A review by oliviagwynne
The Girls in the Garden by Lisa Jewell

dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I enjoyed reading this book but it’s not one where the plot or characters will stick with me once I’m done. Very much a beach or airplane read 

It written in 3rd person and jumps between 3 main perspectives, Pip, one of the daughters, Clare, their mom, and Adele, another mom from the neighbourhood.  

The plot introduces so many different candidates and possibilities for who could be the one to commit the assault and does so quite quickly and subtly 

I wasn’t a huge fan of the device of Pip’s letters to her father. They often recapped information you had just read a few pages before so it felt redundant. 

You knew what it was building towards, it just took a while to get there so the pacing in the middle felt a bit slow 

The fact that Clare isn’t out hunting daily for a job is WILD to me. How does she plan to support her family? What does she do with her days? 

I didn’t really like the conclusion. I enjoyed that there were so many suspects to choose from but I just wasn’t stoked on the final choice