Daughters is a well told story about a dysfunctional family. As far as the reader can tell, putting everything together, Ingrid Olssen never wanted her two daughters. Lots of evidence supporting this comes through in this story that takes place two years after Ingrid's death but involves a lot of stories from many perspectives about Ingrid in the past. There are two daughters: Nora was born seven years after Matilda (Mattie). Mattie got pregnant at 15, the father being her high school boyfriend Gus. Ingrid's fury drove Mattie away to raise her daughter Beanie, first living with and then coparenting with Gus.

Ingrid and her sister Karo were literally the dirt poor daughters of a nasty Norwegian pig farmer, almost a metaphor for how low one's roots can be short of living unhoused. As a teenager, Ingrid ran off to London and apprenticed herself to a famous British painter. Ingrid soonevolved into a world famous painter whose work rose to high acclaim, unimaginable value and was rarely sold or exhibited anywhere. Now, Ingrid and Nora are grown and Beanie is a teenager. The sisters are both the daughters in the novel but also the daughters in an Ingrid Olssen painting that she painted when they were young, making them look a bit monstrous. Ingrid painted herself in like photoshopping or photobombing the painting of her two girls.

The story evolves in part through narratives from Mattie and in part from a biography by a man who had written prior articles on Ingrid and interviewed her a few times. Mattie is involved with him. (Having read the audio book, I'm sorry that his name escapes me…) They seem to be getting serious, although she has not let him meet Beanie. Mattie and Nora are estranged. Nora is in graduate school in art. Her work is presently performative, but I'm not telling more. Beanie talks to Nora on the phone a fair amount. They seem close.

The story of what led to the sisters' estrangement partly largely involves all the times Nora, tried to kill herself, but lived. When Ingrid died two years ago, the daughters both with her, she told them to burn all her paintings. She left half of them to each daughter and their halves are together in a storage locker. Many are self portraits, often nudes. There is much interest in them.

The daughters have the same father, Ingrid's husband, who left but remained a visitor to London "with benefits," thus producing Nora. They eventually divorced and he remarried. He's a well known actor in the USA. His relationship with his daughters is almost that of a visitor who drops by and pats them on the head very, very occasionally, although when she had a breakdown while in school in California, Nora stayed with him for awhile.

In the course of the story, a huge dispute arises between Mattie and Karo, who has been pushing to exhibit the paintings Ingrid told them to burn. Nora, as the advance blurb of the book notes, has a serious mental health crises that brings the sisters together. She cannot live alone for the time being. Meanwhile, Karo finagles a way to show a huge amount of Ingrid's work in California, shiipping it off to California in a huge betrayal. Ingrid, Nora and Beanie head to the USA from London to try to stop the show. In the course of this, they have quite an adventure, renting a camper for a road trip from Arizona to California. Along the way, their relationship evolves as little by little Mattie owns ways she hurt Nora and Nora comes to connect with Mattie as a human being.

Capes is a truly amazing writer, capturing the experiences that shaped the sisters in their chaotic childhood and different trajectories. It is not a happy book but it is a lovely book. Sometimes, it is a very warm book. Beanie is important and is, of course, another daughter here. Often Capes opens to us the way anyone might think about parenting a teenager and thinking how they used to connect and wondering why that changes. The book has funny moments, especially on the road trip. And it has many moving moments. If the ending is not the one I would have initially preferred, I came to really admire the choice made. it was authentic and moving.

The narrators for the audiobook, Ryan Laughton and Amber Gadd were excellent. I highly recommend this novel. I think about it quite often and recommended it to an artist friend recently. It comes out May 6, 2025. So look for it!

4.5 / 5

This was such a cute yet sad story. I should’ve expected that ending but I honestly didn’t and it made me tear up. This book is very reminiscent of Blue Sisters by Coco Mellors, so if you enjoyed that book, I’m most positive you’d enjoy this one. The only reason I knocked off .5 is because I wish the story flowed a tad bit better but that’s just me. Overall I loved it !

This is definitely one of those reads that leaves me struggling to find a way to put into words just how incredible it was, and how much it impacted me. Such a tender, complex, emotional exploration of life, family dynamics, grief, and mental health. There's so much love, and so much pain in this, and the characters are so vividly portrayed it all just jumps off the pages. It feels like these are real people, going through very real issues, and I am right there with them, feeling it all with them.

Every single character was so distinctive and so complex in their own right, and they have left such an impact on me, this is definitely a story that will stick with me for a long while. It has some silly moments, but I find them to be a really nice addition to the story and a great way to contrast the heaviness that's constantly lingering in the background. I also really enjoyed the snippets of the interviews that were scattered around in between, I really think they added a lot of perspective to story, and gave a wider insight into the characters' lives.

It felt a little slow at moments, and it was dragging quite a bit in the middle, while the ending felt somewhat rushed, but it didn't bother me that much nor did it really impact my enjoyment of the story overall. I really loved the writing, and found it to be extremely engaged. I listened to the audiobook for this one, and it was phenomenal. Both narrators did a great job bringing these characters to life, they all felt very distinctive, and it made the story that much more engaging and compelling.

thank you netgalley for the adnvsnced arc audiobook is this novel. truly tragic consequences as children come to a head with adult sisters mourning the loss of their mother and the art that came with her. coming together not only to reunite but to confont long issues that have held them back in life. and to realize that sometimes no matter how painful the ending it was truly the only was the story could have ended. i grow to love these two women.

This was such a deeply complex and emotional exploration of the kind of people we become because of our family and our past.

I already know that this book will stay with me. The journey that Nora and Mattie goes through along with Bernie revealed so much. It felt so raw to see the interactions they were having, and hearing the story of how their mother treated them just hit hard.

If you enjoy exploring family relationships and the intricacies of human connection, this book is for you.

I also got a chance to listen to the audiobook for this and the production was phenomenal. Clear narrators, easy to listen as well. I did end up putting them on 2x cause otherwise it was really slow for me.

This book could easily be called Sisters, as there are two generations of sisters featured prominently. Yet it is the daughters’ complex relationships with their artist mother, their aunt, and each other that hold the book together.
There is a lot of trauma in the lives of the daughters that is unpacked here from narration by the older sister, Matilda, and in interviews with each of the characters, purportedly for a book about the artist mother.
I particularly enjoyed the train wreck of the all-consuming life of an artist - rarely depicted with a female at the center because of the damage done to children deprived of a stable and safe place to grow up. A good reminder of why so many would-be artists “get a real job.”
The novel is compelling and the characters are well drawn and believable. But it’s also a bit long and a bit sad. 4.25 stars
My thanks to the author, publisher, producer, and #NetGalley for early access to the audiobook of #Daughters for review purposes. Publication date: 6 May 2025

Daughters is about sisters, family, the art world, road trips and mental health. While I do think this was a little long and could have been edited down I enjoyed listened to this a lot. I really liked going on the journey throughout the book and how the story was told. The book is pretty emotional so be ready for that. Overall this I recommend this book!