"Something unspeakable has happened to sisters July and September.
Desperate for a fresh start, their mother Sheela moves them across the country to an old family house that has a troubled life of its own. Noises come from behind the walls. Lights flicker of their own accord. Sleep feels impossible, dreams are endless.
In their new, unsettling surroundings, July finds that the fierce bond she's always had with September - forged with a blood promise when they were children - is beginning to change in ways she cannot understand." - Taken from the blurb
I used an online copy for the image of this book as my copy is a proof. So forgive the use of another photo!
Daisy Johnson’s novel was originally meant to be released in July 2020, however, due to COVID the release was in September. There is a lot to say about this book and, I guess since I have a sister, the story really got to me and was greatly emotional. A wonderful narration of sisterhood and the loyalty and importance of both family love and self love.
[Spoilers Ahead!]
One thing you must notice when you begin this book is the lack of speech marks. But we can discuss this later when we talk about the characters. The main plot of this story is two young girls, along with their single mother, move to a small house in Yorkshire. Their father is dead and this was his parents’ house and where he and the narrator’s older sister were born. September and July are sisters, one or two years apart. Their exact age is not mentioned but from their behaviour and games they play we assume they are around the age of ten or eleven. The story starts off with the family just moving in, having left their home in Oxford due to an accident in the girls’ old school. I think I wrote over and over again in my copy “what happened?” every time the accident was mentioned but we don’t really find out the details until further in the book.
July and September are very close, almost connected, yet both seem estranged from their mother. Since most of the book is narrated from July’s perspective, the younger sister, her opinion of their mum is based on how her older sister sees her; them being the same age and being so close, her opinion of their mother is manipulated. Their mother, Sheela, has a few third person narration points within the book, however, September does not narrate at all. Sheela only seems to speak to July - when she speaks July is always with September, meaning she could be talking to one or both of them. Jumping back to the lack of speech marks, this takes away the identity of characters, suggesting that since they’re extremely close, the sisters are almost the same person...see where this is going?
There is a sense of supernatural essence to the story, however, I did not think that was the point of the story. I believe it was less about the house becoming a human and embodying September, but rather more to do with grief and acceptance. July has spent years denying her sister’s death, and only when she has sex and knocks John unconcious does she begin to accept the reality of September’s passing. Not only is it an interesting tale of grief, but Johnson also touches domestic and sexual abuse. I believe that this book is mainly about acceptance and in a way self-love. When July comes to the realisation that September is gone and she has been keeping her alive in her imagination; this makes sense as Sheela never really acknowledges September in the present.
I thought this was a very beautiful story, heartbreaking, and made me tear up at certain points, like when July notices that September is the only one Sheela draws for her stories, or when July states that it is impossible to kill September, and that loving her was also loving herself.
All in all I want to give this book a star for plot development, it bounced around which kept it interesting - meaning another star - I really enjoyed the context which is why I’m giving it a third star, the importance of sisterhood is something not everyone has the privilege to be given. I am lucky enough to have a sister so this book really resonated with me. The language was fairly simple and easy to read so I guess another star for those who, like me, have a short attention span. So four stars! Definitely worth a read this Halloween!
★★★★☆
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