The two sisters were connected by neither love nor mutual affinity but by a very small bathroom that could be entered from the bedroom on either side.

Oh, my love,' she said. 'What do the only children do?'

'We'll never have to know.

Both within the family and without, our sisters hold up our mirrors: our images of who we are and of who we can dare to be.

Different people were good at different things, Lena mused. Lena was good at writing thank-you notes, for instance, and Effie was good at being happy.

I told him that he better be good to you. When you came along, I said I'd share you, but I told him to remember that you're my sister. I loved you first.

You may be as different as the sun and the moon, but the same blood flows through both your hearts. You need her, as she needs you...