The Good Sister

Rose Castle is the novel’s antagonist and its unreliable narrator. She is the twin sister of Fern, the daughter of Nina, and Owen’s wife. A self-described perfectionist, Rose has had a traumatic childhood. Nina suffered brain damage when Rose was 12, and Rose and Fern were placed in foster care. As a child, Rose perceived of Nina’s behavior as neglectful and suffered bleak moods. Though she loves her sister Fern fiercely, it is suggested Rose is also jealous of Fern since she thinks Nina favors Fern. Rose has type 1 diabetes. At the start of the novel, Rose’s perfect life is falling apart. Her marriage is breaking down, and she is unable to have a baby, which is her deepest desire. She has a non-existent relationship with Nina, who is in a care facility. However, she continues to be very attached to Fern. On the surface, the responsible twin who takes care of a sister with sensory issues, Rose emerges as a very problematic character over the course of the book. The journal entries she writes are at odds with the way others perceive her actions, indicating that she is either self-deluding or is building a specific narrative.

Rose manipulates Fern into getting pregnant for her. Her plan seems to be working well until Fern’s boyfriend Wally presents a problem. Rose cuts off Fern from Wally and infantilizes Fern, showing the classic behavior patterns of an abuser. However, the narrative doesn’t suggest Rose is all bad. Rose has been sexually abused as a child by one of Nina’s boyfriends and may have indeed had a difficult relationship with Nina. She is insecure about her appearance and her difficulties with fertility, feeling pressured by society’s expectations of a woman. She loves Fern in her own perverse way, believing Fern is an extension of herself.

As the novel ends, Rose murders Nina and is arrested. It becomes clear that she was the mastermind behind Billy’s death and Nina’s brain damage. Most of the entries in her journal are twisted and accounts of Nina’s abuse fanciful. In Fern’s recollection, it was Rose, not Nina, who was prone to silent rages. Rose wrote the journal to paint Nina as a villain and Fern as an unfit mother who couldn’t contest her claim to Fern’s baby. In her direct testimony, Rose shows no remorse for her actions, indicating she is a static character, someone who has not evolved over the narrative. Rose symbolizes the dangers of overt egotism and grandiosity.

Rocco Ryan is Fern’s boyfriend and a successful tech entrepreneur with dual American and Australian citizenship. Fern refers to him as Wally since he resembles the similarly named children’s book character in his glasses and colorful hat. Wally is intelligent, highly logical, and empathetic. At the start of the novel, he is living in a van and hoping to build a new business in Australia. Initially appearing abrasive and prone to anger, Wally actually shares certain sensory processing issues with Fern. Like Fern, he dislikes eye contact and unscheduled physical touch. Fern instantly recognizes a kindred spirit in Wally and bonds with him, learning of his issues only later.

Wally plays the role of a catalyst in the text in two ways. Firstly, he triggers a change in Fern by making her see people with sensory issues can live in vans, take chances, and switch continents. Secondly, he challenges the Fern-Rose dynamic, forcing Fern to consider the possibility that she too is overtly dependent on Rose. In terms of the plot, Wally becomes an agent of change since it is through him Rose’s greed is uncovered. Rose asks Wally for money on the pretext Fern is bankrupt, which Wally ultimately conveys to Fern. The information about Rose leads Fern to shift her perspective about her sister. Wally shows his willingness to grow when he immediately begins researching parenting after learning he has a baby. Earlier, he had told Fern he dreaded the thought of bringing a child in the world. Though his position is theoretically sound, Wally adapts it when he actually becomes a father.

Nina is the mother of Rose and Fern Castle and a pivotal character in the novel. At the book’s beginning, Nina has been in an assisted care facility for 16 years, having suffered incapacitating brain damage, ostensibly because of a drug overdose. Since the brain trauma, Nina has lost most of her speech, which she is recovering only in the present. Nina is presented to the reader through Rose’s and Fern’s varying accounts, which makes her a difficult character to pin down. Initially, Nina appears to be a negligent, cruel parent with severe anger issues. In Rose’s journal, she is portrayed as a mother who taunted, scared, and even starved Rose. As the narrative progresses, a different side of Nina begins to take shape through Fern’s testimony. Most of Fern’s memories of Nina are good. She thinks of Nina as an adequate mother, who may have struggled to provide financially for her children but was far from abusive. Nina also provides important clues about Rose’s behavior when she explicitly tells Fern: “Your baby. Don’t … give it … to Rose” (175). It is Nina who knows the whole truth about what happened to Billy since she was the only one apart from the twins present at the river after Billy died. Nina immediately figures out that Rose was involved in the drowning and then agrees to keep the truth hidden to protect Rose. Nina’s actions make it clear she loves Rose despite knowing that Rose has destructive tendencies.

Perhaps Nina’s greatest flaw may have been ignoring or overlooking her boyfriend Gary’s sexual abuse of Rose. Fern makes it clear that whatever else in Rose’s journal was a lie, the abuse was not. Rose never forgives her mother for what she perceives as her neglect. Rose also hates Nina for her apparent preference of Fern. She injects Nina with insulin shortly after Billy’s death, causing the brain damage. When Nina begins to regain her speech and begins to recall the truth about Billy’s death, Rose injects her again, this time making sure Nina dies. Nina represents the uncomfortable truth for Rose. Rose needs to kill this truth to continue with the delusion of perfection she wishes to project to herself and the world.