The
Good Sister: A Novel. Gillian McAllister. Penguin Publishing Group. Copyright June
2019, pb, 400 pp.; ISBN: 9780525539391.
Martha
and Becky Blackwater are extremely close sisters. However, all that closeness is blown to bits
when Martha’s eight-week-old baby, Layla, is found dead while in Becky’s
care. Becky quit her job so become
Layla’s nanny. The death of Layla,
though, exposes many aspects of Becky’s life that might be construed by the
jury at the trial to indicate Becky was at fault.
The
chapters are narrated by the Blackwater family, acquaintances, neighbors and
others who knew both sisters. The author
does a marvelous job at depicting the thoughts and feelings of these narrators
during the trial with a sensitive touch.
Martha is fraught with guilt about returning to work on the charity
group she created plus guilt at leaving a daughter who suffered from reflux
from birth and spent most of her awake time crying from discomfort. Becky is overwhelmed with this new job but
feels too guilty to admit it; instead, she descends into drinking too much and
too frequently, to the point that her child Xander is frequently afraid of
her. Others see warning signs of danger,
including yelling from Becky’s home at odd times of day and night.
The
parents of both sisters are anxious but try to be supportive of both
sisters. They have lost a grandchild but
love their children. No one seems to
know the truth of what happened, that is until the very end of the story. It’s unforgettable when this secret is
revealed. All still have to learn to
live with the loss and the aftermath in this breach of trust and love that
almost destroys an entire family.
A
memorable, finely-crafted novel, The Good
Sister is a good read about relationships and what challenges do to them in
the present and future. It’s also a
warning about making false assumptions from evidence that is highly
subjective. Every situation is unique
and above-second-guessing. Nicely done,
Gillian McAllister!
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