Reads ·
7 must-read books to celebrate siblings in literature
Image credit: Ayesha (for the public eye).
There is an unbreakable bond between siblings or friends like siblings — it’s unique, complex and filled with sweet devotion. For this year’s Raksha Bhandan, we have curated a list of our favourite books that will bring back the memories, silly arguments and laughter that follows.
Here’s our 7 must-read books:
“The year is 1969. In the state of Kerala, on the southernmost tip of India, fraternal twins Esthappen and Rachel fashion a childhood for themselves in the shade of the wreck that is their family.”
“The story of Makioka sisters forms what is arguably the greatest Japanese novel of the twentieth century, a poignant yet unsparing portrait of a family - and an entire society - sliding into the abyss of modernity.”
“When Nigeria begins to fall apart under a military coup, Kambili’s father sends her and her brother away to stay with their aunty, a University professor, whose house is noisy and full of laughter. There, Kamili and her brother discover a life and love beyond the confines of their father’s authority.”
This is the story of two sisters, Marianne and Elinor Dashwood. “Through their parallel experience of love—and its threatened loss—the sisters learn that sense must mix with sensibility if they are to find personal happiness in a society where status and money govern the rules of love.”
“We meet he Mishra family in Delhi in 1978, where eight-years old Ajay and his older brother Birju play cricket in the streets, waiting for the day when their plane tickets wil arrive and they and their mother can fly across the world and join their father in America.”
“As his younger sister, Franny, suffers a spiritual and existential breakdown in her parents’ Manhattan living room—leaving Bessie, her mother, deeply concerned—Zooey comes to her aid, offering what he thinks is brotherly love, understanding, and words of sage advice.”
“Epic in its canvas and intimate in its portrayal of lives undone and forged anew, The Lowland is a deeply felt novel of family ties that entangle and fray in ways unforeseen and unrevealed, of ties that ineluctably define who we are.”