Blurb: Love makes you do things you never thought you were capable of…
Margo and Richard's love affair was fiery, forbidden and all-consuming, but ultimately doomed. When it imploded, Margo was left broken.
Margo never spoke a word about the man who abandoned his young family so easily. She's forged a new life which she's determined to live her own way, despite the disapproval of her daughters.
Her eldest, Rachel longs to escape the responsibility of caring for Sandcove, the crumbling house where she and her sisters were left to run wild.
Dreamy Imogen should be getting ready for her wedding but is feeling a dangerous connection to a beautiful stranger.
And the youngest of the three, wild, passionate Sacha, is carrying a secret from their past that will shake the family to its core…
Review: I had been hearing about 'The Garnett Girls' on and off from when it was first published. It was on my radar and on that ever expanding TBR but it wasn't until I went to a Paige Toon Waterstones event that Georgina was at that I finally purchased a copy. Listening to Georgina talk about the girls and the story of a fiery family with secrets, set in London and the Isle of Wight my interest was well and truly peaked.
In starting reading I thought I had a measure on the sisters, wrong my thought process on each them changed a number of times whilst reading. The same goes for Margo, when I first was introduced to her I liked the fiery, passionate younger version but I found the older Margo much more selfish that was until the seeds of her story were given to me like an onion being unravelled. There are so many reasons why Margo is the way she is but ultimately it's a defence mechanism and the love of her children that's made her the way she is. I truly loved judging her and then realising how wrong I was. She's a beautiful force to be reckoned with and I truly loved her passion for life and for her girls. She doesn't always get it right but her heart is in the right place.
Rachel is the oldest sister and the one who has mothered her sisters. She's also the one who has seen a lot of the sadness and witnessed some of the secrets that played a part in their childhood- where she grew up long before her time. In doing so it's made her the strong and independent woman she is today and also made her a wonderful mother as she's done so for so many years. Rachel is the one you worry about least, but her story also has some twists and turns that will have you gasping.
Imogen is the middle child and at first I really didn't know what to make of her. I wasn't sure if she was being snobby, unkind or just damn right selfish. As her story unravels I see there's so much more to her. She wants that love story and she wants to please her mother. In saying that sometimes her own fiery passion comes through and sends her down a different path. Her story was intriguing and as a reader you just want her to be happy she had to go through a bit of a spiral to work out who she was and what she wanted in life. Said spiral took her back to her sisters with a fabulous heart to heart.
Sasha is the wild child and I was instantly excited to get to know her. Her story took longer to unfold. Her childhood and lack of stories about her father has made her who she is and ultimately she has a lot of questions. In some ways she's selfish in others she just wants to understand. Instantly I didn't like Phil there was something manipulative and controlling about him. He seemed to dim Sasha's light. There are many twists along the way for the youngest Garnett but her drunken outburst was a highlight that caused destruction but also brought the family back together in the end.
I have to give a brief mention to Alice. Margo's sister who sees much more than anyone expects and who is the backbone of the family alongside Gabe - Rachel's husband. I love that in the later stages we get a lot more time of Alice and Margo and Margo realises just how much Alice has done over the years for her and her family. When they finally speak openly that's one of my favourite scenes.
A beautiful tale of complicated families, addiction, betrayal and how secrets can tear us apart and also bring us back together. Richard may not feature wholeheartedly but he is the driving force between a lot of what happens to the girls and I won't spoil any details but in the later stages there were tears from me.
A truly fabulous debut that had me hooked from start to finish with beautiful descriptions as well as a family you cannot help but fall in love with warts and all. I cannot wait to see what comes next from Georgina Moore. How it took me so long to pick this beauty up but my it was a literary delight in so many ways, I'll never forget my time with The Garnett Girls.
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