Sister Creatures

Laura Venita Green

“Captivating and sublime... and centered on a cast of women bound to their roots in unexpected ways, this is a book that interchanges the tender and the cruel, the weird and the real, with breathtaking ease.” –Jinwoo Chong, author of I Leave It Up to You

In the muggy, insect-ridden town of Pinecreek, Louisiana, college dropout Tess Lavigne is watching two bickering siblings while their parents are away. Her listless day drinking is interrupted when someone emerges from the woods behind the house. Filthy and feral, the daughter of religious fundamentalists, the girl known in town as Sister Gail convinces Tess to take her in for the night. The strange events of that evening will set the course for Tess’s future, and Sister Gail’s ultimate fate.

Meanwhile, other residents of Pinecreek try to cobble together a future from what little they have, their lives intersecting in small and not-so-small ways. Sisters fight to define independence for themselves (and from each other), while two young women on a bicycling trip wonder what their relationship promises, or threatens. Throughout, a deeply unsettling presence connects the characters to the buried secrets of Pinecreek: the ominous Thea, a malevolent shape-shifting entity whose rage and despair stems from a tragic history of misogyny, maternal loss, and stolen ambitions.

As time marches forward, so does Tess, creating a new path for herself while accepting what can never be entirely left behind. At times atmospheric and eerie, and at others all too real, Sister Creatures is about manufacturing resilience from nothing but the bonds that tie us together.

Praise for Sister Creatures

“A creative whirlwind that takes leaps with gusto to investigate whether we can carry the past with grace, or must sink under its weight.”–Ann Napolitano, author of Hello Beautiful

“Captivating and sublime, Laura Venita Green’s Sister Creatures weaves together a series of hauntings: of the past, of the home and family, of the secrets kept inside that threaten an ever-delicate peace. Set at first within an uncanny reflection of Green’s native Louisiana and centered on a cast of women bound to their roots in unexpected ways, this is a book that interchanges the tender and the cruel, the weird and the real, with breathtaking ease.” –Jinwoo Chong, author of I Leave It Up to You

“An astonishing novel so virtuosic it reintroduced me to the wilderness within myself. You can’t convince me Green isn’t a shapeshifter.” –Kat Tang, author of Five-Star Stranger 

“Sister Creatures is an arresting blend of dirty realism and Southern Gothic, telling multiple coming-of-age stories that intertwine in a wholly original way. It amuses, engages, and unsettles, defying and exceeding all readerly expectations.” –James Crossley, Leviathan Books, St. Louis, MO

“I was blown away by Laura Venita Green’s debut novel, Sister Creatures. The stories of four women, loosely connected by their small Louisiana town, connect, break, and re-connect through their lives and experiences. These indelible characters are driven by their desire for something more, more than the lives they find themselves in. The Gothic undertones of the novel — fairy tale references, weirdly threatening triplets, dark woods where dark things happen — shift the perspective from mundane to something strange and magical as these very human stories play out. A must-read!” –Laurie Gillman, East City Bookshop, Washington, D.C.

“An enthralling and engrossing debut, Sister Creatures invites the reader into the tangled family lives and thorny psyches of the women of Pinecreek, Louisiana. I could read an entire book on each narrator and still come back for more.” –Katherine Nazzaro, Porter Square Books, Cambridge, MA