This novel is a family saga that follows Gülsün and her two daughters Sevda and Eda-Eva, who are half-sisters. Gülsün agrees to an arranged marriage with Haydar, a factory worker in Germany, and immigrates from her small village in Turkey to Germany. From this marriage Sevda is born. When she is old enough for kindergarten, Gülsün attends a German language course. She falls in love with the German instructor, Günther, and they begin an affair. Gülsün finds out that she is pregnant and abandons Sevda to live with Günther, who moves them to the outskirts of the city where Haydar cannot find her. Haydar, feeling emasculated and unable to take care of five-year-old Sevda, sends her to his family in Turkey for a couple of years. In a moment of intoxication, Gülsün sets out to reclaim Sevda and to unite her with her half-sister Eda-Eva, who knows nothing about Sevda’s existence. Gülsün, having chosen to follow the riverbank to reach the old apartment where she once lived, falls into the river and drowns. To connect Eda-Eva to her mother’s roots, Günther moves them to the city close to the Turkish community, where she makes friends with Sinem and realizes that she is queer. Years later on a train, Sevda and Eda-Eva meet and become friends, unaware of their connection. As their friendship deepens, the two fall in love. Both girls are desperate to leave their homes (Günther has built a new family for himself, in which Eda-Eva feels like a third wheel. Haydar has remarried a woman from his village back home, who takes out her sadness of infertility on Sevda). Eda-Eva suggests they move to the house in the outskirts, where she used to live with her mother. They arrive at the house that holds Gülsün’s memories in the basement. Lying in bed, the two create a fantasy of a future life together, although the truth becomes more and more undeniable to Sevda.

The past decade has been an exciting time for American fiction in general and Southern Appalachian fiction in particular. Rock Big and Sing Loud by Tamara Baxter is a significant addition to this surge of new writing. Writing truly about the world of eastern Tennessee Baxter also writes about the world at large, about humanity. Her narratives can make you laugh or break your heart, and sometimes they do both at once. She has given us the stories of some of the most afflicted and addicted, the most failed and failing, individuals on the planet, and also some of the strongest and most enduring people we are ever likely to meet. These stories take us to places we did not expect to go, and just when we think we have seen what is strangest, most absurd, most alien and outrageous, we recognize something of ourselves. - Robert Morgan, author of Gap Creek and Brave Enemies / https://dc.etsu.edu/alumni_books/1021/thumbnail.jpg

Les Soeurs Deblois de Louise Tremblay d’Essiambre qui a connu un succès inespéré fait l’objet de cette thèse. Le but de cette étude consiste à expliquer le succès de cette saga familiale, plus précisément, de montrer comment cette saga suscite l’intérêt du lecteur et capte son attention. Cette étude porte sur deux axes essentiels : la mise en intrigue et lespersonnages dans Les Soeurs Deblois. À travers l’analyse des conflits importants entre les personnages principaux, l’étude sur la mise en place de la tension narrative et l’explication sur le jeu des coïncidences dans Les Soeurs Deblois, nous avons clarifié la stratégie de la mise en intrigue de l’auteure et nous avons mis en lumière l’importance de la dynamique de l’intrigue dans la production de l’intérêt du lecteur. Le personnage est l’un des éléments clés du succès de cette saga familiale. L’étude du système des personnages, les réflexions sur la description et l’analyse des personnages féminins nous permettent de dégager que les personnages réalistes et attachants créés par Louise Tremblay d’Essiambre contribuent à l’interaction entre le texte et le lecteur et tendent à capter l’attention du lecteur. / Louise Tremblay d’Essiambre’s The Deblois Sisters that had an unexpected success is the subject of this thesis. The purpose of this study is to explain the success of this family saga, specifically, to show how this saga arouses the reader’s interest and captures his attention. This study focuses on two key areas : the emplotment and the characters in The DebloisSisters. Through the analysis of major conflicts between the main characters, the study on the establishment of the narrative tension and the explanation on the game of coincidences in The Deblois Sisters, we have clarified the strategy of setting plot of the author and we have highlighted the importance of the dynamics of the plot in the production of the reader’s interest. The character is one of the key elements in the success of this family saga. The study of the system of the characters, les reflections on the description and the analysis of female characters allow us to reach a conclusion : therealistic and attractive characters created by Louise Tremblay d’Essiambre contribute to the interaction between the text and the reader and tend to capture the reader’s attention.