Call the Canaries Home Review

Family drama, secrets, lost loved ones, and sisterhood are only a few of the many enticing themes of this debut novel by Laura Barrow. Set in Louisiana three sisters return to the home where they were raised to dig up a time capsule they buried as children. Resentments, memories, and projection are the personal obstacles that Savannah, Rayanne, and Sue Ellen must overcome in order to work together to find the time capsule and unearth the truth surrounding their sister’s disappearance back in 1994. Encouraged by their Meemaw who has secrets of her own and seems to know more about everything than any of them, the sisters begin to uncover clues to their past. Will the new discoveries and events that follow bond them as they once were or divide them forever?

As a sister (I have three) and a mother to three daughters I found this sister story interesting and uplifting. Sisterhood can be complicated. Our siblings are often our first friends but sometimes our first adversaries. What sister hasn’t fought over a borrowed ___________(fill in the blank)? There’s a heightened expectation of connection because of the sisterly bond but sometimes life happens, and that attachment can loosen and strain. Sometimes the divide is so great it forces sisters with opposing viewpoints away from each other when what they really need is each other. In stories like Call the Canaries Home and other favorite sister stories like Little Women, we are reminded as readers (and sisters) of how very special and deep that bond between sisters can be. Call the Canaries Home is a wonderfully written debut by Laura Barrows, currently listed as book club fiction but arguably could be called sister fiction. I know that’s not a genre but maybe it should be.

Thank you to Laura Barrow for the opportunity to read this advanced reader copy. To order your copy of Call the Canaries Home to be released in early July 2023 click here.

To read a review of another sister story I loved click here.

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