Title: The Girls (The Girls in the Garden)
Author: Lisa Jewell
Read: June 2016
Synopsis (Goodreads):
Dark secrets, a devastating mystery and the games people
play: the gripping new novel from the bestselling author of The House We
Grew Up In and The Third Wife.
You live on a picturesque communal garden square, an oasis in urban London where your children run free, in and out of other people’s houses.
You’ve known your neighbours for years and you trust them. Implicitly.
You think your children are safe.
But are they really?
Midsummer night: a thirteen-year-old girl is found unconscious in a dark corner of the garden square. What really happened to her? And who is responsible?
Utterly believable characters, a gripping story and a dark secret buried at its core: this is Lisa Jewell at her heart-stopping best.
You live on a picturesque communal garden square, an oasis in urban London where your children run free, in and out of other people’s houses.
You’ve known your neighbours for years and you trust them. Implicitly.
You think your children are safe.
But are they really?
Midsummer night: a thirteen-year-old girl is found unconscious in a dark corner of the garden square. What really happened to her? And who is responsible?
Utterly believable characters, a gripping story and a dark secret buried at its core: this is Lisa Jewell at her heart-stopping best.
My thoughts:
I really loved Lisa Jewell’s The House We Grew Up In, so
jumped at the opportunity to listen to the audiobook version of The Girls (also
published under the title The Girls in the Garden).
All events in the book take place in one of London’s
communal gardens (not having seen one I googled the term and found some amazing
pictures very similar to those conjured up by Jewell’s vivid descriptions) – a green
oasis in the concrete jungle where parents can let their children roam free,
where neighbours meet neighbours, where people can relax in quiet green corners
surrounded only by the sounds of nature. Adele’s three daughters have grown up
in the garden and it has always formed a large part of their childhood. Being
home schooled, the garden is more than an area to play and relax, it is also the
place to meet up with their peers, form friendships, have clandestine meetings to
whisper secrets and hang out with friends in the manner of ordinary teenage
girls. Even Adele admits that the garden is very important to her, giving her
time out from her ever present family as she bundles them into their outdoor
clothes and sends them out to play, happy in the knowledge that they are safe
out there whilst she snatches a few quiet moments for herself. But are they
really? When Grace and Pip move into the neighbourhood, the subtle shift of
loyalties and change in the pecking order is enough to throw the garden into
chaos, culminating in the terrible event of one of the girls being found bloodied
and unconscious in the rose garden one
night, in the very spot where years ago another girl had died. Is history
repeating itself? With the safety of the garden breached, neighbours are
suddenly suspicious of their neighbours, spouses of their spouses. But perhaps
it is the children they should really be afraid of?
I love the way Jewell characterises her protagonists and allows the reader to get into their heads,
keeping just enough back to create a constant atmosphere of suspense and
tension which sets the tone of the novel. Just as the characters begin to doubt
their loved ones, the reader is constantly being challenged to question the
actions and motives of all the players. Who can you really trust? I especially loved
Jewell’s portrayal of unconventional mother Adele, whose secure and peaceful world
is shattered by the events unfolding in the garden as she is forced to question
the ideals that have underpinned her actions and choices her entire life. Jewell
brilliantly executes the slow unraveling of this strong and determined woman,
and I really felt for her. With skillful descriptive writing, an eye for detail
and brilliant characterisations of all her protagonists, Jewell brought this
garden and its people to life for me and I could see them vividly in my head.
All in all, a thoroughly engrossing psychological thriller
cum family drama, exploring the dynamics of different families and
interpersonal relationships in the face of a crisis. Well written and highly
recommended. I look forward to reading the next book by this talented author.
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