The Other Sister
Philippa Werry
Pipi Press
Pub. 2021

October 22, 2021

“Being in our town after the war was like being at the seaside when the tide rushes back in, bringing with it driftwood and debris with exotic and unusual shells, bringing the men back, who thought they’d walk up the beach and find it the same as when they’d left.”

It’s 1920. Living with her Ma and older sister, 14-year-old Tilly Thomas faces uncertainty as to what her future will hold. Although World War 1 is officially over, the aftermath of the war is devastating. Men return home from the front but none of them come back as they left. Crippled, shell-shocked, blinded – and then there are the ones who will never return. Even those who escaped unharmed are changed.

Overshadowed by her sister Beaty, Tilly wishes she could do something amazing – something that will be remembered. But when the matron of the local convalescent home ropes Tilly into helping out, Tilly slowly begins to meet different people and make new friends. As her confidence grows, she starts to believe in herself and not worry so much about ‘doing something amazing’.

The Other Sister by Philippa Werry is a lovely coming-of-age story that left me feeling really satisfied. I enjoyed it so much that I didn’t want to reach the end!

With a plot and characters relatable for current-day readers, it still manages to portray very convincingly what people and life would have been like after the war. The tone is slightly old-fashioned but this doesn’t stop the flow of the story, and personally, I appreciated it. I felt it helped settle the book into the timeframe.

One thing I particularly like about The Other Sister is the wide range of character personalities. There’s the main character Tilly, who, although she’s shy and not very confident (at the beginning anyway), is really quite funny. Then there’s Olivia and Ingrid; her friends from school. Olivia is friendly and kind but in comparison, Ingrid is more blunt and outspoken. There’s also Jim Yee, the Chinese boy who sells vegetables. He’s excluded and ‘different,’ and a little mysterious. I think he could have been made a more connectable character if you knew a bit more about him and his background.

The Other Sister is different to a lot of books I read (adventures, mysteries, thrillers) as there is not really a main ‘bad character’ or an ‘enemy.’ Yes, there are people that Tilly definitely doesn’t like, but it isn’t all about them versus Tilly – they are in the background. I really enjoyed this as a change and it led to a believable but very interesting story.

I think the title, The Other Sister, really reflects the way Tilly feels dwarfed by her older sister’s achievements. She’s just the other one. In fact, there are quite a few scenes where she gets mistaken for Beaty, or where she describes people who only know her as ‘Beaty’s sister.’

Werry has written an amazing historical novel and I’d thoroughly recommend reading it. It’s about finding your way in a new world and the prejudices girls faced – even after the war when they’d taken the men’s places and worked in their jobs. I recommend it to anyone aged 10-15.

• Savarna is 13 and lives near Dunedin.