‘On the morning the last Lisbon daughter took her turn at suicide — it was Mary this time, and sleeping pills, like Therese — the two paramedics arrived at the house knowing where the knife drawer was, and the gas oven, and the beam in the basement from which it was possible to tie a rope...’
First published in 1993, the haunting, humorous and tender story of the brief lives of the five entrancing Lisbon sisters is Pulitzer Prize-winner Jeffrey Eugenides classic debut novel.
The shocking thing about the girls was how nearly normal they seemed when their mother let them out for the one and only date of their lives. Twenty years on, their personalities are embalmed in the memories of the boys who worshipped them and who now recall their shared adolescence: the brassière draped over the crucifix belonging to the promiscuous Lux; the sisters' breathtaking appearance on the night of the dance; and the sultry, sleepy street across which they watched a family disintegrate and fragile lives disappear.