Sister Crazy

Sister Crazy
Emma Richler

Both comic and deeply serious. A truly dazzling debut.’ BERYL BAINBRIDGEJemima Weiss grew up with a special feeling for Action Man, American westerns, the Knights of the Round Table, bagels with cheddar on the top and, above all else, her family: her rumpled father, glamorous mother and four remarkable siblings. Now grown into a worldly yet deeply troubled woman, Jem reflects on her days as a young girl, even as she struggles not to be engulfed by the present.An edgy and deeply funny account about growing up in a close-knit family, and the difficulties of breaking away, in fact, of making oneself break away from the security of the family bonds.An extraordinarily brilliant piece of writing. Emma Richler has chosen to tell a classic tale, one which writers often cut their teeth on, but the voice and the style she brings to this novel is simply astonishing. The combination of ingenious comedy and absolutely devastating bombshells of detail makes this book a rare thing indeed.Great review coverage on hb publication. Featured in end-of-year round ups.Festival appearances throughout 2002

SISTER CRAZY

Emma Richler

Copyright (#ulink_daace0d2-8506-59cb-8827-a24d7c304f10)

Fourth Estate

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Flamingo is a registered trademark of HarperCollinsPublishers Limited

Published by Flamingo 2002

First published in Great Britain by Flamingo 2001

Copyright © Emma Richler 2001

Emma Richler asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

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Source ISBN: 9780007118298

Ebook Edition © MAY 2019 ISBN: 9780007476978

Version: 2019-05-17

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Praise (#ulink_150e88b7-f543-5bc7-8876-4d7556d5bab8)

From the reviews:

‘A joy to read’

ALICE MUNRO

‘A deeply moving book. Richler’s language is so electric, her formal poise astonishing, her observations of the world of children, of the terror of madness, riveting. And she is bold and witty and will make you laugh out loud. A stunning novel.’

LISA APPIGNANESI, Jewish Chronicle

‘A little masterpiece of imagination. A lovely book.’

Irish Independent

‘Sister Crazy shows us with unflinching intensity what happens when a sweet family romance is never displaced. Richler’s great achievement is that she has fashioned for Jem a voice that sounds right in the mouth of a smiley eight-year-old and that of a suicidal thirty-five-year-old.’

Guardian

‘An utterly exhilarating ride into the heart of childhood and family, as unexpected as it is invigorating. It is very, very funny indeed. It is also very affecting. Emma Richler’s evocations of the depth of the bond between the siblings catch the breath with their intensity, their exactitude, their unsentimentality. It is a work of radiance.’

Ottawa Citizen

‘Extraordinary. The narrative voice is, by turns, grave, funny, ironic, poetic and wary. It went straight to my soul and will not leave.’

Globe and Mail (Canada)

‘Richler’s authorial voice is at once entertaining and serious. Her writing is superb: crisp and sure, infused with a sly humour. Richler abandoned an acting career to write this book. Her choice was no mistake.’

Toronto Star (Canada)

‘Wonderful. Richler’s voice is true and intimate as she reveals a family of compelling characters in a way that is utterly unique. Moving deftly among the humorous and the serious, this quirky, forthright narrator takes us on an immensely readable ride.’

ELIZABETH STROUT, author of Amy and Isabelle

‘Sister Crazy, with its easy prose, piercing insights and sly wit, is a fine debut. Its depiction of a golden childhood is enlivened with amusing meditations on all sorts of things – French films and malt whisky, commandos and cowboys, St Francis of Assisi and the Knights of the Round Table. The brief glimpses of Jem as a tormented adult sting like thorns in a rose bush.’

National Post (Canada)

‘Luminescent’