THE SISTERS SWEET

In this richly immersive debut, the less talented half of a famous vaudeville duo must learn how to build a life of her own after her twin sister runs away to glamorous Golden Age Hollywood.

All Harriet Szász has ever known is life onstage with her twin sister, Josie. As "The Sisters Sweet," they pose as conjoined twins in a vaudeville act conceived of by their ambitious father and managed by their practical mother, who were once theatrical stars in their own rights. Then, in an explosive act, Josie exposes the family's fraud and runs away to Hollywood. Harriet and her parents retreat to Chicago, where Harriet must learn how to live out of the spotlight--and her sister's shadow. Striving to keep her struggling family afloat, Harriet molds herself into the perfect daughter. But she also begins to form her first relationships outside her family. As Josie's star rises in California, the Szászes fall on hard times. Harriet must decide whether to honor her mother, her father, or the self she's only beginning to get to know. Full of long-simmering tensions, buried secrets, questionable saviors, and broken promises, this is ultimately a story about how much we are beholden to others and what we owe ourselves, heralding the arrival of an accomplished new voice in fiction. ELIZABETH WEISS earned an MFA from the Iowa Writers' Workshop, where she was a Truman Capote Fellow. She currently teaches writing at the University of Iowa.