Cathy Lamb (Such a Pretty Face, The Last Time I Was Me) has created a compelling family saga in The Language of Sisters. As children in the dreary Soviet Union, Antonia, Valeria and Elvira Kozlovskaya struggled to find enough food to eat, often reduced to picking pockets to help support their ill mother, while their father, an outspoken intellectual, was in jail.
Fast-forward a quarter-century, and Toni, Valerie and Ellie Kozlovsky are part of the big, extended, happy Kozlovsky family, who now live in Portland, Ore. All three sisters have successful careers, but none of them are content. Toni wants to quit her job as a crime reporter and is struggling in her current relationship. Valerie is prosecuting a murder trial where the defendant's relatives have threatened to kill her. And Ellie is beginning to realize she doesn't actually love her fiancé.
The Language of Sisters boasts a full cast of hilarious relatives, like Boris the car-stealing cousin; Svetlana, the girls' larger than life mother--who broadcasts family problems on the specials board at her restaurant with dishes like "Valeria No Call Mama Enough" or "Elvira's Bad Choice"; and cousins Tati and Zoya, twins who specialize in creating stripper couture. The eclectic personalities neatly balance the dark drama of the sisters' early life with their struggles and funny moments in the present day. Readers are likely to relate to many problems the sisters face, while also being a little jealous of the Kozlovsky family bond. --Jessica Howard, blogger at Quirky Bookworm