The Lost Sisters

How it reads

The Lost Sisters is fantasy (fairy-tale fantasy novella, specifically), and its dominant mood is melancholy. It's quietly sad, wistful and reflective. The pace is moderate — neither a page-turner nor a slow burn — so it holds up whether you read it in long sittings or short ones.

It's set in an invented world, in no single period, told in the first person by a single narrator. Its central concerns are family, love and secrets. In weight it sits in the middle: substantial without being heavy going.

It's a companion to a series: set in the same world, readable on its own. The ending is bittersweet: it resolves, but at a price. At 50 pages it's a single-sitting book. It's well known, the kind of book most keen readers have heard of.