The novel Blue Sisters by Coco Mellors was published in May of 2024. It is an intricately woven book that follows three sisters after the death of their fourth sister, Nicky. The story opens with all the sisters separated in different cities, a contrast to the small two-bedroom apartment they lived in as kids. 

Avery, who is the oldest sister, lives in London with her wife; Bonnie, the second oldest sister, lives in Los Angeles working as a bouncer; and Lucky, the youngest of the sisters, is a model in Paris. Nicky, the deceased sister, is buried in New York, where the sisters were raised. The sisters flock to New York and to their old apartment, as their parents have decided to sell it, along with Nicky’s things.

The sisters all have very distinct and noteworthy lives. Avery graduated from high school two years early, went to Colombia for undergraduate studies, and after college developed a heroin addiction, which resulted in her spending a year homeless in California. Eventually, she managed to check herself into a rehab center and received the help she needed. Post rehab, she applied to law school and made the move to London, where she has managed to stay sober ever since. 

Bonnie, who was inspired by TV and Nicky, joined a training gym when she was a teenager to become a boxer. She became one of the best female boxers in the world, holding the championship title until she lost her first match soon after Nicky’s death. After her sister’s death, she moved to Los Angeles and quit boxing. 

Lucky was scouted by a model agent at 15 and has been touring the world as a model ever since. She is preparing to walk at Paris Fashion Week when the story starts. 

While these in-depth backstories make for interesting characters, it can also make them seem unrealistic and unattainable. As the reader, their livelihoods make it hard to connect with these characters, as they seem so far from reach. This is a trap many authors fall into, but Mellors makes up for it with the realistic depiction of sister relationships.

Despite the unrealistic nature of their careers, you can easily observe the real sisterly affection between the sisters. Their parents were very unsuitable for their role, as their father was a raging drunk and their mother an enabler. As a result of this, Avery, as the eldest, was forced to step into the maternal role for the other girls. The dynamic it created between them is sewn into every interaction, mainly shown between Avery and Lucky, the oldest and the youngest of the siblings. 

Avery can see that Lucky is succumbing to the same cycle of addiction as she once did, and this causes friction between them. Tensions surrounding her drug and alcohol addiction are heightened because their sister, Nicky, died of an overdose on painkillers that she was taking for her endometriosis. Lucky’s addiction, coupled with Avery and Bonnie’s own problems, causes a fight between the sisters that would usually break a relationship irrevocably. 

In a way only sisters are capable of, they reconcile and become closer than ever. The fight is so compelling because it is very obvious that it comes from a place of love and worry for the other.

This book has left a lasting effect on me due to the genuine look into the lives of sisters as they mature and the problems that follow. Though the book flourishes on its own, the ties to nostalgia that are deeply rooted throughout the book remind me of Little Women; the concept of four sisters, the focus of their close-knit bond, and the death of the sweetest and kindest sister all ring very similarly. 

It appears that familial relationships will continue to be a fascinating topic to read about. In my opinion, Blue Sisters is a five out of five read.