I very much enjoyed another Gowdy (Helpless - 5 stars) so I was excited by the prospect of her latest. But I was disappointed by this slow-moving but well-written novel, that had too many go-nowhere features (Marsh) and an oddly cold and bland feel to it. I feel like I understood Gowdy's themes and points, but I guess she just didn't make me care. However, she has a lot of other titles; I loved Helpless; and even this novel was written with distinctive care and style, so I will try another.

This is an unusual story idea, in a category of few- not sci fi and yet almost. The ending left me a bit unsatisfied. If you like this one I would suggest The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake. https://ottawa.bibliocommons.com/item/show/566077026

Featured in Canadian Living July 2017 "True North Page Turners"

Read the whole review http://bit.ly/2sFwgg1

The greatest tragedy of Little Sister isn’t the unfortunate circumstances of a character’s death, the strange way the protagonist Rose Bowan finds herself living the life of Harriet Smith, a big-time book editor across town, the failing memory of Rose’s dementia-ridden mother, Fiona, or even the unsatisfying sex of her mundane relationship with her meteorologist and lazy-eyed boyfriend, Victor. No, the greatest tragedy of Barbara Gowdy’s bizarre and exciting novel is the god-awful design on its cover.

Normally, I say you can totally judge a book by its cover, but please, not this one. This one is so much deeper, more intriguing, and well-written than the creepy, badly photoshopped cover would have you believe.

Little Sister is something that not a lot of Canadian fiction aspires to be: it’s weird. And I love weird.

This one didn't work for me. I'm very interested in the concept of people finding themselves in another's body/life, but the premise has been done before and much more deftly. For me this one didn't work, and I didn't feel enough interest in any of the characters to finish it. If the idea of sixth-sense phenomena and astral travel interests you, there's a novel called 'The Impossible Lives of Greta Wells' that covers the possibilities in an extremely well-thought-out manner with an arresting plot and group of characters. In fact, I liked the book so much I went out and bought it after reading and I've re-read it a couple of times since.

Somewhat unlikable characters and the phenomena of slipping into the other woman's body isn't really explained in a satisfying way. But it did keep me turning pages to try to find out what would happen next.