Three Sisters in Black

How it reads

Three Sisters in Black is biography (true-crime family biography, specifically), and its dominant mood is dark. It goes to difficult places and doesn't look away. 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 several locations, in the historical past, told in the third person, staying close to one character. Its central concerns are family, power and politics and secrets. In weight it sits in the middle: substantial without being heavy going.

It stands alone, so there's nothing else you need to read first or after. The ending is dark — no rescue, no neat bow. At 192 pages it's a single-sitting book. It's moderately known: read by plenty of people, but not a household name.