Review: Darling Girls by Sally Hepworth

 

About the Book

Genre
Suspense

Format
E-ARC

Publisher
St. Martin’s Press

Release Date
April 23, 2024

Synopsis from Goodreads:

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?

A thrilling page-turner of sisterhood, secrets, love, and murder by New York Times bestselling author Sally Hepworth.

My Review

Three young girls - Jessica, Norah and Alicia - are placed in foster care.  They all end up at Wild Meadows and their foster mother is Miss Fairchild.  The girls grow close and consider themselves sisters.  To the outside world, it looks like the perfect set up, but looks can really be deceiving.

Miss Fairchild is anything but a loving mother.  She believes in tough discipline and the girls try desperately to survive each day.  When the situation gets out of control, the three are able to get away from her and never look back.  They stay closer than any biological sisters could ever be, but the memory of Miss Fairchild’s abuse always hangs over their heads.  

The girls are now adults when the unthinkable happens.  The police find a body buried under Wild Meadows.   Not only do they want to find out the identity of the body, but they think the three women know more than they are saying or possibly even be responsible for the dead body.

Talk about a page-turner! There were so many twists and turns throughout the book.  I couldn’t figure out what was going on until the end.  I was engrossed until the late hours of the night.  The story alternates between the past and the present.  It’s so well written and the characters are well-developed.  

I’ve only read a couple of Sally Hepworth’s books, but I’ve loved each one.  She always manages to hook me in from page one.  

Hepworth has become an “auto buy” author for me.  

For reading challenges:
NetGalley & Edelweiss Reading Challenge 2024
Cloak & Dagger Reading Challenge 2024

FTC Disclosure: I voluntarily reviewed a free Advance Reader Copy of this book from NetGalley and the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review.  All opinions expressed are my own.