The Good Sister

“I committed the most cardinal of marital sins—I changed.”

Rose’s statement sounds profound because sometimes people indeed cannot cope with their partners evolving and shifting. The truth however is not that she changed, but Owen did. Rose is the same as always; it is Owen who decides he cannot stay with her anymore. Rose’s inversion of the truth is characteristic: Her account often presents her in a role opposite to that she held in real life.

“Janet, my old supervisor, taught me that the library belongs to everyone. The library, Janet used to say, is one of only a few places in the world that one doesn’t need to believe anything or buy anything to come inside … and it is the librarian’s job to look after all those who do.”

Books and the library are a key motif in The Good Sister, representing a democratic, egalitarian sanctuary. Through the view of Janet and then Fern, the text establishes the library as a public, friendly space where prejudices about class, neurodiversity, gender, and other factors cease to exist. It is an idealized, utopian view but one Fern strictly believes. It is this view that has her keeping a ready toilet kit for unhoused folk who visit the library washrooms.

“If it were up to me, every child would have a year in the library before they went to school. Not just to read, but to roam.”

The library is not just a place to read but also a place to explore. Fern’s observation is a metaphor for the power of books: Good stories allow one to roam inside them and discover new worlds. That is why Fern thinks that every child will benefit from losing themselves in the library like she did.