The Sisters Brothers
Eli and Charlie Sisters are two hired killers riding from Oregon City to the California gold fields in 1851 to murder a prospector named Hermann Kermit Warm on behalf of their employer, a man called the Commodore. Eli, the younger brother and the narrator, is a soft-hearted killer with weight problems, a horse he loves more than his brother, and a growing suspicion that he wants out of the trade. Charlie is harder, drunker, and ready to murder his way into the Commodore's chair. DeWitt writes the violence in a wry deadpan that earned the book a 2011 Booker shortlist and constant Coen-brothers-meets-McCarthy comparisons.
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The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
Two hired-killer brothers ride from Oregon to the 1851 California gold fields to murder a prospector in this Booker-shortlisted literary western.
Yes. The Sisters Brothers won the Governor General's Literary Award and the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize and was shortlisted for the 2011 Booker Prize.
Yes. Jacques Audiard directed a 2018 film adaptation starring Joaquin Phoenix, John C. Reilly, and Jake Gyllenhaal. The film follows the novel's premise of two assassin brothers in 1851 Oregon.
The Sisters Brothers was written by Patrick deWitt, published in 2011 by Anansi.
The Sisters Brothers is 330 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, The Sisters Brothers takes most readers 5 to 7 hours to finish.
The Sisters Brothers is a standalone novel by Patrick deWitt, not part of a series.
The Sisters Brothers is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.
