Why did these two sisters stop speaking to each other?

Question

The Facts of Life is a magical realist novel by Graham Joyce which centers around an elderly woman, Martha Vine, her seven grown daughters, and her young grandson Frank. In this book, two of the daughters—Aida and Olive—have an argument and stop speaking to each other for nearly two years.

The fight is ostensibly about a home-coming party that was held for another two of the sisters; Aida thinks that Olive was much too bossy in the way that she organized the party. However, that's not what it was really about. In a conversation between Frank and his grandmother, Frank asks:

Was it something that happened at the party?

And Martha responds:

Well, they say as it is, but it isn't. When people stop speaking to each other, it isn't for something that happens in a minute.

So what was the underlying reason for this feud?

Answer 1

One possibility is that Aida resented Olive because Aida hadn't been able to have children, while Olive had three at a relatively young age. On page 37, we get this description of Aida:

the serious-minded and somewhat soured Aida (her own childless condition being a source of some bitterness to her)

So when Olive was organizing the party in an excessively bossy and inconsiderate manner (probably due to the fact that she and her husband were having difficulties), maybe Aida couldn't keep her pent-up resentment contained any longer.