Absolutely loved everything about this book! I loved that we followed all 3 sisters, in both past and present timelines. Sally did her research on this one and wrote a compelling story. I have only read The Younger Wife by Sally Hepworth but this book makes me want to pick up her entire backlist!

That final twist!! I loved the characters and the suspense. This story made me feel emotions! Thank you to Netgalley, the author and St Martins express for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to Netgalley and St.Martins Press for the e-ARC! First off, i LOVED this!! It took me by surprise, i did not suspect to love it as much as i did due to some of her other work i have read. But this book was a fun, twisty ride with POVS from all three sisters and even a bonus POV 👀 Darling Girls follows three sisters Jessica, Norah, and Alicia that grew up together in a foster home called Wild meadows. It was ran by a narcissistic, abusive woman named Miss Fairchild. Years later, the girls receive a phone call stating that bones were found under the house they grew up in and are wanted for questioning. Whose bones are they?! The book kept me hooked from start to finish, and definitely had my jaw dropping a few times. I loved the little twist at the very end! I also left a review on my goodreads!

The only thing that i had some issues with was the character, Norah. She came off superficial when it came to how she looked, and used her body to get what she wanted. Not only that; the adults in her life talked about her looks and how she could be a model by age 10 which made me feel uneasy. I didn’t like how much her looks were talked about.

WOW! I love Sally Hepworth. Darling Girls is now my new favorite written by her. Tragic, sad, and sweet all at the same time. The bond between these 3 sisters was so special. Thank you NetGalley for the ARC. Do yourself a favor and pick this one up when it drops in April. Short chapters, interesting characters, a lightening fast read!

Sally Hepworth always comes through! In this disturbing story of foster care I was pulling for the girls to make it better off than they were as well as hoping the foster mother would get what was coming to her. The characters are richly described and the writing smooth and interesting. I read it in one day! Great read!

Darling Girls by Sally Hepworth was a tough hang for me. I struggle with stories where there is child abuse and this one had quite a bit of it. I generally thought this was one of Hepworth’s better books written recently (I’d struggled with a few since The Mother-in-Law until her last one - The Soulmate - which seemed to be back in stride). I think if you can handle some of the difficult content in this one, it’s worth a read. Hepworth does what she does best: weaving together a complicated and twisted story with complicated characters.
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This book will be released on April 23, 2024.

Darling Girls

4.25 ⭐️

Sally Hepworth is so good at writing a psychological thriller and I was so excited to grab this one from @netgalley!

Told from three different foster care sister perspectives, Darling Girl shows the horrors of growing up in Miss Fairchild’s care. With flashbacks and present day converging, the mystery of what happened in the house all comes slowly together.

This book was so heavy with its topics, but I flew through it trying to figure out what happened. I definitely didn’t see all the twists, which always makes me enjoy a thriller more!

Twenty five years ago, Jessica, Norah, and Alicia were placed in foster care with Miss Fairchild at Wild Meadows in Port Agatha. The placement was a horror show of manipulation and abuse. For survival, the girls bonded together and considered themselves sisters, always having each other’s backs. Now adults, still with strong feelings of sisterhood and their own individual neuroses, they are hurtled back to the past when they receive a call that bones have been discovered on the property that once housed Wild Meadows. They return there to be questioned by the authorities trying to solve the mystery. Are the women witnesses or suspects?

Sally Hepworth is a bestselling Australian author; I have read and enjoyed some of her prior books. Told in alternating timelines, and POVs, this is a slow burn thriller with excellent character development, twists, and turns. The horrors that can sometimes be part of the foster care system especially with a pathological caregiver are chronicled here and endured by three bright, resourceful, loyal to each other young females. An engrossing, poignant read that is not all sinister; there is also wit, humor (albeit sometimes dark), and hope for the future of these three women who have formed a non traditional, but strong family.

Random thoughts: Read this book just to find out why Norah’s dogs are named Couch, Converse, and Thong! I think the ending will elicit varied reactions…..what will you think of it?

Sally Hepworth can do no wrong!! I love everything she writes. Darling Girls is another psychological thriller sure to keep you on your toes!

This story is multiple POV alternating through past and present. Writing a multiple POV and dual timeline can be difficult but this book was easy to follow and well written. I never found myself confused with when or who (like I usually do).

It reflects on the life of three foster sisters who created a bond through their shared trauma. After bones are discovered under the foster house they were raised in the girls go back to help police determined what happened there.

I loved the character development of all three girls and I love a good shocking ending! Reading books with such dark themes can be very challenging but the author does a good job of creating strong intelligent characters and a moving story line. The characters were lovable and I found myself really rooting for them the whole time.

I was totally engrossed in this book. Loved the characters, their stories and the twist at the end!!! Highly recommend to anyone who wants a book that is "unputdownable".

Ratings & Reviews
My Review

Denise Satin
282 reviews
4 followers

February 25, 2024
I think this is my fifth book of Sally Hepworth’s that I have read. This one is the tale of three girls who lived in a foster care home of Holly Fairchild. Jessica came first as a little girl, then Nora and then Alicia. The story goes back and forth from present to past about the three foster girls and the brutal foster mother in which they were able to escape. It really was a difficult read because besides that these three girls lost someone they loved and had to be in foster care with a malignant foster care mother. In the present they truly feel like sisters and are close but as adults they still struggle in life due to their experience from the years living with Holly Fairchild. We do get to see the why Holly Fairchild became such an awful person. And then in the present timeline they are get a call from a detective that the house was sold and during demolition they found a body of an infant under the house. They go back to the town and much is revealed. Holly used to take in infants and loved them but when the infants only wanted the 3 girls who were teenagers now she would keep them out of school to tend to these infants. There really is a lot more to tell but I do not want to give away spoilers. Also there is a major twist in the last chapter about the baby that was found dead under the house. But I will share with you that in the present timeline the three girls were able to heal and go forward in their lives. I received this book from the publisher and net galley as an ARC for an honest review. It was a heart wrenching read but I highly recommend this book. Well written by a fantastic author. Thanks again to NetGalley.

Book number 17. For the year. This was an advanced readers copy that I was blessed to receive to my kindle through her galley! This book comes out in the US in April.

I can not tell you how much I like this author! This book was a wild ride about the unbreakable bonds of sisterhood and shows us blood is not always thicker than water. I was invested the entire time. I laughed, I Gasped out loud a few times.. I felt Alllllll the emotions while reading this book! Also had some nice twists to it. 5/5. Excellent read!

Sally Hepworth is a go-to author for me. She is an excellent storyteller and I love her books. This book takes place around Melbourne, Australia, and is a compelling story about three women who grew up together in foster care at Wild Meadows. There are two timelines, the past at Wild Meadows, and present time. This is a wonderfully written book, and the stories of the darling girls will stay with me for a while.
Recommended!

This was my second novel I’ve read from Hepworth and similar to the first, Darling Girls gave me a feeling of unease the whole time.

It reflects on the mother / daughter / sister relationship within the dark undertones of foster care.

Present and past timelines converge when a body is discovered underneath the foster home where the main sisters grew up.

This was a quick read and was not short in twists and turns. Overall this was pretty f’d up. Potential triggers with abuse and suicide.

This one was such a unique storyline and it had me hooked right from the beginning! I was totally engaged in the story and couldn’t wait to figure out what was going on. I really enjoyed this one!

A nail-biting read by Sally Hepworth! I love every single one of her books and Darling GIrls is no exception. Twisted and complex, this one will have you turning pages all night to see what happens.

Well that was a bit wild. This book was written so well it kept me invested the whole time. You didn’t know who was speaking to the psychiatrist but I did figure it out about halfway through lol.

Read if you like-
-psychological thrillers
- multiple POV written in 3rd person
- plot twists
- who did it? vibes

TW- domestic abuse, sexual exploitation, child abuse

Thanks netgalley for the ARC of this. Publish date is 4/23/24

When bones are uncovered at their childhood foster home, 3 foster sisters have to face their past.

Personally, as a reader, this book checked a lot of high interest boxes. The story was well paced between the past events and the current lives of the characters. Things were revealed in a good pace. Characters were flawed but endearing. Certain events had me feeling the helpless frustration of the characters.

I am definitely going to be looking for more work by Sally Hepworth.

"How will your survive without your darling girls"? Any person diving into this story will empathize with the personal stories of Alicia, Jessica, and Nora. I loved each of their different personalities and how they were woven together in a bond of sisterhood. I struggled to believe that the trio could be at fault through the investigation and being called back to Port Agatha as the plot unfolded. Still, my heart empathized for the sisters- why, hello, unresolved trauma, come close, old friend! I really couldn't confirm my suspicions of the outcome and had to keep reading through until the end. It didn't disappoint!

I valued the alternating perspectives between then and now between sisters, and the visits between Dr. Warren and Miss Fairchild. The reality of Miss Fairchild and her namesake, being ironically anything, but "fair" still had me empathetic and compassionate toward her personal upbringing, even when I didn't want to be. Additionally, a resounding question through this novel for me was "why"... Why become a foster parent IF you're going to be the opposite of loving and caring toward children? I think that this topic is absolutely relevant in history, applicable in current times, and brings a shocking reality that fostering children and mistreatment still happens in real life. How many times do we not believe the testimony and talk of children when they're suffering and side with an adult. Then later see the children become an adult with unresolved issues. An impactful quote of the acknowledgments really brought it all to center in treatment of children and foster care reality: "We need more heroes. These children belong to all of us, and as long as the system is failing, so are we."

Darling Girls by Sally Hepworth may be a new favorite of mine. I have read several Sally Hepworth books within the last year- starting originally on recommendations of friends and book club members. Being approved for this ARC by St. Martin's Press and Sally Hepworth was the icing on the cake. Thank you so much! I would recommend this to colleagues and to fellow thriller lovers. If you're looking for a thriller that could be rooted in reality and make you question integrity and credibility of perception. This book is for you.

This is the first Sally Hepworth book I’ve read and I immediately added her to my favorite authors list. The books is a very well written thriller and an emotional roller coaster. Jessica, Norah and Alicia are children who were raised in a foster home. The story is told in a dual timeline of the past and the present. There were a lot of twists in the story, some of which I saw coming but many I did not. The final twist, which I did not see coming, was a stunner yet very believable. I ached for those children, I ached for the adults they became, and I continue to ache for any child who is raised in a hostile foster environment and are not protected by the system in which they reside. I truly loved this book and I can’t wait to read more Sally Hepworth books. I wholeheartedly give this book 5 stars.