Genre Fiction
![Joshilyn Jackson - [object Object] author](https://res.cloudinary.com/readsomnia/image/upload/authors/a_B001IGV47I.jpg)
The Almost Sisters: A Novel
With empathy, grace, humor, and piercing insight, the author of gods in Alabama pens a powerful, emotionally resonant novel of the South that confronts the truth about privilege, family, and the distinctions between perception and reality--the stories we tell ourselves about our origins and who we really are.
Superheroes have always been Leia Birch Briggs' weakness. One tequila-soaked night at a comics convention, the usually level-headed graphic novelist is swept off her barstool by a handsome and anonymous Batman.
It turns out the caped crusader has left her with more than just a nice, fuzzy memory. She's having a baby boy-an unexpected but not unhappy development in the thirty-eight year-old's life. But before Leia can break the news of her impending single-motherhood (including the fact that her baby is biracial) to her conventional, Southern family, her step-sister Rachel's marriage implodes. Worse, she learns her beloved ninety-year-old grandmother, Birchie, is losing her mind, and she's been hiding her dementia with the help of Wattie, her best friend since girlhood.
Leia returns to Alabama to put her grandmother's affairs in order, clean out the big Victorian that has been in the Birch family for generations, and tell her family that she's pregnant. Yet just when Leia thinks she's got it all under control, she learns that illness is not the only thing Birchie's been hiding. Tucked in the attic is a dangerous secret with roots that reach all the way back to the Civil War. Its exposure threatens the family's freedom and future, and it will change everything about how Leia sees herself and her sister, her son and his missing father, and the world she thinks she knows.
Superheroes have always been Leia Birch Briggs' weakness. One tequila-soaked night at a comics convention, the usually level-headed graphic novelist is swept off her barstool by a handsome and anonymous Batman.
It turns out the caped crusader has left her with more than just a nice, fuzzy memory. She's having a baby boy-an unexpected but not unhappy development in the thirty-eight year-old's life. But before Leia can break the news of her impending single-motherhood (including the fact that her baby is biracial) to her conventional, Southern family, her step-sister Rachel's marriage implodes. Worse, she learns her beloved ninety-year-old grandmother, Birchie, is losing her mind, and she's been hiding her dementia with the help of Wattie, her best friend since girlhood.
Leia returns to Alabama to put her grandmother's affairs in order, clean out the big Victorian that has been in the Birch family for generations, and tell her family that she's pregnant. Yet just when Leia thinks she's got it all under control, she learns that illness is not the only thing Birchie's been hiding. Tucked in the attic is a dangerous secret with roots that reach all the way back to the Civil War. Its exposure threatens the family's freedom and future, and it will change everything about how Leia sees herself and her sister, her son and his missing father, and the world she thinks she knows.
Editorial Reviews
"Leia, a self-proclaimed superhero-comics dork, narrates this light-dark Southern story of family, race, and belonging with affection, humor, and well-timed profanity, bound to please fans of the best-selling author's six previous novels.… Both literary and women's fiction readers will appreciate Leia's smart/sassy narrative." - Library Journal (starred review)
"The Almost Sisters is a book only Joshilyn Jackson could have written… I was swept up by her inimitable voice from the very first page: she deftly combines such unexpected subjects as superheroes, single motherhood, race, and the impact of long-buried secrets." - Karen Abbott, New York Times bestselling author of Liar, Temptress, Solider, Spy
"In a story of incredible love and bravery, [Jackson] lasers through the weathered grace and mossy tradition of the contemporary south to explode its comic book dualism with blistering genius…Imagine Flannery O'Connor in a Wonder Woman suit, and you'll get close to the big heart of this brilliant book." - Lydia Netzer, author of Shine Shine Shine and How to Tell Toledo from the Night Sky
"Beautifully written, fascinating and deep, The Opposite of Everyone is another must-read novel by Jackson... Jackson has done a phenomenal job of weaving the past with the present and unfolding the story layer after layer. This is a masterfully written tale that readers cannot put down." - RT Book Reviews (top pick), THE OPPOSITE OF EVERYONE
"Jackson delivers another quirky, Southern-based, character-driven novel that combines exquisite writing, vivid personalities, and imaginative storylines while subtly contemplating race, romance, family, and self. A searing yet ultimately uplifting look at broken people who heal themselves and each other through forgiveness, love, and the power of stories." - Kirkus Reviews (starred review), THE OPPOSITE OF EVERYONE
"The unconventional characters in Jackson's books often provide thought-provoking studies of love and loyalty; this must-read also contemplates the transformative power of storytelling." - New York Times Book Review, THE OPPOSITE OF EVERYONE
"Witty, cleverly c...
"The Almost Sisters is a book only Joshilyn Jackson could have written… I was swept up by her inimitable voice from the very first page: she deftly combines such unexpected subjects as superheroes, single motherhood, race, and the impact of long-buried secrets." - Karen Abbott, New York Times bestselling author of Liar, Temptress, Solider, Spy
"In a story of incredible love and bravery, [Jackson] lasers through the weathered grace and mossy tradition of the contemporary south to explode its comic book dualism with blistering genius…Imagine Flannery O'Connor in a Wonder Woman suit, and you'll get close to the big heart of this brilliant book." - Lydia Netzer, author of Shine Shine Shine and How to Tell Toledo from the Night Sky
"Beautifully written, fascinating and deep, The Opposite of Everyone is another must-read novel by Jackson... Jackson has done a phenomenal job of weaving the past with the present and unfolding the story layer after layer. This is a masterfully written tale that readers cannot put down." - RT Book Reviews (top pick), THE OPPOSITE OF EVERYONE
"Jackson delivers another quirky, Southern-based, character-driven novel that combines exquisite writing, vivid personalities, and imaginative storylines while subtly contemplating race, romance, family, and self. A searing yet ultimately uplifting look at broken people who heal themselves and each other through forgiveness, love, and the power of stories." - Kirkus Reviews (starred review), THE OPPOSITE OF EVERYONE
"The unconventional characters in Jackson's books often provide thought-provoking studies of love and loyalty; this must-read also contemplates the transformative power of storytelling." - New York Times Book Review, THE OPPOSITE OF EVERYONE
"Witty, cleverly c...
Readers Top Reviews
MaryKateMFQBilal A.
I've read most of J Jackson's books & enjoyed them. They are a present to myself when I want to escape my world! I loved this one & whilst not a fan of the type of books Violet & Violence inhabit I thought the storyline of Almost Sisters clever & well written. To me - a non American - it seemed aimed at the divisive country you appear to be but holding out at the end the possibility of unity & harmony among the various strands of people who make up the great country the US can me. A real page turner & recommended if you want to escape your own sometimes messy world!!
JaquiP
They say write about what you know, and this writer knows the world she is writing about in a way this Brit reader does not, but found so interesting finding out. This first person narrative is beautifully written and the story unusual and not at all what I was expecting. I liked the gentle humour, the insights into American small town life in the South and the dynamics of the family. Kris is a graphic designer working for DC comics when her baby is conceived at a comic book convention in Atlanta and Leia knew her baby would be bi-racial. That's just the start of a lot of family issues as she drives to Birchville - a place "like driving a hundred and thirty years into the past all the way back to 1887" Here and there the language is hard to fathom to the eyes of a Brit ... What, for example, is "butt dial" or a "catty corner?". But it is true there is beauty and a beast in most of us. Small town Alabama with two Baptist churches two congregations one black and one white two kinds of American South in one place, where gossip is news and towns like Birchville named after founders where original descendants still live is very different in ways and culture and history to small English villages. I found it well drawn and educational. Nice twists in family dynamics which left me thoughtful. I wouldn't like to live there though I enjoyed Leia's journey.
Laurel-Rain Snow
Superheroes have always been Leia Birch Briggs’ weakness. One tequila-soaked night at a comics convention, the usually level-headed graphic novelist is swept off her barstool by a handsome and anonymous Batman. It turns out the caped crusader has left her with more than just a nice, fuzzy memory. She’s having a baby boy—an unexpected but not unhappy development in the thirty-eight year-old’s life. But before Leia can break the news of her impending single-motherhood (including the fact that her baby is biracial) to her conventional, Southern family, her step-sister Rachel’s marriage implodes. Worse, she learns her beloved ninety-year-old grandmother, Birchie, is losing her mind, and she’s been hiding her dementia with the help of Wattie, her best friend since girlhood. Leia returns to Alabama to put her grandmother’s affairs in order, clean out the big Victorian that has been in the Birch family for generations, and tell her family that she’s pregnant. Yet just when Leia thinks she’s got it all under control, she learns that illness is not the only thing Birchie’s been hiding. Tucked in the attic is a dangerous secret with roots that reach all the way back to the Civil War. Its exposure threatens the family’s freedom and future, and it will change everything about how Leia sees herself and her sister, her son and his missing father, and the world she thinks she knows. My Thoughts: The first person voice of Leia Birch Briggs brings the reader into
kcmagpie
First - I've read a couple other JJ novels and can only say I've been tepid towards her. She nails the South in many ways, but I've felt she sort of panders to a certain sorority sister Southern Baptist hypocrite that probably votes the way her husband tells her to. I hate that demographic drives much of what the media offers. I definitely feel with this novel she goes deeper. *spoiler that had I known might have led me to read this work of hers first: The Almost Sisters of the title does not refer to the lily white sisters on the book's cover.
