The Good Sister

A Novel

By: Sally Hepworth

Narrated by: Barrie Kreinik

Length: 8 hrs and 31 mins

Publisher's Summary

Hudson Booksellers Best of the Year 2021

"Reader [Barrie] Kreinik differentiates the sisters by giving Fern a crisp, detached tone (fitting with her character) and making Rose sound more emotional. Their Australian accents are charming.... Suspense builds as listeners search for the truth beneath the varying stories and plot twists. Fans of unreliable narrators will love this!" (Booklist)

Sally Hepworth, the author of The Mother-in-Law, delivers a knockout of a novel about the lies that bind two sisters in The Good Sister.

There's only been one time that Rose couldn't stop me from doing the wrong thing and that was a mistake that will haunt me for the rest of my life.

Fern Castle works in her local library. She has dinner with her twin sister, Rose, three nights a week. And she avoids crowds, bright lights, and loud noises as much as possible. Fern has a carefully structured life, and disrupting her routine can be...dangerous.

When Rose discovers that she cannot get pregnant, Fern sees her chance to pay her sister back for everything Rose has done for her. Fern can have a baby for Rose. She just needs to find a father. Simple.

Fern's mission will shake the foundations of the life she has carefully built for herself and stir up dark secrets from the past, in this quirky, rich, and shocking story of unexpected love.  

A Macmillan Audio production from St. Martin's Press

©2015 Sally Hepworth (P)2021 Macmillan Audio

wow!

I couldn't put this book down! This is an amazing story about 2 sisters, one of them is apparently on the autism spectrum, however not diagnosed. Her twin sister, apparently without any autism or any other mental illness, takes care of her. The two girls grow up this way, they have gotten used to the one always taking care of the other, telling her what to do, guiding her through her life choices. The book has some surprising twists to it. It's very well written. It's full of love, passion, and yes there's a lot of deceit.

Fern is the best, not thrilled with the rest

Have to start with the narration, which was almost an immediate deal breaker for me. Super robotic, but I think it actually compliments Fern’s character.

FERN... Who wouldn’t love this sweet, sensory overloaded, quirky woman?!

However, it is short, really too short, and I feel cheated in a way. The only true redeeming quality is Fern.

Besties or Enemies????

The story about fraternal twins Rose and Fern unfolds with various chapters with each’s POV.
Fern is a librarian with sensory issues and maybe a little autistic. Rose is a designer, married to Owen who is away from home currently on a work assignment. Their mother is in a long term care facility from a drug overdose several years ago. Fern visits her every week but Rose is still upset with her due to bad parenting decisions and never visits the mother.
The story develops slowly as Fern meets a man who visits the library. Rose is trying to get pregnant and goes for a visit with husband. The story is in the details and well worth the read.
The audio bothered me a little because I binged it in one day so I did notice that between some chapters the characters voices changed. Plus they speak with Aussie’s accents. It does take place in Australia but when I read everyone speaks in Texan. So I had to adjust for that. 😉

Well Done! Interesting Characters and Story

I preordered 'The Good Sister' and as soon as it was ready, I binge listened throughout the night.

The story presents us with two sisters. One seems to be the responsible caregiver, while the other is obviously on the Spectrum for Autism (but I don't think they ever say that was for certain).

The two sisters have lived with a secret for years. As the story unravels, we see that everything is not as it appears and there are many layers to the sisters' lives that have yet to be peeled away.

The characters are very interesting and immediately likeable. This is a more original premise. It's sort of dark and twisty, yet light and funny. It's rare for an author to be able to achieve both.

Good read!

-Wendi

5 stars for originality

Although this book starts out rather slow, it held my attention, and developed into an interesting and original storyline with good character development

Not a favorite

I was disappointed in this Sally Hepworth book. I liked The Mother-In-Law better. This was a good story, but predictable.

Not as I expected

This book was disappointing. I kept waiting for the “thriller mystery “ but it just never happened. The disjointed diaries the twins each kept did cause some confusion that was made clear in the end, but kept waiting for “the moment” of discovery and I never got it.

Horrible

I started reading this but it was boring. There was absolutely no character development or anything else that kept me interested in reading it so I switched to the Audible because I was reading this for my book club but it was slow and boring. Writing this review was the best part.

The Good Sister

Twins... Fraternal... 2 girls, very different from each other. One with sensory and auditory issues and the other is "normal". Or is she? A mother who is neglectful? A little boy who drowns.... Very interesting audio recording. I recommend this audio book.

Great Book!

Loved this book. Everything you think you have it figured out you find a new crimp that changes your mind.

was great to have the book on Audible. it would have been hard to keep my mind on all the changes when I was reading it!