Simone Van der Vlugt
Shadow Sister
I selected this book, purely because the blurb on the back revealed the plot revolved around two very different sisters. I am including two sisters with opposing personalities and points of view within my novel, and wanted to find out how other, more experienced writers tackled such a thing.
The plot is basically follows two twins, Lydia who is a teacher, and working at a school with a husband who loves her, and Elisa who isn’t in a solid relationship, and unsure of her path in life. Lydia is threatened by one of her pupils, and then is murdered and Elisa embarks on a quest to try to discover who was responsible.
We are given the opportunity to see both sisters’ point of view, as Van der Vlugt switches between the two sisters before Lydia’s murder, and continues to reveal different aspects to their relationship after the event. I truly admire Van der Vlugt’s ability to create tension, and she takes her time in getting to the conclusion, but I never felt that it was telegraphed as can occasionally be the case in crime novels.
I have read other novels of hers since Shadow sister, all of which I thoroughly enjoyed, but Shadow sister still remains my favourite. It’s because of the character of Elisa, and the fact that she’s easy to relate to, faults and all.
Like this:
Like Loading...
Published by
hgolightly1982
I'm a thirty something woman who lives in the north of England. I have been a writer for as long as I can remember, creating stories both written and verbal since childhood. While studying at Edge Hill College, I got several poems published by a small publisher in the USA, and in Europe. I have been part of several writing groups, and done quite a few courses in a attempt to hone my writing skills further. I love reading different genres of fiction, knowing that the best way to develop my own writing, and my vocabulary is by exposing myself to the different ways that other people choose to describe things.
The most recent writing course that I've been part of, run by a published author, included a exercise in which we were challenged to read things that we would never usually even look at.
It inspired me to take up a challenge. Namely to attempt to read at least one book by every author which is stocked in my local library. I soon realised that I was being far too ambitious, especially given the fact that every library rotates their stock too often for me to keep track.
I've decided to instead attempt to read a book every day, starting with a author whose surname begins with A, and ending with a author whose surname begins with Z. It doesn't matter what the topic of the book is, or if it's fiction or non fiction, everything is useful for me at the minute.
View all posts by hgolightly1982
Musings of a thirtysomething woman 