I hadn't experienced Emily Gunnis' work before, but after listening to 'The Girls Left Behind,' I won't make that mistake again. This novel had me thoroughly engrossed and I became deeply invested in the lives of its characters from start to finish.

Set in Saltdean, Sussex, the story follows Superintendent Jo Hamilton, who is just days away from her retirement. When a young girl's body is discovered buried, it raises questions about a case that has haunted her for decades. Jo is a relatable character and it's impossible not to empathise with her journey through guilt and the weight of responsibility for events that transpired on a fateful night many years ago.

The narrative seamlessly switches between the past and Jo's present-day investigation. Emily Gunnis skillfully unravels both past and present mysteries, which kept me guessing about how they were interconnected until the very end. And what a conclusion it delivers!

'The Girls Left Behind' goes beyond the typical police procedural; it's a captivating mystery with a haunting and emotionally charged storyline. The narration by Clare Corbett is excellent and she truly brings the characters to life and made this a book I didn't want to stop listening to.

Many thanks to the author, Headline and NetGalley for enabling me to listen to and share my thoughts on this excellent book.

I listened to this on audiobook.

Well I can safely say this has been a truly emotional, heartbreaking and thought-provoking story. It was the alluring and beautiful cover that made me want to read this book amd I'm so glad it did as it truly was a gripping read from start to finish.

There was a lot of characters to keep track of, figuring out what their part was within the story, whether they were a victim, guilty of something or linked to another character in some way. Daisy was probably my favourite character, she was a strong character despite all that she had to endure from a child to adulthood.

I didn’t much like the characters of Lorna or Geoff Price, but then given their role within the story and the things they did, I don't think your meant to like them.

I was truly captivated and enthralled with this book and throughout reading it, I kept trying to piece everything together in my head, and figure it all out, and wondering how it would all end. Suffice to say I couldn't have been more wrong if I tried. I was shocked by the twist near the end as didn't see it coming.

If your new to author Emily Gunnis, then I’d definitely take a chance with her books, as they are all such great reads.

I listened to The Girls Left Behind on audio and was hooked from the start. I really liked the narrator, and was on the edge of my seat with the twists and turns and associations. A great driving companion would recommend giving it a go.

A truly fantastic and brilliant book - loved it!

The narrator did a great job of this book, bringing out the characters over the 3 timelines. I was wondering how the story comes together, it really did.

Such a fast paced thriller, which I loved. It was a real page turner. Such a sad book about all the females in their own circumstances. Never expected the ending but written well.

Highly recommended, definitely 10 stars

Thank you to Netgalley

This is such a good thriller. Dual-timeline stories run alongside each other (both intriguing) and we're not sure how they're linked until everything twists and turns at the end and we find out. Really well written and entertaining.

The Girls Left Behind is set across four timelines and Emily Gunnis very skilfully connects all of the main characters together across those different eras, so I had no problem keeping up with the timeline and character changes.

The plot is realistically written and I have no doubt that the experiences of the characters in the book accurately mirror the experiences of people who dealt with similar situations in real life, and I felt great empathy for the women in the book.

Despite there being some twists and turns throughout, I was certain I’d sussed out the killer early on, so was completely sidelined by the unexpected ending!

The narration by Clare Corbett was excellent and definitely added to my enjoyment of the book.

Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced copy in return for an honest review.

This was a good audio book to pass the autumnal hours. Well paced, with likeable and realistic characters. Set over a number of timeframes - the Second World War then the 1970s, 1980s to 2015, it follows the career and life of a police officer, Jo Hamilton, who has never forgotten the two girls she saved from a fire and then had to leave at a Children’s Home in East Sussex - despite her own promotion. Intertwined are the stories of her mother Olive, who worked at Bletchley Park, and the girls themselves, along with other children in care.
The real positives for me were the realistic and shocking way that girls in care were (and still often are) seen, how little their lives were valued, and how vulnerable they are to exploitation. I also really liked the characters and the way the book used the different timeframes to reveal the plot.
The only reason this is not a 5 star from me is because I am from Brighton and worked there as a social worker in the 1990s, and while I can understand that the author has total license to create fiction, I couldn’t help myself regularly thinking about Local Authority boundaries, geography, locations of schools and police stations, names of hospitals etc .This will definitely not stop 99.9% of readers throughly enjoying the book however and I definitely recommend it.
I also want to give a shout out to the narrator, who did an excellent job. I was never confused about who was who and what year we were in.

A story told across multiple decades of love, loss and finding the truth.

In the 1940s, Olive arrives at Bletchley Park, ready to do her bit for the war effort as a dispatch rider she catches the eye of a Canadian airmen.

In the 1970s, teenager Gemma goes missing and kids Holly and Daisy end up in the Childrens' Home she was in after a disastrous house fire.

In the 1980s, Holly is trying to track down her fostered sister while navigating the horrors of the Childrens' Home.

In the 2010s, DI Jo Hamilton is days away from retiring when she might finally get the clues needed to solve decades old cases.

Look I'm not saying this story was terrible, it had moments of genuine heart. The friendship between Daisy and Olive was heartwarming and seeing them be open with each other after years of being guarded and scared were moving.

On the downside, most of the characters were unlikable and I thought the killer was obvious from just a few chapters in. Although the Bletchley Park scenes added depth to Olive's character they felt out of place and forced in either to show off the author's knowledge of Bletchley or in order to pad out the word count.

On the plus side, the narrator was excellent and Holly's last scene in the 1980s was truly terrifying and very well written.

I really enjoyed Clare Corbett's narration of this audiobook, which she delivers with wonderful expression and really brings it to life. In 1975 a tragic house fire results in the separation of two young orphaned sisters at a children's home. Fast forward to 2015, and Superintendent Jo Hamilton is days away from retirement when the remains of a young woman are found. She was on duty on the day of the fire in 1975, and she feels there is a link with this new discovery which needs to be proven before she finishes her police career. Multiple time lines and complex relationships, past and present, are cleverly woven together to create a mystery to keep you on your toes. Thank you to Net Galley for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

This audio book lays out the story for the listener in three different time frames - 1940s, 1970s and 1990s. When I first started listening I was intrigued how the stories from the different eras were related. But as I listened to the sad but gripping book they came together in a tense climax. Thank you to Headline and NetGalley for the audio ARC. The views expressed are all mine, freely given.

A great story with multiple timelines tied together so perfectly. A phenomenal narrator with so much talent. I did struggle for awhile to keep the characters and timeline straight. You need to take notes.

#TheGirlsLeftBehind #NetGalley

What an incredible journey set across 4 different eras, it thoroughly kept me hooked throughout.

1975 Young constable Jo Hamilton, just starting her career makes a decision that will affect her until ....

2015, the now Superintendent Jo Hamilton is about to retire but that case from the past still haunts her.

The twist was completely unexpected & I thought I'd already worked out who was responsible. Whatever you think you know reading this you will be completely thrown by the time you've finished.

Honestly incredible, a must read for anyone who loves this genre.

An enjoyable read with a few twists along the way. A great storyline that had me listening at every opportunity. Told through different perspectives and timelines. Read by one of my favourite narrators. I’ll definitely be looking out for more by this author. Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers.

This felt like a long listen by a talented narrator. There were interweaven stories from different timelines wirh atrong narration bring characters their history and emotion fully alive.
The sound quality was top notch . The story flowed well.. At times i felt i had worked it out but the final reveal was breathtaking. I enjoyed every second of this audio book and would highly recommend it the time gies quickly and the skillful writting shines through this twisted novel.
Thank you netgallery and publisher and author and narrator for a cracking 5 star listen

Ugh, this book got to me so much! The interconnected stories of Jo, Olive and Daisy were heartbreaking, shocking, sad, and somewhat restorative at the same time. It's a great read that is best described as like fetching your Christmas lights out for the first time in a year, intricately intertwined, and frustrating to untangle.

It's a great tale, recommended for those who enjoy an absorbing read.

I absolutely loved this audiobook. It had so many extra little quirks that made it unlike any other audio book i've listened to. There are a lot of characters so I did have to keep notes. It's full of twists and told brillantly. I highly recommend this one!

4-4.25⭐️

I had the audiobook read by Clare Corbett, one of my favourite narrators, she does a great job.

The protagonist is Superintendent Jo Hamilton who has a week to go before retirement.
The story is told in dual time lines in the 1970’s and the present. Jo is present is in the earlier time line as a young PC.
The story is of Holly and Daisy who end up in a care home after their mom and dad perish in a house fire.
When Holly goes missing her disappearance isn’t given much attention, nor the supposed suicide of another girl from the home.
Just before Jo’s retirement the body of a young woman is found forcing Jo to re-examine the past. It’s not the usual work for a Superintendent, but as Jo is very much winding down, I can see her being given some latitude.

The two time line stories are weaved really well to reveal the whole story. I liked how many people are still present now and their connections to each other.
The reveals are good throughout, with a few red herrings thrown in. It kept my interest well.

What a cracking tale. The story centres on Superintendent Jo Hamilton who is due to retire in a few days. Early in her career as a young policewoman she was involved in a domestic incident and the repercussions from that resonate through the decades. There is mystery about a girl who went missing and Jo begins a complex journey of investigation trying to fit together pieces from the past with the present. A body is discovered on a building site and suddenly there are more questions than answers.

This is a tense and twisty tale with numerous unexpected turns and the final denouement….well, I didn’t see that coming! It works very well as a police procedural; the attitudes of policing in the mid 1970s is explored well. Jo continues to experience isolation by her senior colleague and the characters are so well drawn, I was incensed by the way she was treated. Clever links between characters are revealed through flashback scenes and the story takes shape really quickly.

I wasn’t entirely enthusiastic about the narrator whose delivery was, at times, a little stilted. And before I asked anyone to narrate, I would require them to say ‘sixth’. If it sounded like ‘sick’ as is increasingly common, I’d pass. Still worth 5 stars though as I whipped through this in a couple of sittings.

Superintendent Jo Hamilton is days from retirement when bones are discovered, taking her back to an unsolved case from the 1970s.

It's fair to say this is a sprawling story, cross generations, and spanning the decades. It combines stories from sisters in a children's home in the 1970s, an older women's memories of WW2 and Superintendent Jo Hamilton's life in the force, and her family life tie it all together. There's a lot of threads, plenty of characters (I wish I had kept a list), but Emily Gunnis manages to pull it all together.

The audiobook narration by Clare Corbett is excellent, clean, clear and precise with a wide variety of distinct character voices. I loved how phone calls and walking talkie chat gets filtered, simple but very effective.

I'm glad I listened to this one rather than read it, it's not the fastest book, although the author packs in a lot in the ten and a half hours.

Thanks to Netgalley and Headline

Superintendent Jo Hamilton is only a few days from retirement when bones are discovered from an earlier case that has haunted her throughout her career. After a house fire for which she blames herself, two young girls were taken to a children's home and one went missing, never to be seen again. Jo wants to close the case for the sake of the remaining sister before her retirement.

The book is split between three stories - Jo herself, her mother Olive and her experiences at wartime Bletchley Park, and Daisy, the remaining sister. All three are connected but it's not entirely clear how their stories fully intertwine until the end. I really enjoyed all three of the stories and often found myself a little disappointed when I left one, only to remember how much I was enjoying the one it turned to. I guessed the twist fairly early but it didn't take away from the story at all and there were enough things uncovered along the way that it held my interest fully. I listened to the audiobook version and the narrator and production were both excellent, making it easy to follow character changes.

The subject matter of the book is obviously upsetting but it was handled very sensitively. A really gripping thriller and well worth a read.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy in return for an honest review.