For someone as fastidious as I am, I can be staggeringly absentminded.”
-- Fern (Fern )

Importance: Fern talks about all the things she can routinely remember, such as names, faces, and books in the library. However, Rose often tells her to do things, and Fern later has no memory of those conversations. The reader eventually discovers that Rose is not giving Fern these instructions, but she is creating situations so that Fern believes she forgets. This is part of Rose's control over Fern.

But Mum never took her for an official diagnosis. Giving Fern a diagnosis or hep would have made her special and Mum was the only one allowed to be special in our house.”
-- Rose (Journal of Rose Ingrid Castle )

Importance: This is taken from one of Rose's journal entries. She is talking about the fact that Fern has some sort of disability, probably autism, but was never diagnosed. At this point, the reader still believes that Rose is...