Consider this your sign to pick up a book outside your typical genre of choice. Wendy Willis Baldwin’s debut The Sisters We Were is far outside my typical true crime/crime fiction selections, but this is absolutely a case of the universe putting the right book into the right hands at the right time. Baldwin’s story of two sisters who have processed their childhood grief and trauma very differently from each other, but as adults are now trying to find some common ground, had some hilarious all-too-human moments, and it is also full of deep, emotional hits as well.
Pearl, the younger of the Crenshaw sisters, still living in their childhood home in Austin has gained hundreds of pounds, literally carrying the “weight” of the trauma and secrets of the past around with her. Pearl is, in part, based on the author’s sister and it is clear that Baldwin holds great love for this character. Her self-awareness and honesty with herself once she determines a course of action for her future is both refreshing and endearing.
Ruby, Pearl’s older sister has been living in Dallas, and just as it could be said that Pearl is carrying the weight of her secrets, Ruby has been running from hers. But even running for miles everyday has not let Ruby outrun her past.
At the same time that Pearl has set herself on a positive path, Ruby’s life implodes (through a method only today’s technology could manage) and it is equal parts laugh-out-loud funny and cringe-inducing. The sisters embark on a new type of experience together, realising that as adults they still love each other, but no longer really know each other.
As someone who in recent years finally began to examine and change her own relationship with food, there were times throughout The Sisters We Were that I literally had to set the book down for a minute because Baldwin’s writing of Pearl was almost too on-the-money. It was incredible to watch Pearl go through life-changing steps, not as a perfect person, not as someone who never had missteps, but as someone who had made her mind up, and was determined to see things through.
The Sisters We Were is a rare example of a book that the reader leaves loving every main character in the story. They are all so genuine and real that there is just that moment of sadness after the last page, when you realise you are going to miss Pearl and Ruby. And don’t even get me started on Pearl’s best friend Perry. As the author stated in an Instagram conversation, “The world needs more Perrys,” and that is the absolute truth.
The Sisters We Were is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore.
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Synopsis | Goodreads
Pearl and Ruby’s choices drove them apart.
Finding their way back to each other might be the only way forward.
The weight of their family secrets could not have shaped Pearl and Ruby Crenshaw any differently. Ruby’s a runner, living in Dallas and only reluctantly talking to their mother, Birdie, when she calls from prison. Pearl is still living in her mother’s fixer-upper and finds herself facing a line in the sand: her weight is threatening to kill her. She’s hundreds of pounds beyond the point where she can celebrate her curves or benefit from the body positivity movement, and unless she takes drastic action, the future looks dire.
But when Ruby’s buried rage explodes in a hilariously viral way, the mistake has life-altering consequences. Now the sisters are back living under the same roof and forced to put the pieces of their separate lives together again. Funny, cinematic, and bursting with heart, this is a story of hope and redemption that celebrates the unbreakable bonds of sisterhood.
