Read With Jenna’s September 2024 pick is “Blue Sisters” by Coco Mellors, which TODAY’s Jenna Bush Hager compared to a modern-day “Little Women.”
“I grew up with a mother and grandmother who read ‘Little Women’ to me, which is about a strong group of sisters. Not since then has a book about sisterhood stuck with me as much as Coco Mellors’ ‘Blue Sisters,’” Jenna previously told TODAY.com.
“Blue Sisters” follows the lives of four sisters, who despite growing up together, now lead very different lives. Avery is a lawyer in London, Bonnie is a boxer in Los Angeles and Lucky is a model in Paris. However, the death of their fourth sister brings them all home, where they confront what has been keeping them apart.
“Like ‘Little Women,’ home is always when the sisters were unified and together,” Jenna said. “I loved these characters who span continents and yet their DNA and the history of their childhood is like a compass that brings them back when they need it most.”
Mellors told TODAY.com that she wanted to write about sisters who may have vast differences but use that childhood home as a source of moving forward together.
“It’s really only by returning home and returning to each other that they can move forward like through this grief, and also fall back in love with their family, their sisterhood and their own individual lives,” Mellors said.
Below, find other books that delve into intricate family dynamics, paths of self-discovery and family’s reconnecting and learning more about each other’s differences, like the Blue sisters.
‘Giovanni’s Room’ by James Baldwin
Set in 1950s France, “Giovanni’s Room” follows David, a Brooklyn native, who moves to Paris and embarks upon a journey of self-discovery. He grapples with his sexual identity after he meets an Italian bartender named Giovanni, and later struggles with internalized homophobia and the devastating results of not being his true self.
‘On Beauty: A Novel’ by Zadie Smith
Zadie Smith’s tour-de-force “On Beauty” follows two families: the Belseys and the Kipps. Both families’ fathers consider the other an academic rival. Like the Blue sisters, the Belsey and Kipp children all lead different lives. Then, as with “Blue Sisters,” a death links the families together once more.
‘A Visit from the Goon Squad’ by Jennifer Egan
This Pulitzer Prize-winning, kaleidoscopic novel jumps through time and perspective. Each of the book’s 13 chapters unfolds through the lens of a different character, linked to one another in the most surprising of ways.
‘Walking Through Clear Water in a Pool Painted Black’ by Cookie Mueller
Cookie Mueller led an interesting life. The actor, known for her work in John Waters movies and more generally as a personality, writes, unflinchingly, about her defining stories. She doesn’t bow to societal expectations and might make you, too, braver in the process of reading.
‘Crossroads’ by Jonathan Franzen
Much of “Crossroads” takes place in a single day and follows the life of the Hildebrandt family, which is made up of Illinois pastor Russ, his wife Marion and their six children. Switching between family members’ perspectives, the novel delves into marital problems, a crisis of morality and complex family dynamics.
This post was originally published on here
