The Two-Family House

It has been a long time since I have read a book that I have been unable to put down. This book was wonderful, it brought me back to my childhood and time spent with my own mother a d aunt. They were as close as sisters as well. While this tragic story was nothing like my own childhood, it did touch me. It was very realistic and I felt these characters.

Stumbled onto this excellent book. Repeat , excellent book!

What an exceptionally executed story from this author. Not only was the story incredibly relatable but it was also full of realistic and complex characters that were impossible not to care for, empathize with and understand their dynamically crafted personalities. The women in this story, two sisters in law who live in a 2 family one of whom has 4 boys the other who has 3 girls get pregnant at the same time and during a horrible blizzard when their husbands are on a business trip they go into labor. Rose’s husband Mort is a critical and dismissive man who is verbally abusive and cruel to his wife and has become progressively worse with each daughter she gave birth to. Shes praying she has a son because Mort has been referring to the baby as a boy and has told his daughters that his son is on his way. Helen, who is married to Abe, Morts brother who is the opposite of Mort and has a loving and invested interest in his sons and a deep respect and love for his wife hasn’t remarked upon his own preferences as far as this pregnancy is concerned. When they are forced to birth at home due to the 3ft piles of snow and ambulances unable to reach them they make a pact and switch babies so that each will have the gender they’ve yet to have and plan to just share parenting as they all live in same household and are as close as sisters even closer. One of these women adjust and acclimate with this decision and sacrifice remarkably the other one, Rose becomes withdrawn and has adjudicated all responsibility of the baby to her 12 yr old daughter Judith and one day when Judith is at school Rose comes into the apartment having heard crying and she hears the baby Teddy screaming and sobbing finds him in his crib wet with urine and his face red his head soaked and it’s clear he’s been screaming for a very long time. She gives him and Nathalie her daughter a bath together and changes him and heads to Roses room to see what’s going on and how she couldn’t hear this child screaming and she finds her sitting in a chair staring out the window. When she calls her she doesn’t move so she taps her and sees she is wearing earplugs and when she is questioned how long he’d been crying for she shrugs and says she’s been wearing all the time all he does is cry and Judith took care of him before leaving for school. He wasn’t fed as it had been her early day into school she tells Rose and Rose is still unaffected and completely indifferent to the pain of the baby and the obvious neglect she’s been intentionally causing him. From that day rose had tried to lock her door but Helen keeps a key and comes in often taking the kids to feed them during the summer vacations and after school. Rose is bitter withdawn indifferent and pays no attention to Teddy at all. He was limping when he turned 6. She asked why he said his shoes hurt and he’s told her 3 weeks ago and then again the day before and Mort heard this and is cognizant his wife is checked out and irresponsible and not to be trusted alone anymore with the kids if he can help it. Judith and Helen predominantly taken on the bulk of it and Mort begins an invested and close bond with his son Teddy and his niece Nathalie whom is so close to Teddy they call one another twins and are them inseparable. When the family’s business explodes and their finances allow them to buy larger houses for theirs large family’s they move a few blocks from one another and rose has forbid Teddy from seeing Nathalie she despises her and Helen and has never once even been kind to the girl and has shunned Helen years ago. Inbher own home now she. Never has to see her except Teddy goes on an eating strike and locks himself in his room refused to come until he sees Nathalie. Mort calls and pleads for her to come and get him to eat and open his door. The kids demand to have regular contact with one another so Tuesdays they go to teddy’s and. Thursday they are at Nathalie’s and a few years later when getting off the bus on another snowy day his comic book flew out of his hands he ran in front of bus to get it and Nathalie sees him get run over. His death causes so much more conflict between the women and the two family’s are entirely estranged yet the kids and husbands don’t know why Rose is so angry and so volatile to a Helen. She is so unpleasant no one even tries to ask her. As the kids grow up it will be a wedding where the two sisters in law have a huge fight that is overheard and the secret is now something that they are going to confront Rose about. Not wanting to destroy the rest of the family’s they’re conflicted on n what to do or if they should say anything. But they do and the outcome isn’t what anyone is expected or could’ve imagined p