What do readers think of The Sisterhood by Helen Bryan? Write your own review.

I hate to rate any novel as average. I cannot imagine how difficult it is to be an author. I I just couldn't latch on the story. I was very interested in subject but I got lost in the multiple characters. In the end I just didn't care. I just wanted the novel to end.

I really wanted to love this book because the portal through which we glimpse the lives of 16th upper class Spanish women whose lives are intertwined with the convent "Las Golondrinas" is fascinating. However the author flips clumsily between the present and the past while weaving a predictable plot so while the book is interesting it is not one that I can recommend without reservations.

As I read this book, I found myself wondering why so many present day authors feel that they have to cover a multitude of "issues" to tell an otherwise good story. In "The Sisterhood" by Helen Bryan, feminism, theology, politics, mythology and numerous other topics are discussed by way of the overriding story. None of the topics reflect good research. The women's issues reek of 1970 and early 1980s thinking. As a woman with a degree in Theology, I found both the historic and present day research flawed and poorly presented. What would have been a good, simple story is ruined by poor, unfocused writing. The worst book I have read in a long time.