Sisters of the Undertow by Johnnie Bernhard

Kim and Kathy Hodges are sisters placed on seemingly different life paths. From the start, Kim is beautiful and smart; Kathy is plain and beset with disabilities. But these convenient characteristics don’t show the whole story—what is in someone’s heart and what makes someone a good person. As they grow up in their middle-class family, Kim resents the extra attention her sister receives from her parents and declares that her sister chokes the life out of her. It’s a cruel observation and one that doesn’t change for Kim, even as she grows into an adult. Her feelings for her sister calcify, even after her own traumas with sexual assault leave her unwilling to give or accept love in a healthy way. Both sisters have their own baggage to carry, but Kathy moves through life undeterred by the disabilities God gave her, or road blocks put in her way by life.