The Sisters

LONGLISTED FOR THE 2025 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FOR FICTION

SELECTED AS A BOOK OF THE YEAR BY THE TIMES AND NEW YORK TIMES

'It's been a while since we were stunned by an ambitious family saga, . . . a real winner'

The Times, Best Books of the Year So Far

'Epic . . . an apt way to kick of 2026'

Elle

'A triumph'

Irish Times

'One of the best novels I've ever read about the complexities of mixed heritage'

New Yorker

'One gawps at its breadth and ambition. It's a transnational tour de force'

New York Times

'Superb . . . one of those books you live inside and miss when it's over'

Isabella Hammad, author of Enter Ghost

'A moving appraisal of family, language, and the spiritual developments that accrue over a life'

Raven Leilani, author of Luster

'If you welcome this novel into your mind, it will warm and transform you'

Tess Gunty, author of the Rabbit Hutch

'[His] masterpiece . . . life overflows its pages'

Madeleine Thien, author of Do Not Say We Have Nothing

Meet the Mikkola sisters: Ina, Evelyn, and Anastasia. Their mother is a Tunisian saleswoman, their father a mysterious Swede who left them when they were young. Ina is tall, serious, a compulsive organizer. Evelyn is dreamy, magnetic, a smooth talker. And Anastasia is moody, chaotic, a shape-shifting presence, quick to anger.

Ina meets her future husband when she's dragged to a New Year's party by her sisters, only to suffer the ultimate betrayal. Evelyn drifts through life before embarking on a wild career as an actress. And Anastasia runs off to Tunisia, where she falls in love with a woman who, years later, will transform her life.

Following the sisters from afar is Jonas, the son of a Swedish mother and a Tunisian father. Over the course of three decades, his life intersects with the sisters, from a chance encounter in Tunis to the scene of a fighter jet crash in Stockholm. When Evelyn disappears on a trip to New York, Jonas manages to track her down - and helps her to break the curse that has been looming over the Mikkolas for decades. In the process, a shocking revelation changes everything about who they think they are.

Narrated in six parts, each spanning a period ranging from a year to a day to a single minute, The Sisters is a big, vivid family saga of the highest order - an addictively entertaining tour de force.