The Golden Sister by Suzanne Do

This debut novel is both funny and heartbreaking. Lili Berry is convinced that Honey's death, her twin sister, wasn’t due to an overdose, but that someone killed her. Raw with grief, she feels abandoned by her mother and alienated from her work colleagues, as memories of the ‘golden sister’, the one that everyone gravitated towards, haunt her. She believes it is her fault her sister died, and she is plagued with regrets.

But then she teams up with Pete, the homeless man who found her sister’s body.  He is a cultivated man who has fallen on hard times, and she discovers that he has his own personal story of family tragedy, after his little boy disappeared fifteen years earlier. He teaches her to swim, while she tries to jog his faulty memory for clues about her sister’s death, and she tries to find his lost son on Facebook. Their friendship is unexpected but brings moments of solace as Lili also navigates a toxic work environment and police who are about to close the case on her sister’s death.

The Golden Sister is an unforgettable story about families, love and friendship, and the messiness of life, told with a great deal of heart and humour.  You will need a box of tissues when you read this stunning novel, but you will also feel uplifted at the same time.

Reviewer: Karen McMillan

Pan Macmillan