The Sisters

By Nancy Jensen

This novel begins in 1920s Kentucky. It spans the lives of two very different sisters, who take very different paths through life. Each sister has a pair of daughters. As their story unfolds, it also tells the stories of their daughters.

Each woman in this multi-generational novel has their own set of circumstances, based both upon their environment and the choices they make. They each have definite strengths and weaknesses. Some of the women are strong in moral and character, yet some are strong willed and rigid.

There is a definite difference between strength and stubbornness. As a woman raised by women of these varied traits, I found this to be a particularly interesting portrait of a family of such women.

Nancy Jensen has exceptional insight into the emotions and personal burdens of the women. She understands the bonds that hold them together, but also cause them to strain at the bindings.

Each sister walks a different road, but within the same map of life. The roads intersect, intertwine, taking them to different places that the others could never understand.

In life, the things that happen to us become a part of us, but the things we choose we become a part of. Sometimes we have to forgive others to go on. Sometimes we need to be forgiven. Sometimes we have to forgive ourselves.