SUCH DEVOTED SISTERS
edited by Shena Mackay
Mackay (Dunedin, 1993, etc.) has compiled an anthology of short fiction and poetry around the theme of sisterhood with all its jealousies and pathologies, intimacies and vital bonds. Heavyweights represented include Edna O'Brien, Jean Stafford, Louisa May Alcott, and Elizabeth Jolley. In her introduction, Mackay takes note that ``what Hollywood in its heyday really liked was one sister to be bad and preferably played by Bette Davis.'' This collection depicts a much greater variety of sisterly relations in tones ranging from the comic to the tragic.