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Book Review of Darling Girls

Darling Girls
VolunteerVal avatar reviewed on + 596 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1


Darling Girls by Sally Hepworth is a quick read that kept me engaged throughout, and I enjoyed the audiobook narrated by Jessica Clarke.

Content warning: girls experience childhood trauma in the foster care system.

Set in Australia (of course), this is told in dual time (Then and Now) with rotating points of view. Jessica, Norah, and Alicia bonded as "sisters" when each was placed into foster care with Miss Fairchild at Wild Meadows farm. Twenty-five years later, a tragic discovery is made at the farm, and local law enforcement requires the women to return for questioning. As the investigation moved forward, long-held secrets are revealed.

It was interesting to meet the women as adults and learn how their relationships developed in childhood. I wonder if the author was in a dark place in life as she wrote this because all of the characters seemed more 'troubled' than in her previous novels I've enjoyed.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio, St. Martin's Press, and NetGalley for the review copies of this novel.