019
The lives of three sisters and their families take very different paths in this 1944 Persephone novel. There is the country mouse sister living happily with her husband in a small house, the town sister with an emotionally abusive husband and their three children in an increasingly unhappy household, and the beautiful but self-centered city sister living with her ignored spouse and two children in the midst of society gatherings and innumerable flirtations. Despite very different personalities and life situations, the sisters’ family ties wind through their own and their childrens’ stories. The author’s observation and attention to the children’s feelings and reactions was a real strength of the story. Warning: There’s one long incident involving cruelty to animals.
March 3, 2019
Full review at Smoke & Mirrors. This is exactly the type of book I love! A “slice of life,” as I like to call them. Emphasis on characterization rather than ‘action’. Such an apt (one of the first in literature) description of an abusive marriage! So glad I read this. Definitely to read more of Whipple!
May 20, 2020
No conocía a esta autora y me ha gustado mucho. Escribe de una forma directa, sin adornos, pero no cruda. Se basa más en el desarrollo de los personajes que en crear romance, o drama, aunque no por ello faltan. Seguiré con ella.
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