Review: The Two-Family House by Lynda Cohen Loigman

Title: The Two-Family House

Author: Lynda Cohen Loigman

Published: March 2016, St. Martin’s Press

Format: ARC E-book, 301 pages

Source: Netgalley

Brooklyn, 1947: in the
midst of a blizzard, in a two-family brownstone, two babies are born
minutes apart to two women. They are sisters by marriage with an
impenetrable bond forged before and during that dramatic night; but as
the years progress, small cracks start to appear and their once deep
friendship begins to unravel. No one knows why, and no one can stop it.
One misguided choice; one moment of tragedy. Heartbreak wars with
happiness and almost but not quite wins.

From debut novelist Lynda Cohen Loigman comes The Two-Family House, a moving family saga filled with heart, emotion, longing, love, and mystery.

My thoughts: This is Lynda Cohen Loigman‘s debut novel and I absolutely devoured it! As soon as I read the summary of the book, I knew it was a book I had to read and I‘m so glad I did and now even more excited to be heading to the book launch tonight!!!

I love reading family sagas, with all the family drama and secrets that comes with it and while I guessed one of the secrets fairly early on in the book, it in no way ruined the over-all story for me. In fact, there were so many layers to this story that that one secret was just one aspect of the story. 

I loved the relationships between the different characters – they are all so complex. Nothing is as it seems amongst these characters – there are secrets being kept, decisions being impulsively made, with long-lasting consequences. This is definitely a character-driven novel – there really isn’t much action to it, and yet, I was completely captivated by it. In fact, I read it in one afternoon, I just couldn’t put it down.

I also loved that the story is told from multiple points of view so that we see events unfold from multiple perspectives. I think this really brought the tensions and emotions for the forefront of the novel, making them that much more palpable, especially when the families were dealing with tragedy, which they unfortunately did a few times throughout the book. 

This is the type of book that stays with you – the characters are so memorable and what they go through will stick with you long after you read that last page. I really enjoyed this story and cannot wait to see what comes next from Lynda Cohen Loigman!