Sally Hepworth’s Darling Girls was very difficult to put down as this is another thrilling and well-written novel. Hepworth is one of my “go-to” authors and has become a “must read” for me, as I always enjoy her brilliant, skillful and thrilling writing.

Darling Girls is about three women (Nora, Alicia, and Jessica) sisters bound through the Australian foster care system. We switch back and forth between timelines: We learn about their abusive foster mother (Miss Fairchild) and then the book then goes on to 25 years later when bones are discovered under the home. The story takes us through their point of views (and a mysterious one) as we learn more about the sister’s backgrounds and stories.

Although Nora, Alicia and Jessica were all very different characters, there was something so relatable and intriguing about each of them. I loved reading their heartbreaking and thought provoking stories.

I listened to this book so quickly because I HAD to know what was going on. That being said, the narrator of the audio book, Jessica Clarke was also incredible and engaging.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press, Macmillan Audio, and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Sally Hepworth does it again! She has written another twisty, character-driven story that grips you from beginning to end. This one surrounds three orphans who grew up together in a foster home. Their childhood was not easy. They suffered physical and mental abuse (definitely heed content warnings here) as well as severe gaslighting. They have not returned to the area grew up but, years later, are asked to come for questioning as the police have found a body under the home where they stayed.

The strength in Hepworth's writing is her layered, flawed, real characters. They have fully formed personalities. I enjoyed slowly getting to know each sister, along with the challenges each faced as they dealt with consequences from both their life before the foster home as well as their life in the foster home. I loved the way that they bonded. Women supporting women is always a win for me. The story itself, while truly disturbing at times, is engaging and intriguing. I had several ideas on which way this one would go but was never really sure.

The narration is true to the locale in Australia and very well done. The narrator handles each character well and is able to portray the emotion throughout all the interactions and events of the book. I have been a longtime fan of Hepworth's writing and continue to love what she puts out. I look forward to each and every release.

Sorry, but I’m going to be a bit of an outlier here I’m sure. I have loved many books by this author, but this one was not for me. Yes it was dark and twisty, but it also felt a bit disjointed and angry, Other times I felt it was a lesson in the dark side of the foster care system. I’d say parts of this book will work for those who enjoy dark, twisty mysteries, and other parts will work for those that like big drama - primetime soap opera style. For me it was just ok, but I will definitely continue to read anything this author writes.

Narration: Jessica Clarke’s narration of this book is fantastic and helped me through the sections of this book that I didn’t enjoy as much.

Jessica Clarke does a beautiful job narrating Darling Girls by Sally Hepworth. I highly recommend listening to the audio version of this book. She is easy to understand, pleasant to listen to, and makes a clear delineation between characters.

Darling Girls by Sally Hepworth
is an exciting family drama full of thrilling twists and turns. We get to know Jessica, Norah, and Alicia, who grew up in the same foster home, and remain close. The sisters share a close bond, after enduring a childhood of abuse and gaslighting with a foster mother who was just clever enough to never do anything that the girls could prove. Now they're grown, and human remains have been found under the farm house where they grew up. Old wounds will be opened, and decades-old questions will finally be answered. Sally Hepworth does her signature work of fully developing intricate, flawed characters, and getting to the root of what makes people tick.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio for providing my advanced listening copy though NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

Thank you so much to netgalley and Macmillan audio for the alc of this book! Unfortunately, this was a DNF for me.

I did really enjoy the audiobook. The narrator was great and the pacing felt right. I will be giving this a neutral rating because I did like the audiobook just not the story itself.

I couldn’t connect with the characters or this story. I feel like the child abuse was just way too much and way too descriptive for me to continue with this book.

I hope others love this one.

This is one of the best thrillers I’ve read in a while!
While some parts you absolutely knew where it was going, there was so much to keep you guessing. There were so many twists and turns and they all made sense. The story was also plausible while still being absolutely horrifying. I read this with a background working in child protection which usually makes me roll my eyes at stories like these, but this one was well-executed.

The characters were so well developed and I loved seeing Alicia, Norah, & Jessica grow. I like how tidy the ending was.

I listened to the ARC of the audiobook. I liked the narrator’s pacing & the tone was always well-matched.

Review will be posted to Goodreads promptly and instagram within 1 week of completion.

This was such a good book! I loved following the journey of these “sisters” who went through foster care together. Their personalities were each unique and held my interest as they were interviewed trying to figure out who the bones belonged to that were found under their old foster home. The ending was great! I highly recommend this book! The narrator for the audiobook was good.

Jessica's mom has passed away. So she goes to live with Ms Fairchild. Ms Fairchild dotes on Jessica. Ms. Fairchild allows Jessica to sleep with her and allows Jessica to call her mom. But that quickly changes.
The house is neat and tidy and is to stay that way every day. Then another little girl Norah arrives to live with Ms Fairchild
Ms. Fairchild gets paid for the girls she takes into her home
Now there's a third girl, Alesha. She's not a troubled girl, and this is her first time in foster care. Ms. Fairchild hates her because she's not broken
The women grow up and find themselves having to return to their hometown. Seems the old foster home is being torn down. In the midst of the construction, a body buried beneath the house is found
Who's body is this. Was Ms. Fairchild up to more than just being mean towards the girls. Or did something else happen in the home that they grew up in
What do these women know about the past days they spent in the care of Ms Fairchild

This audiobook had me from the beginning. Jessica Clarke does a phenomenal job narrating and Sally Hepworth knows how to write a story. It follows 3 girls and the trauma they had to endure living in foster care. They receive a call that a body has been discovered under the house they grew up in. They have to figure out who it is and who done it.

This book will will make you angry, but it will keep you guessing until the end. It's told on 3 different time lines, but it's not confusing.

Thank you to NetGalley, Sally Hepworth, and MacMillan audio for the opportunity to listen to this book.

This book was honestly hard to listen to! Thank goodness this was told back and forth between decades so that I got breaks from the women's childhood stories. I hate that there are people in this world who mistreat, abuse, children. I am frustrated that they have help hiding their actions and that so often children are not heard/believed. I loved the powerful sisterhood these foster children built for themselves. I appreciated the victories won by the end, but also thought the very end was true to a Sally Hepworth story--and likely all too often true to real life.

Thanks to #NetGalley and #MacmillanAudio for my ARC

"Darling Girls" by Sally Hepworth is an absolute gem of a novel that deserves all five stars and more. Hepworth's ability to craft deeply nuanced and relatable characters is unparalleled. Each character feels incredibly real, with their own unique quirks, flaws, and motivations, making it easy to become emotionally invested in their stories.
The plot twists in "Darling Girls" are nothing short of masterful. Just when I thought I had everything figured out, Hepworth expertly throws in unexpected twists and turns that kept me guessing until the very end. The pacing is perfect, with tension building steadily throughout the book, culminating in a satisfying and surprising conclusion.

Overall, "Darling Girls" is a riveting read that I couldn't put down. Hepworth's talent for storytelling shines through on every page, making this a must-read for fans of gripping psychological thrillers.

3.5 stars

All families have drama, but yikes this family has drama. This is my second Sally Hepworth book and I enjoyed this one more than the first, but I'm still not sure if she's the writer for me.

I loved how this revolved around sisters that are actually foster sisters. The back and forth between then and now really helped push the story along. The tension kept building and the mystery of who the therapist was talking to in those chapters really kept me on the edge of my seat. Miss Fairchild was an absolutely horrible character (not horrible in writing or anything, but horrible in a horrible person) and it really made the empath in me connect with the sisters more.

The big reveal at the end I honestly didn't see coming. I knew something was up, but what it was wasn't what I was thinking. so, the twist was fun, but the reveal after the twist (the second twist? The mini twist? Twist 1.5?) didn't really do it for me.

It was a good book that was really well written. Jessica Clarke did a fantastic job with the narration.

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for this ALC. This is my honest opinion.

Sally Hepworth really nailed it this time. Darling Girls is the first thriller so far this year to have my jaw hit the floor after finishing it. Darling Girls follows the past of three girls who became sisters while being fostered at the same house with Miss Fairchild. Suffering abuse and lots of trauma, years later a child’s bones are found under the foster home. Hepworth takes you on a wild ride about their upbringing, and brings all twists. This book is living rent free in my head for awhile…

Woah - this one got me!

I flew through this in a day! The build up? Fantastic. The characters? Damaged. The multiple perspectives? Jarring.

Truly truly enjoyed this thriller!

Enjoyable audio and the multiple perspectives were done well.

This was an interesting read because of the perspective coming from adults who were previously in the fostercare system. I enjoyed the background of it. Family is not always blood. Secrets haunt these women. An enjoyable read but there is definitely a lot of back and forth, past and future as well as between the girls/women.

Loved Darling Girls by Sally Hepworth; there were twists and turns while making the book realistic and relatable. Hepworth does not disappoint. Thank you NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion!

I love Sally Hepworth novels; she’s an auto-buy author for me, but Darling Girls was not my favorite. Honestly, for the first 50% it felt like foster care ab*se trauma p*rn with super dysfunctional adults narrating their flashbacks. Once the mystery really set in, this was engaging, but I felt uncomfortable with most of this story, both past and present timelines, and if I hadn’t been listening to the audio, I may have DNF’d. Like any Hepworth, there’s an excellent twist, and this novel covers some very important topics like child ab*se and addiction, but I felt kind of haphazard and voyeuristic for me. I guess if you’re in the childcare space, be it social work or foster care, or if the mistreatment of children doesn’t bother you. I’d still recommend this one, but other Hepworth novels are better.

I listened to the audiobook version of "Darling girls."

To begin, I want to start my saying that I love Sally Hepworth's books in general. I get great joy out of reading/listening to them. This book, however, wasn't as great as the others. There were a few unlikable characters, a storyline that is traumatizing to listen to in certain areas, and the plot just wasn't what I was expecting. With all that being said, I would say it was pretty average-not great, and not terrible.

This book is set in Australia and I loved the narrators Australian accent. It really brought the book to life.

I’m a huge fan of Sally Hepworth’s writing because she is so funny. She tells a mystery/thriller in a way that made me laugh out loud at some of the dialogue. The witty comments along with the multiple POV kept me engaged from start to finish. This is a must read book!

4.5/5 rounded up

Thank you Macmillan Audio for the advanced listening copy!

Content warning: child abuse

SYNOPSIS -- Jessica, Norah and Alicia grew up with foster mother, Miss Fairchild, on a beautiful country estate. Each was rescued from sad situations and brought together... how lucky are they?! From the outside, very. From the inside, though, things are very, very different. Miss Fairchild seems kind, but, in truth, she's very unpredictable. With ever-changing rules and expectations, as well as a heavy hand at punishment, Miss Fairchild is anything but the sweet foster mother they wanted. Years later, a body is discovered underneath the house they grew up in. When Jessica, Norah and Alicia are pulled away from their complicated adult lives, they're not sure if they're there as witnesses, or suspects.

I LOVED this book!! From the very start, I was absolutely hooked. I've heard great things about Sally Hepworth for years, but was disappointed by the first book I read of hers -- THE SOULMATE. This one, however, blew me away. With multiple points of views and timelines, plus quick chapters, I could not put this book down. There was tons of new information on every page and so much mystery, making this into a wild whodunnit guessing game. Each character was unique in her own way and they all developed with such depth by the end that I was super invested. Miss Fairchild was such a complex character and, even though I hated her, I also somehow wanted more of her. The twist was TWISTY and I found myself shocked at the way things turned out. The therapeutic perspective is always really interesting to me and I loved the way these sessions were shrouded in mystery, too. Overall, this was a really great thriller and I can't wait to go back to Sally Hepworth's back list!