Darling Girls by Sally Hepworth – 4 Stars (Kindle, NetGalley)

Darling Girls is a very dark story of foster care, doing what it takes to survive, and reckoning with the aftermath years later. It’s told in a dual timeline – past and present – and the story really drew me in from the beginning. Sally Hepworth’s books are usually a slow burn for me, but I was invested! But like I said, it is very dark – please look up the content warnings before you read!

This is the fifth thriller by Sally Hepworth that I've read. In Darling Girls, she continues her tried and true formula for family thrillers. Three women, Norah, Jessica, and Alicia, are like sisters after surviving their foster care experience. They still carry the psychological scars as adults, and then need to revisit it all again when they get questioned about the events from 25-years ago. Their stories unfold in two timelines, slowly revealing what really happened back then.

This was a quick easy read for me with short chapters alternating among the three girls telling their story and their point of view as more information is revealed. I actually guessed what had happened before the end, but was still impressed with how the story unfolded. I will recommend it to those who enjoy domestic thrillers. This is a dark story which covers hard topics, so sensitive readers should do their research.

Thanks to #StMartinsPress for generously providing me the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I usually listen to Hepworth's books, I love the narrator they use and they are sooo bingeable. This is the first one I read and I still loved it! Hepworth writes page-turning family dramas. This one was twisty and so dark. It had more difficult themes (foster care, abuse of children, sexual abuse etc.) than her usual books but I like the darker side when it comes to books. It is told in multiple perspectives and alternating timelines which made for incredible character development and depth of the story.

I absolutely recommend this book and can't wait for it to come out and see what everyone else thinks! I will also absolutely be listening to this one on audio once it comes out.

This is dark and twisty without feeling too heavy, but may be difficult for some readers.

This suspenseful thriller alternates between past and present as secrets and past trauma are revealed. The first half began a little slow but once the second half and things began to be revealed I found myself captivated. The SHOCKING ending propelled this thriller as a must-read and made the slow pacing worth it.

I can say this twisty thriller left me surprised..

Jessica, Norah, and Alicia aren’t sisters by birth, but they became sisters by circumstance when they all stayed in the same foster home, Wild Meadows. Their foster mother, Miss Fairchild, seemed loving initially, but soon enough they found that Miss Fairchild was really a monster hiding behind a pretty mask. When a body is found under the foster home during excavation many years later, the three women must return to Wild Meadows to confront their demons.

Darling Girls is a dark, uncomfortable, skillfully written psychological suspense that grabbed me right away and kept my attention all the way through the shocking conclusion. The multiple-POV, dual timeline structure gives us the perspective of each of the women now and as children, as well as perspective of an unknown patient speaking with a psychiatrist. My heart broke over and over as the girls suffered at the hands of Miss Fairchild, and I rooted for them as women as they struggled with their shared trauma. Although most of the story is character driven, there are plenty of twists too, right up to the very end!

Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for providing me an advance copy of this book.

"Sisters" Jessica, Norah and Alicia. aren't sisters by blood but are bonded together in a sister sense. Raised as foster children by Miss Fairchild, they became unbreakable. When a new foster home ran by Miss Fairchild is being built, a body is discovered. Are the sisters suspects or witnesses? Darling Girls is so twisty and engaging! Told from four character's point of view, it can be easy to get lost if you aren't paying close attention. There are many subjects in Darling Girls that can be triggering so proceed with caution.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and to NetGalley for this eARC in exchange for my honest review.

When I say I’m obsessed with Sally Hepworth, I mean I’m OBSESSED. She has quickly become my new favorite author and I’ve flown through all of her books, each of them better than the last. Darling Girls does not disappoint and she continues her streak of making each book better. I loved the alternating narratives and points of view in this book. I was sucked in from the very first page and could not stop reading until the very last. I can normally guess the twist is Hepworth’s books, but it doesn’t take away any of the enjoyment, but this one I could not. There are several twists that you definitely do not see coming. Hepworth is the queen of making things just the perfect amount of dark, twisted, and disturbing without crossing the line and going too far. I absolutely love this about her writing style. Highly recommend and five outstanding stars for this book!

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for this ARC. I could not have waited until summer to read this masterpiece!!

Darling Girls was a delightful fast-paced, and quick read. I finished this very quickly! I had to get to the ending. I was definitely not disappointed. A great option for fans of this genre.

Contemporary suspense — fast and fun!

Once upon a time, three little girls from difficult family situations came to live with a beautiful young princess at Wild Meadows, a country estate in a small town in Australia. Unfortunately, the princess was not a good foster mother, and her darling girls just could not please her. In fact, mummy was a monster.

Told in a shifting timeline between past and present, and with the narrative alternating points of view between Jessica, Alicia, and Norah, the story is engrossing and keeps you guessing. Each girl was affected differently by their time spent with Miss Fairchild. What was always obvious was how the trio had formed such strong bonds of sisterhood and continually looked out for one another long after their shared experience at the house.

I really liked the writing style and the way the characters told their truth. I enjoyed how the details were revealed and the way the secrets and lies were exposed. I both read the e-book ARC and listened to the audiobook version of this novel and highly recommend it.

Thank you to the publisher for the advanced reader copies.

Sally Hepworth does it again!! I love her writing, this book will keep you guessing until the very end! I liked the perspectives of the sisters and the then and now time line. The book was paced well and kept me turning pages. Read this!
Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC!
4.5 rounded up!

Sisters Jessica, Norah and Alicia. Not sisters by blood, but sisters in every way that matters. As someone with four sisters, I can attest to the fact that there is an unbreakable bond. These three girls have that bond, a bond that was forged after being fostered in a home by a woman known as Miss Fairchild. They were only three of dozens of other fostered children, but as adults, some of the issues that led them to foster care, as well as living in a less than ideal foster home, has brought them even closer together.

New construction is taking place - in a very old place. It was Wild Meadows, the foster home run by Miss Fairchild. When a body is discovered, the girls are faced with a past none of them want to relive, but they are witnesses to whatever it was that happened that eventually led to that body being discovered. The question is: are they witnesses or or are they suspects in a death that was no doubt a murder?

Darling Girls is the fifth book I have read by Sally Hepworth, and as before, I was really pulled into the drama in this story. Secrets, lies and murders are the fiber of this story, but equally so are love and sisterhood. There is trauma. There is drama. And with four points of view the story moves at a fast pace, especially as it was excellently narrated by Jessica Clarke. I definitely loved her performance.

Many thanks to Macmillan Audio, St. Martin's Press and to NetGalley for this ARC for review. This is my honest opinion.

Special thanks to St. Martin's Press and Net Galley for an e-arc of this novel.

It is a psychological mystery all about a "found" family of sisters and a mystery from a foster home.

It kept me interested from page 1. I highly recommend this book if you like mystery/thrillers.

Publication date is 23 April 2024

I loved how Sally Hepworth switched not only between the sisters, but also switching to Then and Now timelines. Her writing has always been amazing. I was entertained from the very beginning and I didn’t want to put it down. I would give this book a 4.5 out of 5 stars only because I caught on immediately and knew how it would end. Like I said, I was entertained still because Sally Hepworth’s stories are always insanely good! Not my favorite of hers, but definitely still loved this one. Thank you Sally Hepworth, NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for this digital copy!

For as long as they can remember, Jessica, Norah, and Alicia have been told how lucky they are. As young girls they were rescued from family tragedies and raised by a loving foster mother, Miss Fairchild, on an idyllic farming estate and given an elusive second chance at a happy family life.

But their childhood wasn’t the fairy tale everyone thinks it was. Miss Fairchild had rules. Miss Fairchild could be unpredictable. And Miss Fairchild was never, ever to be crossed. In a moment of desperation, the three broke away from Miss Fairchild and thought they were free. Even though they never saw her again, she was always somewhere in the shadows of their minds. When a body is discovered under the home they grew up in, the foster sisters find themselves thrust into the spotlight as key witnesses. Or are they prime suspects?



My Thoughts:

Life in foster care reveals much in Darling Girls, and as the three girls in this novel show us, abuse is a regular part of their world. But their connection to each other sustains them, and as a retired social worker, I could definitely see how the girls managed because of each other.

When the girls are grown, they are pulled back into that world due to the discovery of a body beneath the former foster home. Will they find out more than they bargained for, or will there finally be relief? A 5 star read.

***

My eARC came to me via NetGalley..

***

4.25 🌟

Another winner from Sally Hepworth!

I always struggle to write reviews for books like this because I never want to give too much away. I thought this book was good until the ending 😳. The ending definitely increased my rating of this book. If you are a fan of Hepworth, run and grab this book!

Thanks, Netgalley for the ARC of this book!

This book had me wanting more and more. The emotions I felt for these girls was next level and the twist at the end had me so mad! Love having a character in the book that you hate and almost feel bad for them hate some more. Great work by Sally Hepworth and I'm honored to have the opportunity to read it early!

Sally Hepworth has a way of sucking you in to her stories from the beginning and this was no exception.

Jessica, Norah and Alicia are sisters although not biological. They are brought together in childhood when they are all placed with the same foster mother, Mrs. Fairchild. However, despite fair being in her name, she is not. Jessica is the first to arrive and Mrs. Fairchild seems a little excessive in her scheduling of cleaning and such, but still a caring and doting mother to Jessica until Norah arrives. Once there is a second child, Mrs. Fairchild seems to change and become extremely strict and unloving.

All three sisters are called back to town when remains of a child have been dug up on the property her house was once on. We are brought back & forth from past to present to try to put all of the pieces together of what really happened in their childhood.

I have to say that I did not figure out what had really happened until Hepworth revealed it, but there was so much going on that I once in awhile got lost and had to circle back to figure out what was going on. With that being said, it will keep you on your toes and surprise you!

Another great read from Hepworth!

Told from different points of view of the three girls that grew up in this house of horrors. This one will keep you guessing until the last chapter, the way a great story should be told.

Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read and honestly review this page turner.

I found this mystery fascinating. Twenty-five years after they left their foster home Wild Meadows, three 'sisters' are called by the police to help unravel a mystery. I received a free copy of this ebook from the publisher through Netgalley. This is my honest and voluntarily given review. I love that this story is written by each of the three women that alternates between the past and the present. All three of them have experienced and witnessed child abuse from their ironically named foster mother Miss Fairchild. All three sisters have a strong bond and have been affected by their time in Wild Meadows. Interesting, there is also a fourth POV that describes each session with a psychiatrist. It's uncertain for a long time if it's written by one of the sisters or someone else. From the beginning of the book, I was compelled to finish it. There are lots of red herrings and the POV's are so interesting. The book kept me guessing, which I love.

I hate to say this, because I really enjoyed the previous books I've read by this author, but Darling Girls missed the mark for me.

First, and I completely understand that ARCs are unfinished and all, and it should be expected to find an error or two, but I expect a little more from a major publisher--I haven't encountered as many typos in an ARC before and it really took me out of the story in several places rereading to make sure I wasn't crazy.

As for the story itself, it's so unrelenting in its misery. The abuse is so repetitive and constant that it loses its emotional impact. You eventually become desensitized to it all. Which is a problem if you're supposed to be sympathizing with the three main characters. Which I just couldn't, with possibly the exception of Alicia, who is trying to do good things with her work. But I just found Jess and Norah unlikable--especially Norah, who is just obnoxious about the dogs and goes around compulsively assaulting people.

The pacing also felt a little wonky as well given that this is told in a past/present narrative. I was ready to DNF at the point the girls tell us, and I'm paraphrasing, "And then we went to the authorities and they put us in a group home, the end."

And while I don't mind "unreliable narrators" in books, this one felt poorly done. You end up feeling entirely cheated with being led to feel one way only to have it end with "HA HA SUCKERS I LIED!"

In the end, it feels like you just have to read this with a blank mind. You can't think deeply about it or ask any questions--Does Australia not vet its foster parents? Are their social workers untrained and utter morons? It's one thing to bring to light abuse in the system, but there's so much going on here--rampant child abuse, accusations of pedophilia in more than one character, child killing, child trafficking, exploitation of immigrant parents, police incompetence, adult lives going off the rails as a result of childhood trauma, sexual extortion, drug use/abuse/overdosing--that it's just hard to take it seriously.

Thanks so much to the publisher for inviting me to read this ARC in exchange for a review. Unfortunately, it just wasn't a good fit.