THE SISTERS OF SUMMIT AVENUE

Two sisters struggle to mend their once-loving relationship in this novel by Cullen (Twain’s End, 2015, etc.).

The year is 1934. June Whiteleather lives in a big house in Minneapolis with her husband, Richard, a prominent surgeon from a wealthy family. June enjoys her job as one of the real-life homemakers behind the fictional Betty Crocker but suffers guilt over being childless. June's younger sister, Ruth, lives on her family's struggling farm on the Indiana-Michigan state line with her mother, Dorothy Dowdy; husband, John, who has a mysterious sleeping sickness; Italian boyfriend/farmhand Nick; and Ruth and John's four children. Ruth's greatest wish is to be June, who is beautiful, talented, and "relentlessly likable." When June and Richard visit Ruth's farm with a possible cure for John's ailment, multiple family secrets are revealed. Evocative historic details include flannel trousers, dress shields, bank robbers, soup lines, fur coats, fedoras, and Richard's "topless roadster." The story is heartfelt, but two prologues and a big cast of unnecessarily named minor characters create confusion; a dust storm that should be terrifying isn't; and a contrived climax features an antihero who reappears, briefly, after a 33-year absence. In a rushed ending, Ruth gets her wish, sort of and not in a good way.

Sibling rivalry, betrayal, resentment, and cowardice add spice to this saga of sisters.