Brothers And Sisters

'Your brother or sister, it might be said, is your other self - your grander, sadder, braver, shrewder, uglier, slenderer self ... Your sibling is your most severe judge and your fiercest defender.

You must always rescue them. They always abandon you ... You recognise one another, this is your relief and your ruin. They are your duty. They stun you with the sudden presence and force of their goodness. They give you Christmas presents that show you are strangers.

Critics and readers alike have long commented on Charlotte Wood's acute ability to dissect sibling relationships in her novels. Life-long resentments, tensions, alliances and affections between brothers and sisters play out in her books to brilliant effect. Here, Charlotte brings her skills to an anthology of stories by well-known and new writers - Tony Birch, Tegan Bennett Daylight, Robert Drewe, Ashley Hay, Cate Kennedy, Nam Le, Roger McDonald, Paddy O'Reilly, Virginia Peters, Michael Sala, Christos Tsiolkas, Charlotte Wood - who have written about an element of sister/brother relationships, both in fictional and non-fictional forms.

About the Author

Charlotte Wood is the acclaimed author of three novels, Pieces of a Girl, The Submerged Cathedral, which was shortlisted for the 2006 Miles Franklin Award, and The Children. She lives in Sydney.