The sisterly bond: A stereotype of the love/hate relationship

Cathy Kelly’s latest book expores the most stereotyped of relationships - that of two sisters. Áilín Quinlan reports on the love/hate twist in the family tale.

Consider this quote from American author Linda Sunshine: “If you don’t understand how a woman could both love her sister dearly and want to wring her neck at the same time, you were probably an only child.”

For many of us, that about sums up what can be the most complex of relationships. And best-selling writer Cathy Kelly doesn’t shy away from it in her latest book — and although the sometimes tricky interactions between sisters has been a theme of previous novels, the relationship itself is the main focus of her latest offering, Between Sisters.