I found the alternating stories from past and present to be a good method to tell this story and it really helped highlight similarities and differences between the two stories told in this book. I really struggled with the characters though. The mother just seemed cold and detached from the world. She had a very flat personality other than her sexuality. It was the same with the daughter. I really wanted to feel something from the two women, but I just didn't. This book just ended up being ok for me, but nothing special really. Thanks for the ARC, NetGalley.

Beautifully written! Such a intriguing read. I can’t wait to find more by this author. Thanks to publisher and NetGalley for this wonderful read.

Beautiful, haunting and slightly disturbing. Wonderfully written making it easy to immerse yourself in teenage mania and obsession. Interesting family dynamics, illness, sadness and strange love make for a complex story.

Thank you NetGalley for this arc

There were a lot of different topics covered in this book! Romantic relationships, mothers and daughters, etc. Differing time periods, and differing perspectives gave you an exciting plot to follow.

Mania and Fixation

I’ve never met an ordinary teen-age girl. Many, rightfully so, feel they are different from everyone else. Maeve, daughter and oldest child of Ruth, is recently in remission from a grueling cancer. (what cancer isn’t grueling, it’s by degrees). She is a lithe, young woman who craves a certain type of attention. Now that she is physically removed from her cancer, satisfying her needs seem to have little boundaries.

Maeve’s mother, Ruth, has her own story, and it insinuates itself into her life as a mother and wife. This novel takes place in two alternate summers, 1973 and 1997. I cannot decide which is paramount:: forbidden desire or the power of young women.

Women’s obsessions pervade the novel. Fascination and passion also have a stronghold. This is a well-written novel targeted for a particular audience.

My gratitude to NetGalley and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for a pre-published copy. All opinions are expressed are my own.

This is a beautifully written book, haunting and sad. It can definitely get too intense, and has triggers - including a relationship that gets very creepy. It’s writing and prose draws you in, gives you a false sense of security in beautiful imagery - but it is a sinister story.

The book explored relationships, family and romantic - and it does it well. I must say, I could have done without the relationship - as it distracted from the main point of the story - a mother and daughter relationship.

This dual timeline tale of a mother and daughter — in 1973 and 1997 — proved too unsettling for me with a creepy relationship and a troubled mystery. Not my Shakespearean cup of tea.

3 of 5 Stars

Pub Date 10 Aug 2021
#TheOpheliaGirls #NetGalley

Thanks to the author, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, and NetGalley for the ARC. Opinions are mine.

Set in two timelines, one of a mother’s telling of her Summer in 1973 and the other, her daughters present day in the summer of 1997, The Ophelia Girls tells the story of how a mother and daughters secrets collide causing emotional turmoil and devastation.

Maeve is 17 years old and is in remission from cancer. She has had her childhood stolen from her and this summer is the first time she can take back her life and live. To be a ‘normal’ teenager.

After the passing of her grandfather, Maeve and her family move to the countryside from London and into her mother’s family home. It is the home where they can grow and be together as a family enjoying the countryside and clean air, however, it is also a home that harbours secrets, ones which Ruth, the mother, hopes to never be revealed.

The story is told switching between Maeve and Ruth, with Ruth retelling her summer in 1973 where she and a group of friends who were obsessed with the Pre-Raphaelite paintings, spent their days re-enacting the drowning of Ophelia as well as coming back to the present day. This then intertwines with Maeve who is relishing in her youth and feeling alive for the first time, more so when Stuart, an old friend of her parents turns up to stay and she soon has secrets of her own to keep hidden.

This is an incredible story with so many layers which slowly unfold keeping the full details of Ruth’s secrets safe from being revealed right up until the end. It is also rather unsettling as it raises lots of questions over the relationship between Maeve and Stuart. This book is a rollercoaster of emotions as it battles, embraces and tests boundaries of an array of subject matter and once I was committed, it was difficult to put down.

This book alternates between two time periods, as well as two perspectives - and is well-crafted and intriguing. There were certainly disturbing aspects - particularly Maeve and Stuart's relationship - but overall, I did enjoy most of this book!

Thank you to NetGalley and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for the chance to read this book!

Alternating between the present day Maeve, who has been sick and is recovering with her family in her mother’s childhood home, and Ruth, Maeve’s mother, who’s own storyline included present day and her days as teenager in the 70s.
The writing is dreamy and wonderfully descriptive. The mystery surrounding Ruth and her ‘Ophelia Girls’ friends draws you in, but leaves you wanting more throughout the story.
Maeve’s storyline is uncomfortable to read. A girl who has spent much of her life deathly ill, upon recovery it’s like she doesn’t know how to live without the constant care of those around her. Her relationship with Stuart is unconventional, and would be considered wrong by today’s standards. However, I was compelled to keep reading, and feel like the epilogue tied everything together

There was a lot more depth here than I anticipated. This novel examines relationships between mothers and daughters, romantic relationships, and relationships that may be perceived as "wrong". I felt like there was a lot of buildup to what happened with the Ophelia girls, but that final scene felt really quick to me and I still have some questions. I'm am glad that we get a glimpse into Maeve's future with the epilogue.

Kindly received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Beautifully written and compelling. A highly recommended first purchase for all general fiction collections.

Moody and atmospheric doesn’t even begin to describe this book. The writing is dreamy and drew me into the world of Ruth and Maeve, both in 1973 and present day. Descriptions of the people and places in this book are richly textured and full of life.

I confess that I don’t remember enough about Shakespeare to remember who Ophelia is/was, but she figures heavily in this tale of Ruth and her daughter Maeve. 17-year-old Maeve has just gone into remission from leukemia and a resultant pneumonia that almost killed her, and her family has also recently moved to the home of her grandfather, who has passed away after being estranged from her mother for years. Whew! Long sentence there. Interspersed with the chapters about Maeve and her painful transition from sick girl into normal teenagerhood and something a little more disturbing, there are chapters about a young Ruth as a teenager living in this very same house. There are no announcements at the beginning of each chapter about who is speaking so sometimes it takes a few sentences to figure it out each time. Ruth and her girlfriends (who were summer boarders nearby) entertained themselves for the summer by going to the nearby river and posing in the water as the drowning Ophelia. They embellished their posing sessions with period dress, flowers, ribbons, etc. and the friendships between the girls ebbed and flowed like the river even as they avoided the teenage boys who were also boarding nearby for the summer. Many hours were spent floating in the water, drinking purloined liquor and examining the photos for traces of the beauty they knew they possessed. There are also hints of some romantic feelings between some of the girls, Ruth included, and the struggle with those feelings since it was a period of time when such things were kept hidden. It is clear by the writing that something terrible happened at the end of the summer but the buildup to the event is a slow burn that keeps the reader turning the pages even as you just know it’s going to be bad and maybe you don’t want to know after all, but then again you have to know. Meanwhile, Stuart, someone from Ruth’s past, comes for a visit. Stuart was a sort of mentor of Ruth’s lawyer father and then he was friends with Ruth and her eventual husband Alex when they were all at college, but no one has really heard from him in the past 18 years or so. Stuart claims to have been in Afghanistan working as a photojournalist and he has the photos and stories to back it up. Stuart takes up residence in a cottage on the property while he regroups and figures out his next step. Maeve is instantly drawn to Stuart and the emotion appears to be mutual, so they begin a clandestine romance of sorts. I was all kinds of icked out by this and wondering if there was an ulterior motive on Stuart’s part since there were hints that he carried a flame for Ruth and disappeared only when she and Alex married/had Maeve. Stuart himself seemed to be a sketchy character, although he ended up not being as sketchy as I had first thought.

Most of the main characters were well fleshed out although I found that I didn't really like or connect with any of them. I would have expected to feel some pity for Maeve due to her illness and loss of so much of her childhood, or for Ruth in her attempts to connect with her daughter but I really didn't. The only character I had much empathy for was Alex, who didn't seem to have much fault in any of the events that transpired.

I will say that some of the scenes between Maeve and Stuart made me feel like I needed a shower, stat. I understand that the author was definitely not celebrating this relationship but I could have done with less detail.

I found the ending to be pretty realistic considering all that had happened. I did find myself sort of wishing that I could know how things turned out for these people 5, 10, 15 years down the road, just to see if they were happy with the choices they had made.

First, I’d like to save a massive thank you to Jane Healey and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for the opportunity to read the ARC of ‘The Ophelia Girls’ on NetGalley! As a huge fan of ‘The Animals at Lockwood Manor’ my heart soared for joy when me request was approved!

Jane Healey’s prose is unique and captivating and I adore her consistent representation of LGBT characters in her novels. I sincerely look forward to reading her future novels!

The Ophelia Girls is a mesmerising yet haunting novel. At moments you find yourself full of hope for characters and in others you see those hopes dashed, as the characters themselves have to face their weaknesses.

Ruth finds herself trapped in the past whilst trying to untangle her present and her daughter Maeve is also trying to break free of her past to create a new future and version of herself. A plot line full of tragedy but filled also with characters that persevere through it all. A novel that proves no matter how broken, humans will still find ways to stay strong and keep moving on.

Thank you to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for providing an eARC of “The Ophelia Girls” by Jane Healey through NetGalley for me to read and give an honest review!

Jane Healey’s eloquent novel, “The Ophelia Girls'', is full of hauntingly beautiful and suspenseful moments from seventeen-year-old Meave’s present and her mother, Ruth’s, past as they both navigate their world as budding young women. Healey does an outstanding job alternating between the two fateful summers-- both taking place at the family’s grand summer house. While some moments might be unsettling due to the nature of the relationship between Stuart and Meave, I felt as though it told a truly complex and profound story exploring the relationship between mothers and daughters, clandestine desires, and what it means to grow up as a young woman. I found myself captivated by the fanciful but prudent storytelling, unable to put the book down, always wanting to know not only what tragedy occurred during the summer of 1973, but also how the events of Meave’s present summer would culminate. Overall, I thought it was a deep-seated tale, one whose aura reminded me of that of Jeffrey Eugenides’s The Virgin Suicides”.

The Ophelia Girls alternates between Maeve and her mother during their experiences as girls in the 70s and 90s. Maeve is recovering from an illness, and her mother Ruth brings her to her childhood home where her old friend insinuates himself into their lives.

This one was eerie and suspenseful. I enjoyed the idea, and I found myself sucked in to the story to try to figure out what was going on. The imagery and obsession with paintings was really interesting, and I feel like it added to certain elements of creepiness.

Thank you to the publisher and to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Book Review for The Ophelia Girls by Jane Healey
Full review for this title will be posted at: @fyebooks on Instagram!

This was a bit creepy. But I enjoyed it. The story can be a bit uneasy to read.
The writing was amazing and I'm definitely going to be looking for more of thus authors books!

The Ophelia Girls is such a suspenseful novel. Jane Healey did an amazing job of tying the story from past to present. The story takes place in 1973 and 1997 - telling the tale of Ruth and her daughter Maeve. It is a story of forbidden love, mystery, and a step back in time. I loved the references to the world during those years. Thank you so much Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing for allowing me to read this novel.

What once was a summer to remember, turned into a tragic history. 23 years later and Ruth is back at her childhood home where that tragic summer took place. Now, her 17 year old daughter is under the spell of this house. This tale is told between two separate summers and weaves a mother and daughter's hearts together. This was a great read. Thank you Netgalley and Jane Healey for the opportunity to read this book.