Your sister is a fucking nuisance,” Luca muttered in my ear.

I swallowed. Be strong, Valentina. The wish of a dead man is sacred. Don’t break your promise.

When you're six years old, you do not appreciate that you're living in the Alps. My sisters and I, all we wanted was to go to Disneyland.

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.

How strange it is to have a sister, Valerie thought. Someone you might have been.

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.