The Good Sister by Sally Hepworth was a thoroughly enjoyable read – it had short chapters and moved along quickly. Much of it was predictable, but I found myself chuckling over many passages and was totally surprised at one point in the book. The chapters alternate between Rosie and Fern Castle as narrators. Hepworth did a great job with the detail of their characterizations. The two girls are fraternal twins who seem to watch over each other, as children and as adults. But do they really????
Rosie Castle is a married interior decorator with a very responsible personality. She is now at the point in her life where she wants to have a baby, but discovers that she is unable to have one of her own. Fern Castle is a single librarian with a very quirky personality. She clings to her routines and has difficulty reading social clues. The novel explores their sibling relationship, as well as their relationships with others. There are flashbacks to their childhood throughout the story.
This book reminded me of The Rosie Effect and also Eleanor Oliphant because of Fern’s personality. Fern looks at the world in a different way than most people – but often she sees things more clearly than others. I don’t want to go into more detail about which characters I liked best, because I don’t want to give away any of the plot . . . but I think anyone who loves family stories with some mystery and drama thrown in will love The Good Sister!
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