It's been three years since Anna, Bett and Carrie have spoken; a huge fight caused by Carrie stealing Bett's fiance from her ripped the once close sisters apart. Carrie is now married to Matthew and living at the hotel their parents run, Anna lives in Sydney with her husband Glenn and daughter Ellie, and Bett works in London as a music journalist. When their interfering grandmother Lola insists that they all come home to celebrate her 80th birthday, none of the sisters is happy, but Lola's very persuasive, and she's not going to rest until this three year long feud is resolved. Lola has planned for everything - except the revelation of long-buried family secrets, including her own.
McInerney writes above-average novels that combine family drama with strong characterisation, usually set in Australia and/or the UK. There are touches of light humour: when told by a young singer that he wants to "stay close to my beginnings... and keep it real" Bett ponders the irony of a youth so masked by makeup and hairgel that it was "hard to tell where his body stopped and the cosmetics industry began," being real to start with. And when involved with neo-punk quintet Dogs from Hell, "five children in heavy makeup sneer[ing] at her" Bett's boss refers to them as "Puppies from Hammersmith", while Bett thinks "Five Go Mad in Mummy's Makeup."
However, that's about all I can offer, not because of deficiencies by the author but because of the slack procrastination of the reviewer - I know I said I was going to write reviews more contemporaneously, but I haven't this time, and so all I'm left with is a general sense of enjoyment tinged with sadness (The Alphabet Sisters is more layered than most in the genre). It was good, so don't let my memory-impaired, lukewarm review put you off! -Alex
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