The Sisterhood Rules by Kathy Lette

Thank you, Head of Zeus publishers and Random Things Tours, for giving me a copy of The Sisterhood Rules in return for an honest review.

Kathy Lette’s latest novel is a torrent of brilliant one-liners, interspersed with jokes so rude they would make a billy-goat blush. I loved this comment about sibling rivalry. ‘You’d pick her up after a fall, but only ‘cause you’d tripped her in the first place.’

Lette’s racy humour is underpinned by feminism. Isabel and her twin sister Verity have not spoken for years, because Verity stole Isabel’s husband. Thanks to the charms of love rat Johnny, the rule that sisters must never allow a man to come between them is in smithereens.

Everything changes when their mother goes missing. Can the feuding sisters unite to save Nicole from the clutches of a gold-digger? It seems unlikely. After bringing up Isabel and Verity alone while building a successful career as an orchestral conductor, Nicole wants to retire and spend the rest of her life doing what she likes. And she really likes doing Gawain, who is less than half her age.

Money is treated satirically in The Sisterhood Rules. Nicole’s daughters fear they will lose their inheritance if she marries Gawain. Verity is a wealthy music critic, but Isobel is a peripatetic music teacher with a child to support. Nicole’s agent Melissa is more concerned about her commission than her client’s welfare.

The family is united by musical talent, and Lette writes sensitively about the technical side of music. Another touching aspect is the undying love between the sisters. It is heartwarming when, after many hilarious adventures, they eventually make it up.

My only criticism of The Sisterhood Rules is that the Irish characters are rather stereotypical. Otherwise, I highly recommend this book.