Spinsters by Pagan Kennedy

 

Frannie and Doris are sisters.  They have spent years of their adult life taking care of their father and now that he is gone, they need to decide what the rest of their lives with look like.  Frannie is introverted and just wants things to stay the same.  She had a steady boyfriend at one point but things didn't work out.  Doris is much more extroverted and she wants a big change in her life.  She wants to go out and love men and she's not sure where she wants to live.

The two sisters head out to visit another relative but never make it there.  They end up at a man's house who Doris picks up and then they decide to go on a vacation.  They end up taking a teenage relative and her boyfriend along with them as they drive cross country taking in the sights.  How will their lives work out?

Pagan Kennedy is an American author and columnist.  She has worked in the fields of writing columns about who invented what breakthrough and one of the her first books related the story of the woman who invented the rape kit.  In this book, she has Frannie and Doris drive by the big tourist attractions of the country but also by things that were happening at that time like a civil rights demonstration or the assassination of Robert Kennedy.  Readers will feel like they are driving along with the sisters and those who are older will remember many of the events discussed.  This book was shortlisted for the Orange Prize, now named the Woman's Prize for Literature and is recommended for readers of literary and women's fiction.