Sisters by Daisy Johnson

Something unshakable has happened to sisters July and September

Desperate for a fresh start, their mother Sheela moves them across the country to an old family house that has a troubled life of it’s own. Noises come from behind the walls. Lights flicker of their own accord. Sleep feels impossible, dreams are endless.

In their new, unsettling surroundings, July finds that the fierce bond she’s always had with September - forged with a blood promise when they were children - is beinning to change in ways she cannot understand.

Sisters by Daisy Johnson

I bought myself a signed first edition copy of this book as soon as I read the blurb online. I’m not usually a fan of horrors but this one caught my eye. One thing that grabbed my attention is that the girls are 10 months apart in age.... so are my 2 children. I just hope nothing else is similar!

Julie and September are close, very close. It’s a strange relationship, a controlling one, with September Being the one to make decisions for the two of them. They play a game called September says, which is like Simon say, but she gets rather carried away and says things like ‘September says hold your hand under the hot tap for 1 minute’, or ‘September says lie in the middle of the road’. September wants the girls to have a phone between them, not one each. She does most things for her sister, and July is starting to realise it isn’t normal.

Something bad happens which we don’t find out about for a long time in the story, and this is the reason Sheela moves the family to the Settle House, a strange old run down home which has been in the family for a while. The house itself is rather weird, and the girls relationship just made it seem even weirder.

The book started off a bit strange, but by the end of chapter 1 (which was only 27 pages in), it has you hooked, waiting to know what the bad thing that happened is. The story is written without any speech, and is mostly told from the viewpoint of July, which found a bit different at firs but got used to it quite quickly.

A good story which creeps into your mind. It had me hooked, and I read from page 27 to the end in one day!