The relationships between brothers and sisters are infinitely varied. Their love or hate, their envy or compassion, their closeness or rivalry are formed in childhood. But these bonds last throughout life, creating character and informing behavior in a multitude of situations. Strangely, this second most profound attachment in human life has not been studied or understood, perhaps because the feelings siblings have about each other are usually both intense and secret.
In their path-breaking book, the first major account of the powerful emotional connections between brothers and sisters, two clinical psychologists chart this unknown territory, offering a theory of the ways in which siblings attach, create each other’s identities, and affect the course of each other’s lives.