Private Rites by Julia Armfield review – familial conflict before the final days

Three sisters attempt to deal with their father’s death as the end of the world draws near in an evocative novel about sibling rivalry

In Julia Armfield’s third book the effects of the climate crisis are felt daily. The city in which sisters Isla, Irene and Agnes live has been transformed by endless rain – and in turn its inhabitants have had to transform their existence, living in houses higher and higher up, and travelling via ferry where train lines once ran.

The world is “in its final stages”, Armfield tells us near the start of the book. Yet her characters do not live as though in an emergency. The siblings moan about their jobs, delayed commutes and relationships that are on the rocks. No matter the circumstances, we will always be anchored by life’s mundanities, Armfield seems to say. It’s reassuring.

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