Synopsis: Twins Rose and Fern have always had each other. With Fern’s aversion to loud noises, crowds, bright lights and difficulty reading social cues, it makes sense for her to rely on Rose. So, when Rose’s marriage is struggling and she finds herself unable to get pregnant, Fern sees it as an opportunity to pay her sister back for everything she has done for her. What Fern does not expect is to build a relationship that, in turn, forces her to face long buried memories.
The book is told from two perspectives – passages from Rose’s diary which mostly focuses on events that have happened in the past, delving into descriptions of their mother’s emotional abuse and her desire to protect Fern from an early age, and Fern’s present day.
Review: It took me a long time to get in to this book. Described as a psychological thriller, it felt neither psychological nor thrilling until a good way through the story and I could not figure out how this seemingly mundane description of two sisters’ lives would reach an exciting pinnacle.
However, I am glad I persevered.
This is not the type of thriller that is necessarily shocking but seeing where the story is going makes it so much more compelling. The more the story progressed, the more uncomfortable I felt reading it and I wanted to scream at the characters. I ended up so invested, desperately hoping for a certain outcome and stressed, worrying that things were not going to turn out as I hoped because there is so much manipulation and tension that is developed.
Continue reading “The Good Sister – Sally Hepworth”
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