Feedback on Aunt Maria

I kind of like books like Aunt Maria by Diana Wynne Jones because I can really relate to the story. I have seen the ideas like the parents splitting and kids going to stay with family in many horror movies and also fantasy movies. Mig and her brother Chris are the average brothers that have to stick together but yet Chris is the one who acts our while Mig is more of the calm smart and doing what she has to do type girl. 

When my parents got divorced, i started to see my grandparents more and saw my mom a lot more than i thought i would. I was young so i didn't really know what was going on but my brother was definitely like Chris from the book. My brother never wanted to protect me and i always wished when i was a kid he would watch out for me. Mig shows more courage in my eyes which i can also relate too.  Do you think that kids act out in these situations because they are afraid of not being loved?  Because Chris is so rude and annoyingly rude to adults, do you think more people will like his character?