Today I am really excited to be part of the blog tour
for a 2016 debut novel called "The Witch's kiss". The authors have a
fantastic guest post for you all enjoy about their favourite siblings in
literature.
Title: The Witch’s Kiss
Series: The Witch’s Kiss
Author: Katharine & Elizabeth Corr
Genre: YA Fantasy
Publisher: Harper Collins
Published: 30th June 2016
About the BookSixteeen-year-old Meredith is fed-up with her feuding family and feeling invisible at school – not to mention the witch magic that shoots out of her fingernails when she’s stressed. Then sweet, sensitive Jack comes into her life and she falls for him hard. The only problem is that he is periodically possessed by a destructive centuries-old curse. Meredith has lost her heart, but will she also lose her life? Or in true fairytale tradition, can true love’s kiss save the day?
Favourite siblings in
literature
There are two relationships at the heart of The
Witch’s Kiss: the romance between Merry and Jack, and – just as important – the
bond between Merry and her brother, Leo. As sisters who write together (and do
a lot of other stuff together), it was really important for us to reflect our
closeness in creating Merry and Leo. They have the best
kind of sibling relationship: they look out for each
other and defend each other, and they’re both quite happy to point it out if
they think the other one is being a bit of a numpty. But of course, sibling
relationships can be anything but plain sailing. With that in mind, here are
our Top Ten Bookish Siblings: some good, some very, very bad…
1) Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy from The Lion, The
Witch & The Wardrobe, by C S Lewis
The first siblings
we both remember reading about (apart from Peter and Jane from the Key Words
reading scheme, and it’s hard to get much of a sense of their relationship from
‘Here is Peter. Here is Jane’). The portrayal of the four children is fantastic;
you get a real sense of family dynamics. Sure, there’s competition, shifting
alliances and betrayal, but when their backs are really up against the wall,
the children love each other.
2) The Weasleys from
Harry Potter, by J K Rowling
With the exception
of Percy (and even he comes good right at the end) the Weasley siblings are all
pretty lovely. Kind; honourable; occasionally brilliant at Quidditch. After
reading the books we both wished that we came from a really big family. We wanted
lots of other brothers and sisters to look out for us, play practical jokes on
and go to Hogwarts with. Sigh.
3) Narcissa and
Bellatrix Lestrange from Harry Potter, by J K Rowling
These two charming
sisters seem to have a pretty good relationship. They use shortened versions of
each other’s names (‘Bella’ and ‘Cissy’). They both support the Deatheaters and
the dominance of pure-blood families. And Bellatrix follows Narcissa to visit
Snape even though she clearly disproves of the whole
helping-Malfoy-kill-Dumbledore-thing. But in the end, Narcissa’s devotion to
her family and Bellatrix’s devotion to Voldemort outweigh their love for each
other.
4) The Bennet
sisters from Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen
Five sisters who
(with the possible exception of Kitty, because she is – let’s face it – a bit
drippy) are all compelling in their own way. Jane and Lizzie are the obvious
stars of the family and are deeply devoted to each other. However, neither of
them seems overly keen on their younger sisters; it’s hardly surprising that
the others have reacted against them, either by trying to be smarter (Mary) or
flirtier (Lydia). An interesting contrast to the Weasleys, and literary
evidence that having a lot of siblings isn’t necessarily a good thing.
5) Katniss and Prim
from The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins
Katniss and Prim are
almost Lizzie and Jane Bennett in a dystopian future. Completely loyal to each
other, their relationship is the only one that Katniss doesn’t question during
the course of the books. Katniss’ grief at Prim’s death is devastating to read.
6) Hansel &
Gretel
At no point does
Gretel contemplate just doing a runner and leaving Hansel to his grisly fate.
That may seem like a low bar, but given the morality of many fairy tale
characters, this is pretty solid sisterly behaviour.
7) Charlie &
Lola from the Charlie and Lola books, by Lauren Child
‘I have this little
sister…’ All round cuteness, verging on annoyingly adorable. Charlie is the
BEST elder brother in the world, with practically parental levels of patience.
Which is just as well, really; although we hear a fair amount about Mum and Dad,
no-one has ever actually seen them… Charlie is almost saintly. We suspect we
would both lose it with Lola on a fairly frequent basis.
8) Cinderella’s
step-sisters
Sisters who have
successfully made the leap from fairy tale to (pantomime) stage. In the Grimm
Brother’s version of the story, the sisters are desperate enough to chop bits
of their feet off in an effort to fit into Cinderella’s slippers. Though they
present a united front when it comes to mistreating Cinderella, we can’t help
feeling they would quite happily chop bits off each other if it guaranteed
ending up with Prince Charming.
9) Jane and Alec
from Twilight, by Stephanie Meyer
This gruesome
twosome could give Narcissa and Bellatrix a run for their money. Sure, they
come across as a bit one-dimensional, but still – given they are going against
the literary trope by both being evil, we had to have them on the list. The
only question is why they haven’t taken over the entire vampire world since
(with the obvious exception of Edward and Bella) no one seems to be able to
stand against them.
10) Meg, Jo, Beth
and Amy from Little Women, by Louisa Alcott
Another of our early
favourites, the March sisters are all strong women in their own different ways.
We were (maybe surprisingly) more drawn to Beth and Amy than Meg (too much
needlework – ugh!) and Jo (turning down Laurie – insane!), but the loving relationship
between the sisters made it easy for us to identify with them. A great example
of family life.
There was meant to be more images attached to the post but blogger has not been my friend the past few days and will not let me add them :(
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