Cathleen Schine: The Grammarians

Language-loving twin sisters discover themselves united by passion but separated by needs in The Grammarians, the eleventh book by Cathleen Schine. Stuffed with language surprises, this comic novel about serious things portrays a literary war: order and dignity versus freedom and experimentation. One sister, Daphne, a copy editor and grammar columnist, devotes herself to Standard English; the other sister, Laurel, gives up teaching kindergarten to write polymorphous poetry. Their sisterly linguistic friction explores the issue of needing someone while wanting independence.