Nonfiction for the Sisterhood

LIKE WE ALWAYS SAY: If you want to be a better sister, read. What follows is the start of a nonfiction booklist for sisters (you may have seen the fiction list already).  Please add suggested additions in the comments space, so that with your help, the list can grow.

Sadie Delany

•HAVING OUR SAY: THE DELANY SISTERS’ FIRST 100 YEARS, by SARAH L. DELANY, A. ELIZABETH DELANY, and AMY HILL HEARTH An oral history of the lives of Sadie and Bessie Delany, conducted by Amy Hill Hearth during a series of interviews when the sisters were 101 and 102 years old. Sadie was the first African-American woman to be granted permission to teach Domestic Science in New York, and Bessie was the second black woman to receive a dentistry license in the state.  Their story is, in part, the story of the American civil rights movement.

•ONE SPECIAL SUMMER, by JACQUELINE AND LEE BOUVIER Jacqueline Bouvier–soon to be better known as Jacqueline Kennedy–spent the summer of 1951 on a glamorous grand tour of Europe with her younger sister, Lee, and the two documented their travels in a sort of scrapbook for their mother.  Even if you’re not obsessed with Jackie O, this is a charming passport to another time and another world.

•SAVAGE BEAUTY: THE LIFE OF EDNA ST. VINCENT MILLAY, by NANCY MILFORD A compelling and exhaustive biography of poet Edna St. Vincent Millay. Savage and beautiful, indeed. (Neither this nor the next title is fiction, though both are every bit as compelling as the juiciest novel.)

•THE SISTERS: THE SAGA OF THE MITFORD FAMILY, by MARY S. LOVELL A group biography of the six Mitford sisters, minor members of the English aristocracy, all of whom came to prominence and notoriety for their beliefs or their accomplishments.  An amazing family and a captivating read.

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