Do you remember that song about the sisters, devoted to each other … unless a man should come between them? Here are two versions of the novelisation of that story. In the first, set primarily in the Philippines, the two daughters of a former dissident compete for the affections of a powerful man. In the second, a YA dystopian novel, thirty teenagers who’ve been raised together, and think of each other as sisters, also hope to be chosen a high-status man. In both cases, their position is bleak, but the culture and politics of the society they inhabit render the alternative bleaker still.
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The Betrayed by Reine Arcache Melvin
Lali and Pilar, sisters in their early twenties, have lived in exile with their parents in San Francisco after their father, a renowned activist, fell foul of the Marcos dictatorship in the Philippines. When he’s assassinated, the sisters return to Manila with their mother.
While Pilar lives simply in the former family home, and their mother retreats into illness, Lali marries into wealth and the illusion of power. Has she betrayed her father’s principles by getting into bed (literally) the dictator’s godson, Arturo, or is she securing her family’s safety in a corrupt and violent world?
If political allegiances weren’t enough for the sisters to juggle, they’re both in love with the same man. When, at the behest of his mother, Arturo, runs for office, he needs an attractive woman to accompany him on the campaign trail.
I’ve read a few novels set between the US and the Philippines – for example, America Is Not the Heart – but this was the first where I felt I was beginning to understand the cultures of both rich and poor. Obviously, it’s better to have food and shelter, but it seems a grim place to live whatever resources one has. Cruelty and violence – which this novel traces back to the Japanese occupation in the Second World War – begets ever more paranoia, as private armies, alcohol and superstition (both Christian and traditional) provide a flimsy buffer against terror.
I didn’t have much sympathy for Lali until quite late in the novel, when it became clear that, while superficially repudiating everything he stood for, she’s very much her father’s daughter. What do you become when your father tells stories at the dinner table too dreadful for a child to contemplate? If the horrors are too close, you have to look away.
There are a few things in the novel I might have preferred to look away from, but overall the author treats the reader gently, without compromising authenticity. This is an intelligent and engaging novel about the impact of living in a dictatorship on two sisters and the man they both love. Thanks to publishers Europa editions for my advance proof copy.
While Pilar lives simply in the former family home, and their mother retreats into illness, Lali marries into wealth and the illusion of power. Has she betrayed her father’s principles by getting into bed (literally) the dictator’s godson, Arturo, or is she securing her family’s safety in a corrupt and violent world?
If political allegiances weren’t enough for the sisters to juggle, they’re both in love with the same man. When, at the behest of his mother, Arturo, runs for office, he needs an attractive woman to accompany him on the campaign trail.
I’ve read a few novels set between the US and the Philippines – for example, America Is Not the Heart – but this was the first where I felt I was beginning to understand the cultures of both rich and poor. Obviously, it’s better to have food and shelter, but it seems a grim place to live whatever resources one has. Cruelty and violence – which this novel traces back to the Japanese occupation in the Second World War – begets ever more paranoia, as private armies, alcohol and superstition (both Christian and traditional) provide a flimsy buffer against terror.
I didn’t have much sympathy for Lali until quite late in the novel, when it became clear that, while superficially repudiating everything he stood for, she’s very much her father’s daughter. What do you become when your father tells stories at the dinner table too dreadful for a child to contemplate? If the horrors are too close, you have to look away.
There are a few things in the novel I might have preferred to look away from, but overall the author treats the reader gently, without compromising authenticity. This is an intelligent and engaging novel about the impact of living in a dictatorship on two sisters and the man they both love. Thanks to publishers Europa editions for my advance proof copy.
Only Ever Yours by Louise O’Neill
Sixteen-year-old frieda is in her final year at school, although she doesn’t seem to have learnt much apart from the importance of slimness, beauty and pleasing a man. Not that she’s ever met anyone from the other sex, apart from on screen. Along with the other eves, she’s lived in an enclosed community since the day she was designed.
With twenty-nine classmates and only ten Inheritants awaiting a companion to give birth to their sons, competition between the girls is rife. Although, tutored in positivity, they must express their envy subtly, in that cruel manner girls often cultivate. Until now, Frieda has been protected by her friendship with isabel, the top-ranking eve. frieda can’t understand why she’s withdrawn.
Set in a school where the students will never have custody over their own bodies, this chilling YA novel is a feminist slant on Never Let Me Go. There’s even a character who disintegrates on intuiting the horrors that lie ahead. But it’s different enough to be worth reading in its own right. Like all dystopian fiction, it shines a light on contemporary injustice: in many communities the best a woman can hope for is an unequal marriage to a controlling man.
Only Ever Yours was published by Quercus in 2014. I bought my own copy.
“I Want Doesn’t Get”, one of the stories in my collection, is a playful take on sisterly rivalry, which I’ll read to you right now.
With twenty-nine classmates and only ten Inheritants awaiting a companion to give birth to their sons, competition between the girls is rife. Although, tutored in positivity, they must express their envy subtly, in that cruel manner girls often cultivate. Until now, Frieda has been protected by her friendship with isabel, the top-ranking eve. frieda can’t understand why she’s withdrawn.
Set in a school where the students will never have custody over their own bodies, this chilling YA novel is a feminist slant on Never Let Me Go. There’s even a character who disintegrates on intuiting the horrors that lie ahead. But it’s different enough to be worth reading in its own right. Like all dystopian fiction, it shines a light on contemporary injustice: in many communities the best a woman can hope for is an unequal marriage to a controlling man.
Only Ever Yours was published by Quercus in 2014. I bought my own copy.
“I Want Doesn’t Get”, one of the stories in my collection, is a playful take on sisterly rivalry, which I’ll read to you right now.
 | I struggled to find an interesting angle for this week’s flash fiction challenge to write a 99-word story featuring zippers (although, here in the UK, we still call them zips). Zipping one’s lips to avoid telling uncomfortable truths would have fit with these novels, but it seemed too obvious. Instead I had fun with the ambivalence sisters can feel about the bond between them. |
Twins entwined
As children, they slept entangled, as in the womb. Dreaming, they couldn’t distinguish their twin’s limbs from their own. Nor their thoughts, it seemed, as they finished each other’s sentences, read each other’s mind.
Alba reached her teens an hour before Zoe did. Watching her whisper to other girls, Zoe felt Alba had ripped out her heart. Approaching their twenties, Alba partied. Zoe stayed home, stitching matching outfits Alba wouldn’t wear.
Zoe claimed she was honing her skills for Alba’s wedding dress. But she was sewing a suit they’d both fit into, fastened with a zip beyond Alba’s reach.
As children, they slept entangled, as in the womb. Dreaming, they couldn’t distinguish their twin’s limbs from their own. Nor their thoughts, it seemed, as they finished each other’s sentences, read each other’s mind.
Alba reached her teens an hour before Zoe did. Watching her whisper to other girls, Zoe felt Alba had ripped out her heart. Approaching their twenties, Alba partied. Zoe stayed home, stitching matching outfits Alba wouldn’t wear.
Zoe claimed she was honing her skills for Alba’s wedding dress. But she was sewing a suit they’d both fit into, fastened with a zip beyond Alba’s reach.
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