The Good Sister

The Good Sister is another amazing domestic suspense by Sally Hepworth.

Twin sisters, Rose and Fern, are particularly close after a troubled childhood. The story is told in alternating perspective, revealing their very different memories. Rose’s journal recounts abuse and neglect leading up to their mother’s overdose, and the sisters’ years in foster care, but Fern remembers their childhood slightly differently. For example, Fern remembers the year they spent basically homeless and living in the public library as a great adventure that led her to become a librarian. Even as an adult, Rose feels like she needs to take care of her sister. Fern is never diagnosed, but she’s a bit too literal and can’t handle noises, lights, or strangers, really.  Definitely can’t cope with a new relationship, definitely shouldn’t be starting this romance…

It’s really hard to talk about The Good Sister without revealing too much of the plot, because this really is a novel in which pretty much every detail is significant. There are so many twists, and so many times that tiny bit of information from earlier came back to reveal something else. I’ll say that fans of Sally Hepworth’s previous novel, The Mother-in-Law, will enjoy the suspense in The Good Sister, and it really kept me wondering who to believe. This is my favorite kind of suspense novel, because there wasn’t anything even a little bit gross,  but the suspense was so intense.