Sisters by a River (Virago Modern Classics) [Paperback]

Barbara Comyns (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics) (January 6, 1987)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140161678
• ISBN-13: 978-0140161670
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,767,714 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars 'humor and horror juxtaposed', December 19, 2011

By 

sally tarbox (aylesbury bucks uk) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sisters by a River (Virago Modern Classics) (Paperback)

Lovely book that can only be described as the literary equivalent of naive art! Comyns recounts episodes from her childhood, brought up in a genteel if debt-laden family. It put me in mind of Nancy Mitford's account of her own family. Irascible Daddy, vague, deaf Mammy and six children who for want of outside company spend much time together.
Comyns writes in a unique childlike style with eccentric spelling and an antipathy for semicolons, so that phrases run into each other.
Far from being a sentimental account, Comyns recalls the horrific alongside the magical- villagers are drowned in the flood, Daddy has violent tempers, animals get ill-treated- yet with a childlike acceptance.
I LOVE Comyns' work!