The Guardian highlights siblings in literature.
From the piece...
She gave several examples: Christina Schwarz's 2000 novel Drowning Ruth, which I haven't read but sounds intriguing (please tell me if it's one I ought to pick up), Jane Smiley's A Thousand Acres, Alice Walker's The Color Purple, Louisa M Alcott's Little Women. According to Apter, Beth the peacemaker's refrain of "Birds in their little nests agree" bears no relation to the real world whatever – she cited research on eagles which shows that of the two chicks normally produced by a mother, the elder will generally terrorise the younger until it dies of its wounds or starves to death. However, she was most interesting on the subject of Emma, the Jane Austen novel I thought had least to do with sisters, but which, she points out, contains the line "How is a young woman who is handsome, clever and rich, going to fill her need for a sister?" in its opening pages. The book, when you analyse it, is all about Emma's search for a sister-figure to replace her real sister and her governess, both lost to her through marriage. Harriet appears at first to be an ideal sister – meek, compliant – but when she looks about to steal Knightley from Emma's affections, the relationship turns sour, and infinitely more sibling-like than before.
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