Book Review – The Girls – Lisa Jewell

This book was given to me by a friend after we had been talking about another Lisa Jewell book that we had both read.  I settled down and read it in my lunch break in work and at home in the evenings.  I finished it in just under a week.

The Girls – Lisa Jewell

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?

This book focuses on the lives of two sisters and their mother who have come to live in an area of London after actions their father made caused the family home to burn down.  The father is no longer on the scene and it is just the mother and her two daughters, living in a flat that shares a common green with their neighbours.  The girls make friends and the story follows them and the people they meet along the way.  One night something awful happens to one of the girls and we are taken down a path to discover who could have done this horrible thing.

I loved this book from the very first page.  It is written in such a way that all of the characters feel like they are hiding things and it compels you to keep reading until you find out what has happened.  The youngest daughter writes letters to her sick father which add extra information to the storyline and allow the reader to understand the thoughts that she has about the situations and people that she meets.

I am a huge fan of Lisa Jewell and really don’t want to say too much about the book and spoil it for any others who want to read it.  It really is a page-turner and hard to put down.

Have you read this book?  Let me know your thoughts in the comments!