My Five Sisters by Pam Franklin

My Five Sisters by Pam Franklin is one of those rare books you will think about long after the reading is over.  I found myself caught up in the story; yet, there were times I wanted to put it down because of how distressing the subject matter was.

The book is based on the true life experiences of the author and her childhood growing up in a home in which she was abused and tortured by her sister. Her sister suffered from Multiple Personal Disorder (MPD) and one of these personalities, the author calls Angry, beat and threatened to kill her repeated while they were growing up. 

Angry uses violence to basically control and make her sister, Petra, her slave. Petra from the age of six has to do Angry’s chores and cook her breakfast every morning after their Mother goes to work, among other things. Petra knows something is wrong but is too afraid to tell anyone for fear of the consequences from Angry.

The author is honest about the happy parts of her life also, like when she won the spelling bee in second grade and time she spent at her friend Cheyenne’s house. Maybe these good times were what helped her live through the darker ones. Who knows, because unless you have experienced this kind of abuse first hand, it is hard to wrap your head around how someone so young can survive this type of childhood.

The author tells the story from the perspective of the young child she was when the events occurred. I am glad she choose to do this because adults view the world differently than a child. Ultimately for the reader to have a deeper understanding you have to look at the events through the child.

Despite the nature of the subject matter, I found the story also to be one of inspiration and eventual healing. Given the circumstances, I suspect very few people would have survived and thrived after this kind of childhood. Granted the author spent years in therapy.

I highly recommend My Five Sisters to any reader you is interested in psychology and/or true stores. I also think it will appeal to those who like psychological thrillers.

Many thanks to the author, whom I had the pleasure to meet at CinemaCon 2018, for my review copy.