Good Sisters By Sinead Moriarty

Sinead Moriarty is back with a new story about siblings, relationships and new beginnings called ‘Good Sisters’.

After losing their beloved mother, the Devlin sisters need each other more than ever. Single parent Louise is trying to help her fragile young daughter to navigate life. So, when the nine- z-old insists on finding out who her father is, Louise organizes a sisters’ outing to track down her Italian one-night stand. Meanwhile, due to her teenage sons’ sporting success, mother-of-four Julie is anointed Cook-Bottlewasher-and-Cheerleader-in-Chief for the rugby parents’ WhatsApp group. Worst. Job. Ever Finally, glamorous Sophie is determined that her daughter Jess won’t be boy-crazy and image-obsessed like she was. But when things go horribly wrong at a teen party, Sophie and her sisters are forced to take drastic measures to protect Jess’s future.
Squeezed from every side, Louise, Julie and Sophie want to be good sisters – but sometimes that’s easier said than done.

The story is seen from the narrative of sisters, Louise, Julie and Sophie who all have different things going on in their lives as they deal with the loss of their mother. Sophie’s having to constantly look after her stepson Robert whilst is constantly out on the town whilst her teenage daughter is glued to her phone and noticed boys. Julie’s triplet boys have made the school rugby team and are all captain so she has to deal with WhatsApp groups and organising club parties whilst all the other mothers look down on her and the eldest sister Louise, is trying to mourn her mother and her daughter Clara wants to know why she doesn’t have a father as she was conceived from a one night stand. Overall, the sisters aren’t having a good time.

I loved this story, it’s relatable, it’s funny and it tackles real life issues with sensitivity and wisdom. They story looks at children who are autistic and how they see the world, their curiosity and their behaviour and I found this beautiful to read as Louise is a brash and outspoken woman but with Clara, she’s toned down and caring and will anything for her, including trying to Clara’s father.

I loved Julie, she’s the maddest of the trio and is rightly so with triplet boys, she has a busy life and is expected to carry on and to her credit she does carrying herself and many others. Meanwhile Sophie is expected to drop everything for her stepson Robert when Pippa pleases, and I found this terribly sad how little time Pippa had for her son and he was oblivious to her abandonment and Jess was the typical teenager who knows it all but is still very naive to the workings of the world.

The various perspectives made the story flow at a lovely pace as the sister dealt with their grief as well as the issue of their father possibly moving from Dolores from down the road. As well as touching on grief, loss, trolling, there was an interesting slant on the sister’s brother Gavin who became a stay-at-home father so his partner could return to her business. This is not seen as the norm, and it was interesting and quite to read how Gavin thought he would instantly be capable of this and how it actually really is difficult being a stay at home parent.

This is a lovely addition to the Devlin sisters book series and even though it had a sad beginning, the story brightened throughout bringing new hope and relationships that left the reader feeling lighter as they reached the final page.

Packed with family drama, secrets and moving on, ‘Good Sisters’ is a tremendous story.

You can buy ‘Good Sisters’ from Amazon and is available to buy from good bookshops.