i got all my sisters with me

Jessica is a professional organizer. Since she was a girl, she loved to sort and categorize, putting things in an order so elegant that she is now paid for the honor. She’s married, although she feels a certain amount of distance from her husband. Her last client is upset because despite her beautiful organizing, something has gone missing from her home. A bottle of Valium has gone missing, and she is not happy. Jessica pretends not to know anything about it. But this client is not the first one with this complaint.

Norah isn’t interested in traditional dating. Sometimes she uses the dating apps, but that’s more to find someone to do some odd jobs around the house. But she does love her dogs, Converse, Couch, and Thong. They’re big and dumb and underfoot at all the wrong times, but she loves them. She has an online business taking psychometric tests for people applying to jobs, and she does not suffer fools. Like her last date, who just wouldn’t take a hint until she punches him in the nose.

Alicia is a social worker with a heart of gold and a burning crush on a hot attorney. She’s the person the police call when it’s an emergency and they have a child who needs a short-term placement. She is kind and patient and good at her job. Because she understands what it’s like.

When these women get the call, they are living their lives, doing the best they can. Then the detectives from Port Agatha call them, and they are little girls again. They are foster kids living at Wild Meadows with Miss Fairchild. And after what they went through those years with Miss Fairchild, they are now sisters with an unbreakable bond.

The detectives ask the women to come back to Port Agatha because an excavation at the house has revealed human bones buried under the house. And the detectives have questions.

As kids, the girls learned to follow Miss Fairchild’s rules, as there were consequences otherwise. Food was scarce, and the chores were constant, but the three girls learned to lean on each other for help and support. All they had to do was stay under Miss Fairchild’s radar. The problem was that Miss Fairchild’s radar reached everywhere. And her punishments were designed to break them down.

But now, they are adults. And they’re going back to Port Agatha to face their old fears. To face their old enemy. And to help the police figure out exactly what happened in the basement at Wild Meadows.

Sally Hepworth is back with a nail-biter of a thriller about the ways we get through challenging times. Told in two timelines, from the perspectives of all three women, this story is filled with twists and flips that keep you guessing until the end. Are these women killers? Are they victims? And just who is buried under the house?

I listened to Darling Girls on audio, narrated to perfection by Jessica Clarke. Her lovely Australian accent sets the scene for this layered story, and she tells this story with compassion and understanding but never giving anything away.

I so enjoyed this story of found family and healing. Just when I thought I was getting my footing on what really happened, the rug would get pulled out from under me, and I had to scramble to find a place to stand again. I got completely absorbed by the story and wanted nothing more than to get all my questions answered. Listening to the audio was especially fun for this. I was transported to Australia, to that house of horrors, and I couldn’t wait to find out how everything turned out.

Clearly, this is not a book everyone will enjoy. There are several incidents of child abuse, so anyone sensitive to that will want to skip Darling Girls and try a different Hepworth book instead.

An early copy of the audio book was provided by Macmillan Audio and egalleys were provided by St. Martin’s Press through NetGalley, with many thanks.