April 2001
Poolbeg Press
Paperback, 184 pages
ISBN 1-84223-017-4
What do you do when life is all about being her sister?
When, no matter what you do, you end up being compared to her?
“I mean, if you had a younger sister like Rachel who was better than you at everything, wouldn’t you be depressed?”
“Danielle’s so popular. Yeah, even my friends think she’s the greatest. But they don’t have to shove it in my face.”
What do you do if you end up hating her?
“The novel contains rounded characters who speak with distinct voices and the plot is extremely well sustained.”
(Sue Leonard, Irish Examiner)
“It is quite convincing psychologically in its portrayal of the volatile relationship between two sisters, Danielle and Rachel, with some horrifying insights into over-ambitious mothers and the ease with which even the closest of friends can manipulate and be manipulated.”
(Robert Dunbar, The Irish Times)
“This book was one of those (here comes that expression again!!!!) that you cannot put down.”
(Cool-Reads.co.uk reviews)
“…great, full of surprises, and the last chapters really keep you gripped.”
(Amazon reviews)
I don’t have a sister but when I was younger I always wanted one. I started writing this story because I was thinking about how people’s perceptions of themselves differ from how other people see them (this is one of the reasons I love writing from more than one point of view), and how people can be jealous of others without realising that they too have enviable qualities, and it made sense for the worst possible situation to be having to live with someone you envied – your sister. It always surprises me just how evil Danielle is at times in this book, incidentally.
When I was writing this I learned a very valuable lesson: not about plotting, or writing, or character development (though I did learn more about these things too) but about something very practical: always back up your work. I had finished this and then lost the original ending in a computer crash. Painful stuff. I forget how it originally ended – it was fairly similar in terms of the outcome, but when you lose whole chunks like that you can’t ever recreate them the way that they were.
