First published 2003
The Lisbon family lives in 1970s Michigan. When 13-year-old Cecilia attempts suicide, her four sisters descend into a mysterious darkness. Lux begins a dangerous affair, the girls are pulled from school, and their home falls into disrepair. The neighborhood boys become obsessed, watching the sisters' tragic unraveling from afar. One by one, the Lisbon girls kill themselves, leaving the boys to grapple with the unanswerable question: why?
Genres: literary-fiction, 20th-century, coming-of-age, mystery, contemporary, family-drama
Vibes: dark, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: tragic-hero, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Fiction
269 pages · Paperback · Picador Paper
Content warnings: mental-illness, suicide