The Weird Sisters

Set in a picturesque university town, 'the weird sisters', who are named after Shakespearean characters and raised to revere books above all, find themselves returning to their parents house at the same time for different, life altering, reasons.  Homebody Rose's fiancee has accepted a job overseas, and now she's struggling with the decision to either end her relationship or break out of her comfort zone.  Bianca, nicknamed Bean, gets caught embezzling a large sum of money from the company she works for in New York and is forced to return or she'll be pursued by the people she owes money to.  And the youngest sister, Cordy, who has been living like a vagabond, and can barely look after herself has found out she's pregnant by a man she barely knew.

This book was a pleasure to read. The unusual collective narrative style allowed for access all areas, like a cloud consciousness, into the Andreas sisters lives, and added to the allusions of them being the mystical witches from Macbeth, aware of everything their sisters were up to without being told.  By forming their personalities around certain characters traits of their Shakespearean counterparts, the sisters still manage to come across as someone you may know.  This either proves the strength of Brown's ability to write strong characters or that of Shakespeare's enduring relevance. My only complaint would be that the ending was a little twee, but for a novel that could have easily strayed into chick-lit territory, the weird sisters refused to be put down until finished.