Justine O'Neill in The Thorn Birds is a strong, intelligent girl who emerges from a difficult home life to achieve her ambition of being an actress. Despite her dedication to this career, she does not forget her family, being fiercely protective of her brother, Dane, and even of Meggie, the mother who failed to protect her.

In The Kite Runner, the most similar character to Justine is Soraya, who is also a strong, unconventional woman. Soraya comes from a more stable background than Justine and has created some of the tension in her family herself with an unconventional relationship before meeting Amir. Nonetheless, her combination of decisiveness and courage makes her personality similar to Justine's.

Justine and Soraya are both secondary characters in their respective texts, but the nearest matches in A Thousand Splendid Suns are Mariam and Laila, the first and second wives of Rasheed. Mariam's troubled background is closer to Justine's than Laila's is. Laila's kindly, thoughtful father, Hakim, is clearly nothing like the vicious miser Luke O'Neill. Nonetheless, Laila's personality is more similar to Justine's. Laila is intelligent, driven, and resilient, believing in herself despite Rasheed's abuse. Indeed, the abuse she suffers as Rasheed's wife is similar to Justine's experience as Luke's daughter.