For readers drawn to emotionally driven women's fiction anchored by a genuinely complex protagonist, Between Sisters delivers. Meghann Dontess is a fully developed, flawed character whose arc — from emotional avoidance to hard-won vulnerability — is the novel's strongest asset, and the dialogue has the snap and psychological interiority that multiple major critics singled out for praise. The key caveat: the plotting leans on a notable coincidence (Joe's prior connection to Claire through Diane) and uses a medical crisis as its mechanism for emotional breakthrough, which Kirkus accurately labeled "soap." Readers comfortable with that emotional directness will find it propulsive and satisfying.

Kristin Hannah

Reviewed

October 12, 2026

Read Time

7 min read

Age & reading levelAdult

Reader rating

4.5

· 58,786 Amazon ratings

reader ratings, not a LuvemBooks score

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Between Sisters

Between Sisters by Kristin Hannah Review: Emotionally Charged Drama of Estranged Sisters

by Kristin Hannah

Between Sisters is a novel by Kristin Hannah following estranged sisters Meghann and Claire Dontess, reunited after more than two decades apart by Claire's impending wedding and a devastating medical crisis. A New York Times bestseller, it draws on Hannah's signature focus on family bonds, guilt, and the cost of self-protection — making it a natural fit for readers who prize emotionally driven women's fiction.

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LuvemBooks Verdict

Best for

Readers who love emotionally driven women's fiction centred on family estrangement, flawed protagonists, and the slow, costly work of reconciliation — especially book clubs seeking a rich discussion guide covering grief, euthanasia, and the weight of old choices.

Worth it if

Worth reading if you want a propulsive, character-driven story about two sisters reckoning with a shared wound, and you appreciate sharp dialogue and psychological interiority over narrative ambiguity.

Skip if

Skip it if you find transparent emotional mechanics or plot coincidences (here, a pivotal connection between characters that strains credibility) too distracting to sustain belief in the story.

What readers & critics say

Kirkus Reviews called it "briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah's previous titles," crediting it with relative restraint for the author. Publishers Weekly was less persuaded, describing it as "overwrought" feel-good fiction, while thoughtsfromthemountaintop.com noted that "a few moments feel forced" but judged it a good read compared to more saccharine alternatives in the genre.

“Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah's previous titles.”

— Kirkus Reviews

“Overwrought feel-good novel… differences between siblings couldn't be more extreme.”

— Publishers Weekly

Sources: Kirkus Reviews, Publishers Weekly, Thoughts from the Mountaintop

4.5from 58,786 Amazon ratings— reader ratings, not a LuvemBooks score

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Between Sisters is a propulsive women's fiction novel by Kristin Hannah following estranged sisters Meghann and Claire Dontess, whose long-overdue reunion is upended by a cancer diagnosis and the weight of choices made decades ago. A New York Times bestseller praised by People, The Seattle Times, and Washington Post Book World, it delivers psychological depth and sharp dialogue rooted in guilt, estrangement, and the risk of loving again. Readers who want emotional honesty and fully realized characters will find it rewarding — though those who prefer narrative ambiguity over transparent emotional mechanics should know going in that Hannah signals her themes clearly.

Is it worth reading?: For readers drawn to emotionally driven women's fiction anchored by a genuinely complex protagonist, Between Sisters delivers. Meghann Dontess is a fully developed, flawed character whose arc — from emotional avoidance to hard-won vulnerability — is the novel's strongest asset, and the dialogue has the snap and psychological interiority that multiple major critics singled out for praise. The key caveat: the plotting leans on a notable coincidence (Joe's prior connection to Claire through Diane) and uses a medical crisis as its mechanism for emotional breakthrough, which Kirkus accurately labeled "soap." Readers comfortable with that emotional directness will find it propulsive and satisfying.
Similar books: Readers who connect with Between Sisters' focus on sisterhood, family estrangement, and emotionally charged domestic drama have several strong options. Kristin Hannah's own The Nightingale, also on this page, shares her hallmark psychological interiority and high emotional stakes. For sweeping stories of women's friendship and family bonds across time, The Lion Women of Tehran by Marjan Kamali and The Most Fun We Ever Had by Claire Lombardo offer rich ensemble casts rooted in the long consequences of family choices. Readers drawn to the beach-read energy and female friendship dynamics might also enjoy The Five-Star Weekend by Elin Hilderbrand. Eleanor Brown's The Weird Sisters is another natural companion — like Between Sisters, it centers three adult sisters negotiating old wounds and long-deferred reckonings.
Who should read this?: Between Sisters is the natural fit for readers of emotionally driven women's fiction who prize family estrangement stories with psychologically complex protagonists. Fans of Kristin Hannah's signature blend of guilt, grief, and hard-won redemption will find familiar pleasures here, as will readers drawn to sibling dynamics and the long consequences of childhood wounds. Book clubs will find the Random House Reader's Circle edition's twenty-question discussion guide — which covers euthanasia, character motivation, and the sisters' competing responses to maternal abandonment — an especially strong asset. Readers who prefer understated, ambiguous literary fiction are less likely to connect with the novel's transparent emotional mechanics.
About Kristin Hannah: Born in 1960, Kristin Hannah has become one of America's most beloved contemporary novelists, captivating millions of readers with her emotionally powerful storytelling.
Is this a good book club pick?: Between Sisters is an especially strong book club selection. The Random House Reader's Circle paperback edition includes a substantial twenty-question discussion guide that covers character motivation, the ethical dimensions of euthanasia, and how Meghann and Claire each respond differently to the shared wound of their mother's abandonment. The novel's morally complex territory — estrangement, self-protection, grief, and the question "What happened to you?" — gives groups rich, substantive ground to explore across a relatively brisk read.
How does this compare to other Kristin Hannah novels?: Within Hannah's catalog, Between Sisters occupies a more restrained register than many of her titles. Kirkus Reviews specifically credited it with avoiding "the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah's previous titles" and praised it for "skipping the snifflefest," suggesting it is leaner and more efficiently plotted than works like The Nightingale or The Four Winds, which carry heavier historical and emotional weight. Penguin Random House markets it alongside her later blockbusters — positioning it as the work of "the renowned author of The Women" — but readers should expect an intimate, contemporary domestic drama rather than epic scope.

Summarize this book

Is it worth reading?

Who should read this?

About Kristin Hannah

Is this a good book club pick?

How does this compare to other Kristin Hannah novels?

Summarize this book

Between Sisters follows Meghann Dontess, a high-powered Seattle divorce attorney who uses casual sex to avoid emotional intimacy, and her younger sister Claire, who was raised separately by their father Sam Cavenaugh and now runs a country campground while raising a six-year-old daughter on her own. When Claire falls for Bobby Austin — a country musician with three failed marriages — and then receives a diagnosis of a malignant brain tumor, the sisters are forced to confront each other and themselves. Drawn into their orbit is Dr. Joe Wyatt, a neurosurgeon-turned-drifter haunted by having euthanized his own terminally ill wife, Diane — who, in one of the novel's central coincidences, Claire had befriended on her deathbed. The novel builds around the question posed to Meghann by a client: "What happened to you?" — a challenge that applies equally to every major character.

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Our Review

Between Sisters earns its place in Kristin Hannah's catalog as a propulsive, character-driven novel about two women who must finally reckon with each other — and with themselves.

Between Sisters: A Novel (Random House Reader's Circle) by Kristin Hannah front cover

What the Novel Is About

Meghann Dontess is a high-powered divorce attorney in Seattle who uses casual sex to sidestep emotional intimacy, a coping mechanism her therapist diagnoses but cannot crack. Her younger sister Claire, raised separately by their father Sam Cavenaugh after their mother abandoned both girls, is living a quieter life running a country campground and raising a six-year-old daughter on her own.

When Claire falls in love with Bobby Austin — a country musician with three failed marriages behind him — Meghann is appalled and throws herself into planning Claire's dream wedding, convinced she knows better. The reunion is further complicated when a severe headache leads to Claire's diagnosis with a malignant brain tumor, drawing in Dr. Joe Wyatt, a neurosurgeon-turned-drifter still haunted by having euthanized his own terminally ill wife, Diane — a woman who, it turns out, Claire had befriended on her deathbed.

Its Place in Hannah's Work and Reception

Between Sisters is a New York Times bestseller, and Penguin Random House markets it as the work of "the renowned author of The Women." The edition under review is the Random House Reader's Circle paperback reprint, which marked the first time the novel was released in that trade format.

Kirkus Reviews described it as "briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah's previous titles," adding pointed praise: "Kudos for skipping the snifflefest this time around." That places it, in Kirkus's view, as a relative restraint for Hannah — accessible emotional fiction that moves efficiently.

Where the Novel Succeeds

People wrote that Hannah "brings snap and a lot of warmth to a familiar lesson: that contentment comes from accepting each other's flaws." That snap is most visible in the novel's dialogue and in Meghann, who is, as the Penguin Random House reader's guide frames it, a deeply flawed character who would resist that very label.

The Seattle Times called the book "enormously entertaining," crediting Hannah with "a nice ear for dialogue and a knack for getting the reader inside the characters' heads." critics Book World added that Hannah is "superb at delving into her main characters' psyches and delineating nuances of feeling" — praise that points to the psychological interiority the novel sustains across both sisters.

The Central Emotional Architecture

The novel is structured around a question the reader's guide identifies as its centerpiece: What happened to you? — a challenge posed to Meghann by a client that applies equally to every major character.

Meghann's guilt over leaving Claire behind, Claire's capacity to rebound from childhood neglect, and Joe's inability to forgive himself for Diane's death all converge on this question. Luanne Rice wrote that "Hannah writes of love with compassion and conviction," a judgment that speaks to the novel's intent: to show love not as resolution but as risk, especially for people who have organized their lives around avoiding it.

Who It Is For — and Where It Has Limits

Kirkus's "soap" descriptor is useful rather than dismissive: the plotting relies on coincidence (Joe's connection to Claire through Diane) and on a medical crisis as the mechanism of emotional breakthrough. Readers who prefer ambiguity or understatement in their domestic fiction will find the novel's emotional signposting pointed.

The Random House Reader's Circle edition includes a substantial discussion guide — twenty questions covering character motivation, ethical dilemmas including euthanasia, and the sisters' competing responses to a shared wound — making it particularly suited to book clubs. Readers drawn to Hannah's later work, or to women's fiction that centers family estrangement and the weight of old choices, are the natural audience here.

Sources & Further Reading

The key facts and claims in this review are grounded in the retrieved, verified sources listed below.

Cited in this review
1
Between Sisters: A Novel by KRISTIN HANNAH - Book: 9780345519467 | Rizzoli Bookstore
rizzolibookstore.com
2
Between Sisters by Kristin Hannah: 9780345519467 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books
penguinrandomhouse.com
3
BETWEEN SISTERS | Kirkus Reviews
kirkusreviews.com
Further reading
4
Kristin Hannah — author profile
Kristin Hannah, Wikipedia
5
Between Sisters: A Novel (Random House Reader's Circle)
rbookmark.com
6
Between Sisters: A Novel (Random House Reader's Circle)
friendsbookstores.org
7
Between Sisters: A Novel by Kristin Hannah | Enchanted Books
myenchantedbooks.com
8
Between Sisters: A Novel (Random House Reader's Circle)
pioneerbook.com
9
Sisterhood and Secrets: A Journey Through "Between Sisters" - Raindrop Reflections
raindropreflections.com
10
Book club questions for Between Sisters | Bookclubs
bookclubs.com
11
Between Sisters: A Novel (Random House Reader's Circle)
bookrackjackson.com
12
Summary of 'Between Sisters' by Kristin Hannah: A Detailed Synopsis
newbookrecommendation.com

Age & Reading Level

Recommended age

Adult

Reading level

Adult

Browse all Adult books

Heat level

Mild · casual sexual encounters referenced as a coping mechanism, not graphically depicted

Tropes

second chancefound familyredemption arcslow burn

From how readers and romance sites describe it, not our own reading.

4 content notes · who it suits

Content to know about

euthanasia of a terminally ill spouse

malignant brain tumor diagnosis

maternal abandonment of children

grief and survivor guilt

Best for: Adults — themes of euthanasia, grief, adult sexual behavior, and parental abandonment are best suited to readers 18 and up

Skip if you prefer understated literary fiction with narrative ambiguity and no emotional signposting

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Books like Between Sisters

Curated picks for readers who enjoyed Between Sisters, with our reasoning for each match.

More by Kristin Hannah

On Amazon

The Nightingale

Kristin Hannah

Two sisters torn apart and tested — this time by WWII France. Hannah's most acclaimed novel swaps family drama for survival, courage, and sacrifice under occupation.

Like Between Sisters, this is built on two very different sisters whose relationship is strained by the lives they've chosen — but here the backdrop is Nazi-occupied France rather than a wedding and a hospital. One sister joins the Resistance, the other tries to protect her child at home, and both stories converge on what love costs under pressure. It suits readers who loved Hannah's emotional intensity but want higher stakes and a historical setting.

On Amazon

Firefly Lane

Kristin Hannah

Same signature Hannah emotion, applied to female friendship instead of sisterhood — a decades-long bond strained by jealousy, ambition, and loyalty.

If you liked Between Sisters

In our catalogue

The Lion Women of Tehran

Marjan Kamali

A defining bond between two women tested by class divides and political upheaval in Iran — the same loyalty-under-strain engine, with historical sweep.

In our catalogue

The Most Fun We Ever Had

Claire Lombardo

Four adult sisters, one long marriage, decades of secrets — a sprawling family saga that matches the sister dynamics and layers on more complexity.

On Amazon

The Weird Sisters

Eleanor Brown

Three estranged sisters pulled back to their childhood home by their mother's cancer — the closest structural match, with a lighter, wittier touch.

Not your thing?

In our catalogue

The Five-Star Weekend

Elin Hilderbrand

Found Between Sisters too heavy and melodramatic? This keeps the women-and-relationships heart but trades crisis for a sunny, funny Nantucket reunion.