Two Sisters

"The third child in a family that wanted only two, Muriel Sullivant has always been the outsider. Single at twenty-three, she's living in a New York City rent-stabilized walk-up, a weaver finch nest of an apartment fitted out as much by serendipity as by intent: note the three-legged bedside table, her squat hand-painted pine dresser, a splotchy framed mirror, the spindled bathroom corner shelf. Her old sister, Pia-who lives in an endless house in Connecticut with her handsome, thick-haired husband, Will; her tween daughter, Emma; and a frothy, russet-colored Labradoodle named Root Beer-is altogether Muriel's opposite. Muriel eats takeout from the carton; Pia makes salads from the micro greens in her garden. Pia also takes "me" time to pray and do yoga, and she believes every word in the bible, her faith pure and unquestioning. Pia is remarkably like their mother, Lidia. So Muriel would prefer not to spend a Saturday afternoon with her sister, no doubt dispatched by Lidia to lecture her about slimming down and toning up, highlighting her hair, getting a better job, and moving into an elevator building. Only this time, is different. Distressingly so. Pia leaves Muriel without a single instruction in self-improvement and with a terrible secret she is sworn to keep"--