Slags, Emma Jane Unsworth
Slags is about sisters Sarah and Juliette, who embark on a road trip to celebrate Juliette’s 40th birthday. With chapters alternating between present time and flashbacks to when Sarah was 15, we get to know the sisters at integral moments in their lives. Emma Jane Unsworth writes both characters very convincingly at both ages, carrying us with ease in and out of both timelines which never get vexing to follow and always give us something to look forward to.
This book has everything – it is one of the rare books that has made me laugh out loud, but it’s more than just a fun story. It also gives the reader plenty to think about, exposing realities of womanhood that are at once familiar and frustrating. And there is even a twist, one I genuinely could not guess but was dying to find out. All of this is packaged in prose that is extremely readable, familiar to the point where it feels like chatting to a friend, and witty in a way that feels like you’re establishing inside jokes with the book itself.
It’s impressive how intricately Emma Jane Unsworth understands both sibling-hood and teen-hood. The sibling dynamics in this story, both then and now, are extremely realistic and the thoughts of teenage Sarah – the ways she speaks, feels, and processes (or doesn’t) – are equally three dimensional. Even when we dislike these sisters, we can’t help but love them, if for nothing then for the ease of relationship that we, the reader, develop with them.
Editorial Picks
