Sally Hepworth

This one starts out very promisingly. A couple has recently moved into a house by a sea cliff, after experiencing some sort of difficult times. But they quickly find out why they got a house in such a beautiful spot so much cheaper than expected: the cliff has a reputation as an excellent place to commit suicide. Would-be jumpers repeatedly show up, but fortunately the husband turns out to be very good at talking them down. Until one night he goes out to talk to a woman on the cliff, and through the window his wife first glimpses him standing way closer to her than he usually does, then looks out again to see the woman completely gone and her husband with his hands outstretched as if he just possibly might have been pushing her. And then later it turns out he knew the woman...

So, yeah, I was intrigued, and all ready to settle into a complicated story in which this guy's secrets would be slowly revealed, with lots of tension around the question of whether or not the lady actually jumped.

The slowly revealed secrets are here, but imagine my surprise when right after the cliff incident we start getting scenes from the POV of the dead woman's ghost, and immediately and rather anticlimactically learn the answer to the question of whether she deliberately jumped. Which, admittedly, doesn't tell us what actually did happen, but I found it weirdly deflating (not to mention just plain weird), and never recovered the pleasant sense of tension I felt at the beginning.

And without that... Well, it turns out I actually really just didn't care about these people and their secrets, and infidelities, and mental health issues, and horrible business dealings, and unbelievably poor decisions, and repeated reflections on just much they really, really, really, really love each other. Like, at all.

Rating: I'm giving this one a 2.5/5. Part of me feels bad rating it that low, because I'm sure this novel will be someone's jam, but it's definitely not mine, and I'm not feeling very generous after having just spent 300+ pages in these characters' very uninspiring company.… (más)

Fern and Rose are twin sisters. Fern is likely on the autism spectrum, as she is awkward in social situations. She works at the local library. Her sister Rose looks out for her. Rose protected her after an event when they were young, which resulted in the death of a young boy. Now, Rose tells Fern that she is unable to have a child, so Fern decides to have a baby for Rose. Fern has met Wally (Rocco Ryan) who is living in his van. Wally is also awkward, but is a genius software developer, having created and sold a program he wrote for lots of money. Fern and Wally fall in love, but Rose interferes. Rose and her mother have a fraught relationship, and when odd things happen, Fern begins to wonder if she should trust Rose.
Intriguing look at psychopath!… (más)

What a phone call to receive.

Jessica, Norah, and Alicia all received a call from a detective asking that they meet at their childhood home to discuss a discovery of bones under it.

Their childhood home was a foster home they lived in under the "loving" care of Miss Fairchild. In actuality, she wasn't loving. She was a task master and abusive.

We found out from each character in alternating chapters what went on at that house, and we then move to present day.

Miss Hepworth keeps you intrigued with the intense happenings from their childhood under the care of Miss Fairchild.

Present day was intense too as you will try as I did to figure out whose bones they were and what Miss Fairchild was planning to do them now when she showed up for questioning by the police about the finding.

Will you figure out whose bones they are?

Surprise after surprise - twist after twist - with the ending one being the best.

You won’t want to put the book down even though the chapters about their time in foster care are unsettling and upsetting.

This is Ms. Hepworth's best yet. 5/5

Thank you to the publisher for a copy of this book. All opinions are my own.… (más)

It has been twenty-five years since Jessica, Norah, and Alicia left Port Agatha and Wild Meadows. the farming estate that had been their home where they lived under the care of their cruel and manipulative foster mother, Miss Fairchild. Their memories of those years are far from happy ones and though they are no longer the scared teenagers they were when they reported Miss Fairchild to the authorities all those years ago, their experiences have left an indelible imprint on their lives. But they had each other and together, they endured and survived their ordeal. Though not related by blood, they consider themselves sisters, and their love and unwavering support for one another has only grown stronger over the years. When a body is discovered under the farmhouse, the ensuing investigation draws the sisters back to Port Agatha, where they are forced to revisit their past and the memories that have haunted them.

I thoroughly enjoyed Darling Girls by Sally Hepworth. The narrative is shared from the perspectives of the three main characters with segments from sessions between a character, whose identity is revealed later on in the story, and a psychiatrist interspersed throughout the narrative. The author does a commendable job of depicting the flaws of the foster care system and the long-lasting effects of childhood trauma. I really liked how the author defines the three main characters and their distinctive personalities – strong women who have survived, complex and flawed yet vulnerable, each battling their own demons. The author deftly weaves between past and present timelines into a consistently paced ( a tad on the slower side), suspenseful narrative with convincing characters (even the unlikable ones) and enough twists and turns that keep you turning the pages till you reach the final revelation, which did surprise me ( I always love that!).

I paired my reading with the audiobook and I have to say that I loved Jessica Clarke’s narration and thought she did a remarkable job of breathing life into this story and the characters.

Many thanks to St. Martin's Press for the digital review copy via NetGalley and MacMillan Audio for the ALC. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.… (más)