Top 10 siblings' stories

Will Eaves was Arts Editor of the Times Literary Supplement from 1995 to 2011 before moving to the University of Warwick, where he is Associate Professor in the Writing Program. His new novel, This Is Paradise, is now out in the UK.

One of his top ten siblings' stories, as told to the Guardian:

Washington Square by Henry James

Like Austen's Persusasion, this is another example of a novel in which the main plot – Catherine Sloper's sad love for a handsome but feckless suitor – comes about, in part, because of resentment between siblings. Catherine's father, Dr Sloper, forbids her match; his sister, Mrs Penniman, is a willing pandar to the couple. The egotistical doctor enjoys inspiring terror in his silly sister. He is quite sure he can intimidate his daughter out of her infatuation in the same way. But he can't.

Read about another title on the list.

Washington Square is one of Frances Kiernan's five best books that helped her understand the ways of New York society.

--Marshal Zeringue