Lost are the creatures destined never to be understood.

1926. Professor Josef van der Holt obtains a post at an all women’s college overseas. Stuffy London suddenly becomes the site for the unseemly exploits of his half-Dutch and half-German daughters Anneliese and Isabel. When tragedy carves out a hollow in their lives, an ailing soul sends the sororal twins along a jagged path: while Isabel takes flight in sensual hedonism Anneliese skirts danger in her role as sleuth. Elusive are the sentiments they seek: swift stopovers of fleeting feeling. Seditious loves and passions scarcely probable veer each away from the predictable.

And when the obvious appears unstoppable the opposite may achingly be true.

Spanning the twentieth century’s five most volatile decades, The Crooked Little Pieces is a series about inextricable entanglements. Perverse relationships pervade a glossary of scenes. Plots criss-cross over a rich tapestry of twists and tension-fuelling characters: some relatable, others opaque and many “crooked”.

It is television drama. Novelised.

My Review

Wow! Just wow! I never expected this. It’s a true work of literature. The language is beautiful – the story engrossing.

It starts with half-Dutch and half-German twin sisters Anneliese and Isabel aged six living with their father Professor Josef van der Holt in Switzerland. He is a neurologist, but his ideas are considered old-fashioned. He forms a platonic relationship with another neurologist called Sara, but it does not develop.

Josef is offered a job in London and his two daughters are devastated. His wife Elise is a strange character, who never seems to come out of her room. I’m not sure how she survives to be honest, as they don’t have a maid or cook. In order to persuade her to go with them to London, she is told they are going on holiday.

The sisters are both talented. Anneliese is destined for great things in the medical profession, though her interest in psychiatry makes her unpopular at medical school. Isabel is potentially a musical genius on both cello and piano, but her inability to perform in front of others prevents her career from flourishing.

Anneliese has no interest in relationships and cannot see herself ever marrying. The most intense relationship she forms is with her psychiatrist shortly after a tragic event in the sisters’ lives.

Isabel is seemingly the opposite. Her hedonistic lifestyle is a constant source of worry to her twin sister.

The Crooked Little Pieces is very different. Don’t expect straightforward historical fiction. It’s more about emotions and the relationship between two women, who even though they are twins are disparate and diverse. As we leave them amidst world war two, I look forward to the next instalment in this fascinating tale.

Many thanks to the author for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

About the Author

Sophia Lambton became a professional classical music critic at the age of seventeen when she began writing for Musical Opinion, Britain’s oldest music magazine. Since then she has contributed to The Guardian, Bachtrack, musicOMH, BroadwayWorld, BBC Music Magazine and OperaWire, and conducted operatic research around the world for a non-fiction work set to be published in 2023. Crepuscular Musings – her recently spawned cultural Substack – provides vivid explorations of tv and cinema together with reviews of operas, concerts and recitals at sophialambton.substack.com.

The Crooked Little Pieces is her first literary saga. Currently she’s working on her second. She lives in London.