SUZANNE DO The Golden Sister. Reviewed by Linda Godfrey

Set on the Australian coast, Suzanne Do’s first novel is both a murder mystery and a story of grief, family and connection.

Lili Berry is in her twenties, and her world is a mess of anxiety, dysfunction and pain. Compounding all her day-to-day problems in the fictional coastal town of Swanning, a week ago, just before Christmas, her twin sister, Honey, was found dead in an alleyway, presumed from a drug overdose. Lili is sure that her sister was murdered. 

Maz might believe what the police had said: that Honey had injected herself with heroin on the street. But something about that didn’t ring true to Lili. Although Honey was great at soccer, she’d never been good with her hands. It was one of the few things Lili was better at than her twin. When they were little, Lili always had to help Honey tie her shoelaces … how the hell did someone who couldn’t tie her own shoelaces until she was ten manage to shoot herself up with two heavily bandaged hands? Lili was going to find out.

Lili has a very difficult relationship with her mother, Maz, who is unable to offer Lili any solace after Honey’s death. Honey was the golden sister, the one who could do no wrong, while Lili was left out in the cold. Now Maz is too busy either working or partying with friends and even rejects spending Christmas with Lili.

Finally, Lili said, ‘Are you planning to do anything on Christmas day?’ 

Maz blew on her coffee. ‘I’m going out with some of the girls.’

‘Do you want to do anything the day before?’ Lili asked.

‘I’m working.’ Maz sighed. …

‘So, we’ll just skip it then?’

‘Suits me.’ Maz looked up.

Lili is desperate to drag herself away from her impoverished childhood and make a success of her life. She works in a real estate office, but the boss and her co-workers are mean-spirited. To keep up appearances, the truth of what happened to Honey must be kept secret, otherwise her job will be in danger.

Despite the police finding that it was an overdose, and her mother’s insistence that she leave the circumstances of Honey’s death alone, Lili is compelled to find what really happened. When she meets dead ends and her anxiety gets too high, she finds refuge at the beach. There she encounters, Pete, a homeless man. He sits behind a sign that says he is looking for his son, who disappeared 15 years ago. 

When Lili finds out that Pete is the one who found Honey’s body, she strikes up a friendship with him that grows stronger as they trade cold beers on hot summer afternoons for swimming lessons. 

Lili and Pete work together to uncover the mystery of Honey’s death, search for Pete’s missing son and confront shady characters from Honey’s past who Lili suspects killed her sister. All the while she is struggling to get ahead in her job, keep her boss happy and stave off the rumour mill at the pub from spreading details of Honey’s death.

The narrative follows the stories of both Lili and Pete as they reconcile their present with the pain and confusion of the past. This sounds heavy and tragic, but Suzanne Do has a light touch, and her main characters are well-crafted. I found that not many pages in, I wanted to get back to the book and see how Lili was going as she developed from isolated, insecure young woman to confident adult on a path of her own choosing, and how her quest for answers to Honey’s death was progressing. As for Pete, I was keen to get his backstory and understand how it shaped the man he has become. 

Both Lili and Pete are keen to resolve their mysteries. There are moments of joy, such as when Pete teaches Lili to swim, and she then continues to gain strength and peace through swimming, and when she makes some serious gains at work that put everyone in their place. 

Suzanne Do also has a wicked sense of humour when it comes to the secondary characters, such as the antics of Lili’s workmates. The chihuahua is adorable and a welcome source of stress relief. And, maybe for the first time, a property developer is portrayed as a good guy.

This book is perfect for a long winter’s evening or a summer beach read. If you live or holiday on the south coast of New South Wales, just south of Sydney, the beaches and pools will be very familiar. Once I started reading, I didn’t want to stop. Suzanne Do explores themes of family, grief, loss and second chances with such depth, humour and empathy that it’s impossible not to be moved. It’s a poignant and affecting read.

Suzanne Do The Golden Sister Macmillan Australia 2025 PB 336pp $34.99. 

Linda Godfrey is a writer, poet and editor. She lives on Dharawal Country.

You can buy The Golden Sister from Abbey’s at a 10% discount by quoting the promotion code NEWTOWNREVIEW.

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Tags: Australian fiction, Australian women writers, crime fiction, murder mystery, sisters, south coast New South Wales, Suzanne | Do