What a twisted story! I put everything else on the back burner so I could just keep reading to the shocking end. I've read other novels about foster children, but nothing quite like this one. How sad that children who are already traumatized and vulnerable become victims in less-than-ideal foster situations. Thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press and the author for an advance copy to read and review.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an advanced reader copy of Darling Girls by Sally Hepworth.

As little girls, Jessica, Norah, and Alicia all found themselves displaced from their parents for one reason or another. Each girls' tragedy entered them into the Australian foster care system where their lives ultimately intersected as wards of Miss Fairchild on her sprawling country estate. The girls quickly become bonded by the things occurring in their new household and develop a sisterhood forged in trauma. The three escape Miss Fairchild in early adolescence and spend their teenage years in a group home refusing to be separated for adoption alone. As adults, this closeness continues as they each struggle with their own personal demons based on events that happened at the farm. When a horrific discovery calls them back to their childhood home, the women have to face the past they have fought so hard to ignore. What exactly happened at Wild Meadows, and to what lengths will the past go to keep it's secrets buried?

I LOVED this book! I literally could not put it down. Hepworth has written a horrifying tale of manipulation and mental illness that is terrifying real. While this book does mostly highlight the worst case scenario in foster care, it also brings to light to more far-reaching social issues of what can happen to children thrust into the system and what it truly means to be "lucky." Great thriller - 5 stars!

This was quite a story - one of my favorite types of thriller - psychological. Really messes with your head. Even though I have come to expect excellent plot twists from Sally Hepworth, this was a doozy.

Foster sisters Jessica, Norah and Alicia share a bond that cannot be broken as years of survival in a house of horrors has given them a common story that goes beyond the blood-ties making them actual sisters. They suffer under the rule of Miss Fairchild, a Miss Trunchbull-esque woman who clearly doesn't like children. When a body is discovered underneath the old foster home after it is demolished, the girls are brought back to the small town to face a police inquiry.

As I said, this book is quite the rollercoaster of emotions and I enjoyed every twist and turn. Hepworth is an extremely gifted story-teller and I always delight in her books. I strongly recommend this book if you like crazy mind games.

My thanks to Macmillan Australia and Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Sally Hepworth’s latest you-won't-believe-what-happens-next novel is a dual timeline story told from the POVs of Jessica, Norah, and Alicia, three women, who as foster children were placed at Wild Meadows farm to live under the care of the manipulative and sadistic Miss Fairchild. As girls they formed a close-knit bond, which helped them endure and survive until they got out.

Twenty-five years later, when human remains are found under their former foster home, the police require them to return and recall the memories they've tried so hard to forget in order to help solve the case.

Darling Girls feels different than other Hepworth books I've read. While it still has the trademarks she's known for - a complex family drama, roller coaster twists, and heart pounding suspense - this time she's masterfully crafted a poignant novel, rich with flawed, human characters - some you'll care about, some you'll hate - all the while weaving the past and present into a journey to the truth, decades in the making.

Darling Girls is not a light, easy read. Due to of the subject matter, it can be uncomfortable to read at times. Yet, I found it throughly addicting and entirely affecting. I absolutely loved it. I could not put it down and finished it in less than a day.

Darling Girls is a page-turning look at what is the definition of a family and shouldn't be missed.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press, Sally Hepworth, and Netgalley for an advance digital copy. All thoughts and opinions expressed are my own and given voluntarily.

Darling Girls explores the world of foster care system and cycle of abuse that can occur. There are a lot of triggers in this novel - abuse of children, drug abuse, sexual abuse (off the page), violence, emotional abuse, depression.

5 Bright Shining Stars

Recommended for readers of:
General Fiction, Women's Fiction, Contemporary Fiction, Literary Fiction, Suspense, Mysteries, Psychological Thrillers, Family Dramas

Probably the BEST Sally Hepworth book I have read. This book keeps you on your toes.
This book has multiple POV’s and it is easily discernible which characters POV it is from the language itself because the characters are so well thought out .
It gives a deep glimpse into the the plights of foster kids in Australia (very similar to the situation in America too) and it was heart-wrenching to read at times but that is reality.

This book kept me up at night till I finished reading and the ending did not disappoint .

Highly highly recommend !

Thanks to Netgalley and publisher for an arc of this book.

A twisted and dark thriller that is fast paced and suspenseful!

Three sisters are called back to the foster home where they grew up to aide with the investigation of the body that was discovered under the house.

Jessica, Norah and Alicia never intended to revisit the trauma that ensued in their childhood, but through dual timelines the horrors come to light.

Hepworth did a phenomenal job of weaving this story together with layered and complex characters as their past and presents were explored, and brought to the forefront of the plot.

Thank you @netgalley and @stmartinspress for this ARC in exchange for an honest review. Darling Girls is available now!

An interview in a psychiatrist's office is our introduction to Darling Girls. The (unnamed) interviewee is not yet ready to talk about Wild Meadows. We glean that it was a foster home, and a place of much suffering.

Human remains have been discovered on the site of Wild Meadows, and somebody is guilty.

Three women, bonded by the trauma they experienced at the hands of their demented foster mother at Wild Meadows, come back to aid in the police investigation. They're scarred by the terror they lived through, but also incredibly close, and would do anything for each other. Going back and forth in time we learn the story of how each arrived at Wild Meadows, the horrors they endured and the strength they found in each other, in their sisterhood.

An engaging mystery with some wild surprises and twists, the abuse described is intense and could be triggering. It was tolerable for the resilience shown by the foster sisters as they finally address their childhood nightmare. Darling Girls was an emotional and gripping read.

The audiobook version of this book was well done and easy to follow, with the narrator providing different voicings to the characters, coloring in their personalities. The story takes place in Australia and the accent grounded me in that setting.

My thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press and Macmillan Audio for the ARC.

I have to start off with warning you that this book should be flagged with trigger warnings here so make sure you review before reading.

Darling Girls is set in Australia and has then and now narrative from the perspective of 3 foster children.

The plot of the book is very intriguing, a body has been found, who does it belong to? Someone is talking to a therapist throughout the book and we aren’t sure who it is? The book reads very fast and I did find myself wanting to know more.

The book fell a little flat on character development and overall writing style for me. That of course can be personal preference.

The story has me right up until the last page so for that I gave it 4 stars. I would recommend reading it!

Thanks to @netgalley and @stmartinspress for an advance copy of this book for my honest review.

Another winner from Hepworth! The darling girls is the story of three foster sisters who are brought back to the foster they lived when bones are discovered underneath the house. The story then flashes back between the present day investigation and the sisters experiences and past in the house under the care of miss Fairchild-a cold, brutal foster mom. Who do the bones underneath the house belong to and what role do the sisters and their foster mom play in the death? That is the ultimate mystery that will keep you glued to the pages. Like Hepworths other works though, the mystery at the core takes second stage almost to the interplay of the characters in the novel. Hepworth is a master of slow-burning suspense and pacing, as she reveals just enough information to keep you turning the pages but never fully sure of where it will lead, and, as always, there a few twists up her sleeve at the end!

An excellent page turner and an atmospheric psychological suspense novel that will hook the many readers eagerly awaiting another go with Hepworth.

Thanks to the publisher for providing the arc via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Jessica, Norah, and Alicia all spent time at Wild Meadows Farm, a foster home under the supervision of Miss Fairchild. Although they were not sisters, they kept together as sisters would to support one another during their time there. The things they suffered under this woman were totally horrific.

Now, they are grown and each has their own job. Jessica has a home organization business. Norah works to help prospective employees take and pass tests to get a job. Alicia works with foster children getting them settled into a new home. Now, years later, a body has been discovered under the house. Who is it?

At the request of the police, this discovery takes them back to Wild Meadows Farm to be questioned as to what they may know about the body. Back there, their memories are laid bare and seeing Miss Fairchild again fills them with different emotions.

As this story slowly unravels, we see how their early treatment in life has affected them now as adults. It is not a pretty picture at all and will probably fill the reader with much anger, sadness, and enormous grief at how badly many foster children worldwide have been treated and overlooked. Truly a broken system that desperately needs to finally be fixed. Very cringe-worthy.

Copy provided by NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

A solid twisty thriller from Sally Hepworth. However I did guess the ending or at least I thought I did until that crazy epilogue. It was a tough read at times because of the abuse of foster care children but a well written twisty ride

I'm really skeptical of mystery/thrillers but this book was surprise after surprise for me. I found the twists to be really interesting and well though out. This is the first of this author's work for me but I'll definitely be adding more of her work to my personal library.

Darling Girls by Sally Hepworth

‘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. ‘

Darling Girls is the tale of three young women, forced together in foster care, who chose to bond together for life.

I loved the character development in this story. Even though, there was a wide cast of characters, Hepworth does a fantastic job at giving us background story on each of the three sisters, Jessica, Norah, and Alicia. We can fully see how they grew into the adults with the personalities they each did, based on the childhood stories each character has and the abuse they suffered at the hands of their foster mother.

Sally Hepworth’s latest novel has it all! Sisterhood, chosen family, unbreakable bonds, mystery, and twists that will keep you guessing.

This is a must read for fans of Sally Hepworth and for thriller lovers.

#netgalley #bookreview #bookstagram #sallyhepworth #darlinggirls #stmartinspress

★ ★ ★ ★
loved!! sally is a hit or miss author for me but with this one, she absolutely hit it out of the park!! this book was filled with family drama, murder and mystery right up until the very end but still had such sweet moments and so much heart!! i am so excited that this book is finally out and more people can get their hands on it!!

This book was very, very good, but also very triggering for me personally. TW for CA, CSA, and SI.

This highlights the details of a traumatic childhood for three foster children as well as their struggles to overcome their past as adults.

An amazing psychological thriller that had me quickly turning the pages. I definitely lost a good amount of sleep because I kept thinking I would read just one more chapter.

This book focuses on 3 girls, Jessica, Norah and Alicia, that were raised in foster care. The girls first met when left in the care of Miss Fairchild in her country home, Wild Meadows. It was a beautiful home and Miss Fairchild gave the impression of someone that was going to be a wonderful foster mother. Norah's first impression of Miss Fairchild was that she looked like Barbie but she quickly found out that looks can be deceiving because miss Fairchild did not have a bubbly, happy personality. She was, in fact, a master of gaslighting and she puts these 3 girls through so much abuse. The only good thing that happened at Wild Meadows was that these girls formed a strong sisterly bond and protected each other the best that they could throughout the abuse. This bond lasts into adulthood and they are lucky to have each other when suddenly they are summoned back by police to their childhood home after an unidentified body is discovered under Miss Fairchild's home.

Masterfully told through multiple points of view and a shifting timeline between the present and the past the reader is pulled deeply into the lives of these 3 women. We see why they have problems in adulthood as the abuse of their pasts are revealed. Each character is very well developed, the plot is extremely well conceived and unfolds perfectly.

I highly recommend that you take a trip to Miss Holly Fairchild's home, Wild Meadows, for a roller coaster ride of twist and turns throughout this superbly written book. The ending will shock you!

I am extremely grateful to St Martin's Press and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this suspenseful masterpiece in exchange for an honest review. All of the opinions in this review are my own.

During the past three spring breaks, I read the newest Sally Hepworth, and I always look forward to the easy reading and page turning of a Hepworth novel on the beach.

I really enjoyed getting to know the “darling girls” as they are introduced to the reader as adults. Sisters bonded by their experience together as foster children, Jessica, Nora, and Alicia have stayed close since living together in the 1990s at Wild Meadows Farm.

Years later, the women are contacted by authorities when bones are discovered under the former foster home after its demolition.

I found this novel harder to read than some of Hepworth’s other books solely due to the topic of child abuse in a foster home. It’s always challenging to read about children being hurt physically and emotionally.

I like that the reader sees the characters dealing with their current personal problems in the midst of the investigation and the backstory of their upbringing.

My favorite aspect of the book is the close relationship between the main characters. I found the last quarter of the book very gripping.

This review is posted on Instagram and Facebook @beginandendwithbooks and on Goodreads Michelle Beginandendwithbooks

I always enjoy Sally Hepworth’s novels - absorbing, well plotted thrillers. Unfortunately the subject matter of this book was a little too dark for me. Still, I was gripped from start to finish and the twist was definitely a surprise.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!

Sally Hepworth has done it again! From the beginning I was pulled into this story filled with secrets and lies. Three sisters, now grown up and trying to live their lives are drawn back to their life with Miss Fairchild, their foster mother, after bones are discovered when the house is demolished. The story moves between the past and present and the point of view of each sister. As more is revealed, more questions are raised? What really happened and can the sisters move on from it?

I felt like there was too much back story with the girls and the foster home on this one, and then it started getting good at like 70% in which by then was too late. The twist with the therapist and the baby was all interesting for sure but still not one of my favs overall. Still a Sally Hepworth fan tho!