The writing in this book is excellent, with well developed characters. The story itself is so, so sad. A mom (Constance) who dreamed of being an actress and feels trapped in her housewife role, A dad (Henry) who'd like to be an artist but works as a janitor. And two sisters. The eldest is Vivienne , a beautiful child pushed into the beauty pageant world by her mother. And Edith, in love with a boy who loves her sister. No character has more than fleeting moments of happiness throughout the book.

That said, it's a compelling read about the bond between sisters. Beautifully written. ( )

This is a well written but exceedingly bleak story of two sisters, Vivienne and Edith, growing up in Ottawa, Canada in a dysfunctional and loveless family. Their parents married when the girls' mother, who had come to New York from France to pursue fame and fortune, got pregnant. Their father (at the time a struggling artist in New York) did the "right"(actually, very wrong!) thing and so begins the terrible story of the family's apparently unending unhappiness. Her own dreams unrealized, Con, the girls' mother primps, preens, and pushes the beautiful elder daughter, Vivienne, through endless childhood beauty pageants, placing the family in debt in order to do so. Later, Vivienne, a talented artist begins the downward spiral of addiction from which Edith, who lives in Viv's shadow, attempts to rescue her. Berkhout's story is layered and accomplished, but the subject matter is certainly dark and depressing. I was sufficiently interested in the sisters to complete the book, but it is not one I'd recommend, nor am I convinced that I'd read anything further from Berkhout. ( )