Sibling incest

[jain]

I'm looking for novels involving consensual sibling incest. The "consensual" doesn't have to mean healthy or happy by any means; I just don't want books about rape or other sexual abuse by siblings. I've already either read or have on my list The Carnivorous Lamb by Agustin Gomez-Arcos, Gemini by Michel Tournier, A Density of Souls by Christopher Rice, The Brothers Bishop by Bart Yates, and the Doctrine of Labyrinths series by Sarah Monette and, of course, Flowers in the Attic.

I'm most interested in suggestions for brother-brother or sister-sister incest fiction, but I'm also willing to try recommended books involving brother-sister incest.

Comments

[ar]

George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire books (A Game of Thrones, etc) includes Jaime and Cersei Lannister, m/f twins who have three children together quite unbeknown to Cersei's husband (he thinks they're his).

I can't think of any others off the top of my head, though.

[jain]

Oh, awesome! I've had that series on my to-be-read list for a while, but not gotten around to it yet. (They're a bit dauntingly long.) This info is definitely additional incentive to read them, though. Thanks for the rec!

[shanaqui]

Guy Gavriel Kay's Tigana has a brother-sister incestuous relationship, although it's not the main focus of the story.

[jain]

Cool. I've been meaning to try some Kay, and that sounds like a good book to start with. Thanks for the rec!

[melannen]

Elizabeth Willey's A Sorcerer and A Gentleman and The Price of Blood and Honor have brother-sister incest; there's soulbonding and altered mental states and various things involved so it's not *pure* consent but neither of them experience regret or consider it abusive.

And The Left Hand of Darkness has nongendered sibling/nongendered sibling incest! Does that count?

[jain]

I'll have to give the Willey books a try; that sounds really interesting. And nongendered sibling incest totally counts, and I'm surprised at myself for not remembering that plot point in The Left Hand of Darkness. Obviously it's time for a reread. Thanks for the recs!

[melannen]

The Willey books are really very good on many axes, and I recommend them to everybody.

The incest in tLHoD is pretty much all in the past, so it's easy to miss, but once you notice it, you realize just how much the loss of that relationship has affected everything happening in the present-day story.

[holyschist]

Elizabeth E. Wein's The Winter Prince has some major brother-brother incest undertones, although there's only one expression of it and it's...dubious? Seriously not healthy, but it is Mordred we're talking about (she also wrote a short story exploring his incestuous relationship with his mother, which is very very dubiously consensual). Medraut and his sister Goewin have some odd tension, too.

Arthurian stories are pretty loaded with (at least initially) consensual brother-sister (or in some versions, nephew-aunt) incest, although that may not be what you're looking for.

[jain]

The Winter Prince is going on my reading list right now. It sounds awesome, especially since (as you say) there's incest all over the Arthurian legends, but most of it brother-sister and often of the accidental, oh-we-didn't-know-we-were-related variety (which is not a trope that I care for at all). Thanks for the recs!

[holyschist]

It's not the main focus of the book by any stretch of the imagination, but this is hands-down my FAVORITE portrayal of Mordred, and just an amazing book all around. (The sequels end up mostly focused on Mordred's son Telemakos and are set in a pretty fictionalized Ethiopia--much more removed from Arthurian legend.)

[jelaza]

P.c. Hodgell's Kencyrath series has several references to arranged marriages with close kin. It appears to be building up to a relationship between the brother/sister/cousin on both sides main characters.

[jain]

Ooh! I'd never heard of that series, but it looks fascinating. Thanks for the rec!

[jumpuphigh]

The Hotel New Hampshire

Also, Library Thing has an incest tag here: http://www.librarything.com/tag/incest

[jain]

I don't know how I missed this comment before, but here's a belated thank you! The Hotel New Hampshire looks awesome, and I'll definitely check out that Library Thing tag.