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Saskia and Jenny - twins - are alike in appearance only. Saskia is a grad student with a single-minded focus on her studies, while Jenny is glamorous, thrill-seeking, and capricious. Still, when Jenny is severely injured in an accident, Saskia puts her life on hold to be with her sister.
Sara and Mattie are sisters with another difficult dynamic. Mattie, who is younger, is intellectually disabled. Sara loves nothing more than fine wines, perfumes, and expensive clothing, and leaves home at the first opportunity. But when their mother dies, Sara inherits the duty of caring for her sister. Arriving at the house one day, she is horrified to discover that Mattie has married their mother's handyman. The relationship ends in tragedy.
Now, Sara and Saskia, both caregivers for so long, are on their own - and come together through a cascade of circumstances as devastating as they are unexpected. Razor-sharp and profoundly moving, Consent is a thought-provoking exploration of the complexities of familial duty, of how love can become entangled with guilt, resentment, and regret.
About the author
Annabel Lyon is the author of the novel The Golden Mean, a bestseller in Canada that won the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize, was shortlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize and the Governor-General's Award, and has been translated into fourteen languages. She is also the author of a story collection, Oxygen; a book of novellas, The Best Thing for You; and two juvenile novels, All-Season Edie and Encore Edie. She lives in British Columbia with her husband and two children.
Summary
LONGLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION
'Blistering... The most truthful exploration of sisterhood I have enjoyed since Fleabag' The Times
'So, so clever and so concise yet just goes into the most profound issues in such depth' Vick Hope, Women's Prize for Fiction Judge 2021
'[A] gripping read about sisters, guilt, grief and revenge... I couldn't put it down.' Daily Mail
'Compelling... A brave, even dangerous book.' Preti Taneja, author of We That Are Young
Saskia and Jenny are twins, alike in appearance only: Saskia has a single-minded focus on her studies, while Jenny is glamorous, thrill-seeking and capricious. Still, when Jenny is severely injured in an accident, Saskia puts her life on hold for her sister.
Sara and Mattie are sisters with another difficult dynamic: Mattie needs almost full-time care, while Sara loves nothing more than fine wines, perfumes and expensive clothing, and leaves home at the first opportunity. But when their mother dies, Sara must move Mattie in with her. Gradually, Sara and Saskia learn that both their sisters' lives, and indeed their own, have been altered by the devastating actions of one man...
In turns razor-sharp, provocative and precise, Consent is a blistering novel of sisters and their knotty relationships, of predatory men and sexual power, of retribution and the thrilling possibilities of revenge.
LONGLISTED FOR THE SCOTIABANK GILLER PRIZE
Foreword
A smart, mature writer's novel about sex and power in the modern world - as if Deborah Levy wrote Cat Person.
