I’ve read a couple of Harriet Evans novels in the past and they’ve been lovely romantic reads. However, The Beloved Girls, published in 2021, promised to be something different. From the synopsis, The Beloved Girls sounded like a darker, more intriguing story.
I love family sagas with a bit of a mystery so I was excited to read an advanced copy.
Plus, just look at that front cover! Beautiful!
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Plot
Catherine is a successful barrister and happily married with children. Her life is seemingly idyllic but her past seems determined to haunt her. When she disappears on the eve of her wedding anniversary, her family are confused. She had been behaving erratically but they never thought she would just run away.
After seeing the figure of someone she believed had been dead for years, Catherine is spooked. Is her mind playing tricks on her? The answer lies buried in the past.
During a hot summer in 1989, a young girl, Janey Lestrange, arrives to stay with the Hunter family in their mysterious manor house, known as Vanes. Janey is fascinated by each of the Hunters and their ancient family rituals. However as the summer comes to an end, a tragedy unfolds. The bonds Janey forges that summer, especially with eldest daughter Kitty, will affect her life in ways nobody would have predicted.
The Beloved Girls Book Review
If you’ve read my posts about novels by Eve Chase, you’ll know that I love atmospheric stories with houses steeped in history and secrets. However, I just couldn’t love the Beloved Girls as much as I wanted to.
I felt an emotional disconnect from the characters and I found it hard to care about what happened to them. It’s quite a long read and I did find myself hoping we would get to the ceremony soon, the climax of the novel. It’s hard to explain why I felt that way. It was well written but it just didn’t connect with me the way I had hoped.
There was a menacing atmosphere throughout, leaving the reader in no doubt something terrible happened, without fully revealing any details until later in the book. There are also some disturbing themes throughout the book which added to the foreboding atmosphere. I found myself impatient to know what happened and I did enjoy the last few chapters more than the rest of the book once we finally realised what happened that fateful day. I also enjoyed the ambiguity, particularly at the end of the novel. It’s fun to be able to use my own imagination or thoughts to determine what is the truth.
There’s quite a large cast of characters but I never became confused about who they were which is a testament to the writing and character development. The time switches were also done well and explained the background of Vanes and how the older characters were all connected.
All in all, it wasn’t a book I disliked. I think I just went in expecting such amazing things and it just didn’t connect with me as I’d hoped. It’s still a clever, atmospheric story and I can easily see why so many others have loved it.
What to read next
If you enjoyed The Beloved Girls I think you would enjoy books by Eve Chase. Both The Birdcage and Black Rabbit Hall have a similar menacing undertone. I would also recommend Kate Morton’s Homecoming as another dual timeline mystery.
I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion. For more information please see my disclosure policy.