Rose and Fern are very close. They talk on the phone every day. Several times a week they meet for dinner. Their devotion goes beyond the fact that they are fraternal twins. Both sisters suffer from chronic disorders. Rose has juvenile diabetes and fertility issues while Fern has sensory processing disorder. She cannot stand loud noises, crowds or people touching her. It's hard for her to maintain eye contact and read social cues. For the most part Rose appears to be the stronger, more dominant twin. Fern considers Rose "her person". Whenever faced with a situation she hears her sister's advice replaying itself in her head. This soothes her and makes her feel more sure of her responses. So when she realizes that Rose desperately wants a baby she decides to get pregnant for her. This is where we get to see Fern in all of her beautiful quirkiness as she tries to put her plan in action.

The Good Sister is told from alternating viewpoints. Rose chronicles their traumatic childhood in her journal. Fern's chapters are told in real time and show how she functions in her day-to-day life as a librarian.

It is hard to write this review without giving away too many secrets. I reread the synopsis after finishing the book and it means something completely differnt to me now. <i>(Sneaky sneaky St. Martin's Press. I see what you did there.)</i> What I can say is that Sally Hepworth does a great job with character development. The pace was fast without losing the dynamics of the sisters' relationship. Although somewhat predicatable, Hepworth has a few surprises in store for new readers.

Overall this was a fun read. :D Fern and Wally are so cute! Their relationship is really touching. I love the way he "sees" her. I miss them.

I received a free ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this book. As I started it, it seemed like a funny novel. And I thought, "that's weird, I thought the author wrote suspense and mystery books." But it did turn out to have that element to it. But Fern was very funny and clever. I love that she worked in a library. It tied up a little too neatly at the end, but otherwise I liked it.

This book is like nothing that I have read before and this is mainly because of Fern. How I loved this character! Right from the start, it was evident that Fern was going to be an endearing character despite anything bad she might have done (as implied by her twin sister). She has sensory processing issues, is sensitive to light, voices and touch. Fern doesn’t go out in crowds but when she has to, she wears goggles and EarPods to protect herself. She is a wonderful librarian, highly intelligent though she cleverly avoids any work issues that she doesn’t like such as dealing with complains about the computers and printers. Fern had me smiling so many times throughout this book.

Right from the start, it was evident that there was something sinister about the sisters’ relationship. Rose details her childhood memories through diary entries which illustrate a difficult upbringing. It is through the diary that we also find out that she is struggling with infertility. Nevertheless, the sisters seem to have a nice relationship with Rose being Fern’s care-giver and defender but clearly, all is not what it seems.

The character development is amazing. Both sisters are so deftly crafted that they feel like real people. Other support characters such as Wally and the librarians that Rose worked with were all were developed. This book had so many likeable characters despite the menacing undertones.

I enjoyed this twisty, well-written, entertaining narrative and I am so glad to have met all the characters.

This is a story that has my heart! Anytime there is a unique character, well loved and represented, I'm all in. Rose had me all in. Part family saga, part unforeseen romance, with a side of cryptic half revealed memories and suspicious deaths, I loved every page!

This is my first book by Sally Hepworth and added this to Lovely Books "Top 5 Summer Reads." I was so thrilled to share this tremendous book with my listeners!

(Not a) Spoiler Alert: I was a huge fan of this one. "The Good Sister" explores the relationship of Fern and Rose, twin sisters whose bond has taken them through a lot -- including a mysterious event of their youth that forever cast Fern as vulnerable and Rose as her protector. Fern is a quirky librarian who sees the good in everyone, while Rose is the responsible architect who is devoted to her sister. But when Fern decides to help her Rose finally become a mother by having a baby, all their secrets - both past and future - are forced into the light and their relationship will never be the same.

It's not often that a suspense novel serves up both a page-turning plot and such compelling characters. I read this whole book in one sitting and I'm not sure which I loved more - the mystery of it all, the twists or the lead characters. I'm still thinking about over two weeks and ten books later, and I've recommended it to everyone I know, and now I'm recommending it to you, too. Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 stars

Thank you to Net Galley and St. Martin's Press for my e-ARC!

What a fantastic journey this book was. Read this on one sitting. A perfect escapism read. Thank you for my early copy. A new auto-buy author for me.

The Good Sister is a psychological thriller revolving around fraternal twins Fern and Rose. The sisters have always been one another's "person." Since childhood, Rose always felt the need to protect Fern from their mothers emotional abuse. When Fern decides it's her turn to help Rose and make her dreams come true, secrets are uncovered and you have to ask.... How well do you really know the person you trust most on the world?

I give this book 4⭐. I really enjoyed it. The back and forth format between the 2 sisters made for a gripping page turner. Each chapter left me curious to know what's going to happen next and wondering if either sister are truly reliable. This was my first time reading Sally Hepworth and I look forward to reading more by her.

Loved it! Twists and turns kept me turning the pages! I fell for it completely and loved the ending. I rate this book a 4.6

This was the first book by Sally Hepworth I've read, and overall I'll say it wasn't my favorite thriller/mystery but I know I'm definitely in the minority with this opinon. I'll for sure give her other books a try!

What I liked
-It was pretty fast paced
-I was largely intrigued from the beginning
-For a majority of the book I had noooo idea where the plot was going

What I didn't like
-The "twist" felt rather anticlimatic and ended up being predictable by about the halfway point
-Overall felt like it was missing depth

This was kind of just a meh read

What a great thriller! I have not had the pleasure of reading a Sally Hepworth novel before this, and boy am I impressed. This creepy story checked all the boxes on my preferences: Great writing, a believable storyline, and shocking twists. Fern and Rose are twin sisters, twenty years old, and leading two very different lives. Rose is married and is an interior designer and is obsessed with having a baby. Fern is a librarian and on the spectrum. The book is mostly narrated by Fern, with excerpts from Rose's journal interspersed throughout. Both were raised by a sociopath (their unstable mother) so they have learned to take care of themselves from a young age. Rose takes advantage of Fern's innocence, but what she doesn't realize is that Fern is smarter than she gives her credit for. I thought Hepworth did a good job building the personas of each character, even the minor ones. Fern was so endearing, and her relationship with Wally was so cute. But that is only one side of the story. There are sinister things happening. When Fern gets pregnant, Rose convinces her to give her baby to her. As a reader, I knew this would end badly but I couldn't stop reading. If I had one complaint it would be that I figured out the twist earlier than I would have liked, although, I wasn't completely sure so it kept me reading. This was a fantastic thriller and I would happily recommend it to anyone who likes family dramas with a little mystery thrown in!

Wow, this story was so different than I thought it was going to be when I first heard about it. Twin sisters Rose and Fern have a very narcissistic and manipulative mother. They have a rough life growing up with their unpredictable mother and eventually end up in foster care. Rose has always taken on the role of the caretaker of her sister Fern. Rose is married and is an interior designer. Fern is unmarried works as a librarian at her local library and is on the autism spectrum. I really loved the character of Fern and I think the author did such an amazing job of showing a character with autism in the story. The story that Ms. Hepworth has crafted featuring these two sisters is so cleaver, unique, and fabulous. I read it in one weekend, because I wanted to know what was going to happen. This reminded me of something Ruth Rendell would have written. Some authors can just get inside the characters and make them so real and plausible. I really enjoyed the relationship between Fern and Wally. I was so glad he was there for Fern, because even as a reader, I wanted to protect Fern.

The Good Sister by Sally Hepworth is a 2021 St. Martin’s Press publication.

Fern and Rose are fraternal twins. Yet, Rose is stable and mature, while Fern is on the autism spectrum. After a tumultuous childhood, Rose looks after her sister, who works at a library. Because Fern once did something really, really, bad, and because Rose’s marriage has hit a rough patch, Fern wants to make everyone happy again- and she knows just what she can do to make that happen.

While Rose is away, Fern sets her plan in motion…

What could possibly go wrong?

I breezed through this one in record time. For a little while I was not exactly sure where Hepworth was leading me and sat nervously on the edge of my seat waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Obviously, some terrible things have already transpired as we get a glimpse into the twins’ childhood. We also know that the girls were directly involved in a disquieting tragedy as children, and now it looks as if trouble may be brewing again. What is so alarming is that we don’t know WHO will strike, or when, or how…

The only downside to being a lifelong crime fiction loyalist, is that original plots are often far and few between. The good/bad sister trope is hardly original, having been done six ways from Sunday.

Once it became clear which direction the story was headed, the wind went out of my sails a little, but I was so concerned about the characters, I kept turning pages at warp speed. Turns out that although I knew- and I suspect, once most readers reach a certain point in the book, they will have caught on, as well- what the big plot twist was, there were a few stunning developments I did not see coming and the last chapter was truly psycho!!

Once I had a little time to think about the story, I realized that, in hindsight, it was much more cunning than I had originally given it credit. Still, the cleverness is in the well-drawn characterizations, without which, the doubts, concerns, and suspense, wouldn’t have been possible.

This is only the third book I have read by this author- but this one is a little different, having an edgier quality, utilizing another form of suspense from what I was expecting. Some of the emotional depth and relatability were lacking here, but overall, this was an absorbing, twisted little page turner!!

Every new offering from Sally Hepworth gets better and better! I enjoy all her books. This book was a fun and engaging read. Highly recommend.

Fern & Rose are twins. They don't look alike or even act alike, Fern is tall, thin and has a sensory disorder. Rose on the other hand is short, chubby and has diabetes. Rose is the protector. Being raised by a single mom who was mean with her children, Rose felt she needed to look out for Fern, protect her. She will even cover for Fern when young Fern does something that will ruin Fern's life forever.

I really enjoyed this novel. I got sucked right into the story with all the characters. Wondering what Fern really did that was so bad and what is Rose's agenda with her sister. Rose is very protected of Fern. To me she is very possessive and manipulative and I really didn't like Rose from the beginning.
I love the character development of Fern and her new friend "Wally". Both are quirky and their personalities fit together so well. The author does a great job with having the reader feel and understand what Fern is going through with her sensory issues.

I can't wait to read more by Sally Hepworth in the future.
I would give this novel a 5 stars! I had a hard time putting it down and was said to see the story end. I will miss Fern & Wally.

downloaded for my mother to read not my type of book. I will never read this type of book, not for me, no thank you

I loved The Mother-in-Law by Sally Hepworth and have recommended this to many people so was really looking forward to The Good Sister. Unfortunately, for me, this just didn't quite succeed in the same way. It wasn't really a thriller and it was easy to guess where things were going. I'd put this in the "easy page-turner" category.

I read the Mother in Law by Sally Hepworth and really enjoyed it. The Good Sister is a suspense novel, but it manages to keep the reader entertained and surprised without being over the top and fast paced. This really is a book about two sisters and their relationship.
Twin sisters Fern and Rose have always been close. It was Rose who protected Fern from their sociopathic mother. Since Fern has always been different, it was Rose who looked out for her. So when Fern finds out that Rose wants a baby, Fern decides to get pregnant and give the baby to Rose. However, it isn't long before the sister's secrets start to unravel.

I received a free digital ARC (Advanced Reading Copy) of this book from NetGalley and St. Martin's Press. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

This was a great book with a great plot and many twists I was not expecting.

The story is told from the point of view of both Fern's current life and Rose's journal entries. We get a lot of background information about the sisters, including a narration of their unstable childhood. Rose explains that her sister's neurodiverse disorders have muddled her memories of their mom and acknowledges that noticing the toxic environment they grew up in caused her to bear the brunt of the abuse. Fern, on the other hand, sees her childhood as a carefree experience and holds no grudges against her mom. Their different perspectives explain how their lives and personalities turned out to be polar opposites.

The plot moves fast. The three events developing are Fern's choice to get pregnant to give her sister the baby, her developing relationship with Rocco, and the recollection of Fern and Rose's childhood memories. We get alternate chapters with Rose's diary entries that mostly focus on her memories of events during their childhood, including their friend Billy's drowning and their mom's overdose that almost killed her. From Fern's point of view, we learn her current routines and how her processing disorders have affected her life. We also see, through Fern's perspective, her love story with Rocco developing.


It is not explicitly said, but we can infer that Fern is on the autism spectrum, which explains some of her quirky personality traits such as her need to keep the same routines every week and her sensory processing issues. Rose explains Fern's disorders as a form of protection developed to overlook the abuse they suffered. Fern is happy and upbeat. She's a loyal and trusting person who is direct and has no filter, so she expects people to be the same. Overall, Fern is a well-rounded character who provides an excellent balance in a book with some unexpected and dark turns. The other main character, Rose, is somewhat of a pessimist with serious trust issues that have caused an issue in her marriage. She is skeptical of people's intentions, so when Rocco (or Wally) becomes a frequent presence in her sister's life, she's immediately suspicious.

The secondary characters are as well developed as the main ones, which I truly enjoyed. Not many writers get to tell a full story from different points of view while also creating well-rounded and developed secondary characters and storylines, so props to Sally Hepworth for creating such a unique domestic thriller.


The plot moves fast, which I greatly appreciated because I just couldn't put the book down. I was taken by surprise as the main plot twist is revealed although Hepworth did lay out the events in a way that, not only makes sense but fully explains the plot. I was caught off guard, and I truly enjoyed the ending.


Overall, an amazing read!

easy, fun read, but not what I would classify as a thriller. Fern's character was inconsistent -- seemed on the spectrum most of the time, but I would often be dragged out of the book at some comments and conversations that didn't fit with her previous comments. The relationship between the sisters was well done.

Sweet and twisty - another great Sally Hepworth book. A little bit Eleanor Oliphant with some mystery.