“Isabel had no sense of smell, no sense of touch beyond the tingling imparted by telekinesis…She lived in a world of sight and sound and mind.” “Her painted expression was unchangeable.” She could move anywhere as long as no one watched. She was a haunted doll who channeled her inner bitchiness. Isabel’s twin sister, Ruth was forced to leave college and care for her when their father, Arthur Winslow threw in the towel. Now the sisters lived in a rundown motor lodge-type building, circa 1960s, rent paid by Ruth’s paltry earnings as a checker in a supermarket.

They lived in a small fishing village. The cliff was sheer, the sea wall crumbling…not a great location to have an argument between sisters. Tempers flared and Isabel, propped up on the wall, fell twenty feet below into the "pummeling waves.” A large section of Isabel’s face chipped off, her skull became a broken jar, her left eye…missing. How could escalating words have created such devastating damage? Ruth feared that Isabel might be unfixable.

Isabel was Ruth’s first memory. She carried Isabel everywhere. Eventually Isabel spoke aloud but was unruly, sarcastic and often tantrummed. The solution was a time out in “The Box”. Eventually, the discord between Arthur Winslow and daughter Isabel necessitated a move. Ruth rented an apartment in a ramshackle building to care for Isabel. They had a weirdly wonderful neighbor, Nadine, who sat “in front of her apartment in her armchair, wrapped up in U-Haul blankets, holding her baseball bat.”

Arthur provided scant information about the twins' birth. Born one month premature, Ruth thrived while Isabel remained at death’s door. Anne Neveaux, the twins’ mother, left under cover of darkness with Isabel. They were bound for Marseille. Anne never returned, however, a doll did.

There had to be a way to repair Isabel, a porcelain doll made of bone china, from bone ash. The initials CdS, detected on her back were finally identified as belonging to “The Clan des Sorcieres”, a Mafia-like society of sorcerers. Anne Neveaux has found someone “to move her dying child’s essence into a brittle, girl-shaped cask.” Arthur Winslow’s complicity would soon come to light.

The sisters were off to Marseille to locate Le Clan des Sorcieres. Hot on the trail was Chiffon, an unkillable assassin, as well as a crow and black cat with their human familiars. Apparently, returning Isabel to the sorcerers was worth big bucks! Ruth and Isabel learned that their mother Anne was the Clan’s enforcer. The plan: repair Isabel then decide whether to embrace their birthright.

Sisterly rivalry between Ruth and Isabel was chaotic especially with the twist of one sister being human while the other, a haunted doll. There was jealousy, the exchange of verbal barbs, then an inadvertent push over a crumbling seawall setting the mystery in motion. Monsieur Griezzel, a cigarette-smoking crow, was a standout to this reader.

An absolutely delightful, horror-lite read!

Thank you Tachyon Publications and Net Galley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This had everything I wanted from the description, I love the horror and the body horror element of it with the porcelain sister. It was everything that I had wanted and really enjoyed the way it was written, It uses the historical fiction element in a way that was perfect for the story and the characters with it. Daryl Gregory was able to create something that was perfect for the genre that it was in and enjoyed how it worked so well with the characters. I cared about what was happening with the characters and going on this journey with them.

It's got a horror tag on it, but I felt it fitted better under one of its other tags of Sci Fi and Fantasy as a more appropriate genre, and maybe it does have a feel of Historical Fiction too.

We have Ruth as the main character who has to put up with the interference of her sister Isabel. Things escalate as Ruth takes offence at Isabel's most recent act of sabotage and she storms off wanting to be alone. But Isabel follows and a big argument ensues resulting in Isabel being knocked from the cliff tops to the rocks below. Only Isabel is a doll made of porcelain and therefore cannot heal. Something needs to be done.
One thing leads to another and the pair end up travelling all over, and various people they care about end up being exposed to risks from the group who know Isabel's origins.

It's also quite an adventure story too.
I read this book at high speed, thought it was very cleverly done. And the ending was brilliant. Definitely a book that I'd recommend.

I am thankful to the author, Tachyon Publications and Netgalley for allowing me to read this book for free.

Daryl Gregory has an incredible ability to blend the strange with deeply human storytelling. The Porcelain Sisters is imaginative, emotional, and wonderfully written, with characters who felt fully realized. The mystery kept me engaged, but it was the emotional core that made this book truly memorable.

A quick read but very well-written. While the synopsis may make the story seem far-fetched, its a trademark of the author's writing to make the far-fetched immensely readable and compelling.

Daryl Gregory does it again. He’s been my favorite writer for 17 years and he’s never disappointed. Read this book, but read all his others first.