Forget about solving all these crimes; the signal triumph here is (spoiler) the heroine’s survival. I kept thinking of Lord of the Flies as I was reading this. Children that seem to be basically raising themselves, either because of neglect, a hand off approach to child rearing, or because it is assumed they are safe. Didn't agree with much in the way of parenting here, not sure I cared much for the parents who seem oblivious to all the undercurrents happening within this gang of kids. Pip, who is only twelve seems to have more sense than any of them.

Josie’s life appears to be strange and complicated, and although Alix finds her unsettling, she can’t quite resist the temptation to keep making the podcast. Slowly she starts to realize that Josie has been hiding some very dark secrets, and before she knows it, Josie has inveigled her way into Alix’s life—and into her home. You've known your neighbours for years and you trust them. Implicitly. You think your children are safe. But are they really? Well, I am going to be in the minority here. I had heard a lot of good things about this book. I anxiously awaited my copy to be available at the library. I waited and waited and waited. Then finally it was ready.You live on a picturesque communal garden square, an oasis in On top of unmasking the identity of her real parents, it turns out that she is also the only heir of their deserted mansion in the lavish Chelsea neighborhood in London, on the banks of River Thames.

The housing groups’ central focus is a park with gardens at the center upon which children and adults alike freely wander the field and playground. People come and go while enjoying the summer outdoor activities. It seems everyone knows something about everyone else’s business. There are some really stand out characters in this story. Like every other female in the book, I too fell madly in love with Leo. Of course Leo is fictional...does anyone like him really exist?! :-) Even Gordan, Leo's grumpy and obnoxious father was well imagined, and I think we all have someone like him in our own family. But my absolute favorite has to be Pip. 12 years old but wise beyond her years, with a fierce love for her family that is infectious. Decades later, in her thirty-something, Melody lives in a London council flat with her teenage son.

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

In some ways, this story is a little quirky, told from various POV’s, but also does a pretty good job of creating a feeling of unease, and building suspense at a steady pace, with a few very surprising twists thrown in along the way.

Close to two decades later, they have started asking themselves whether that romance was the forever that they have been desperately searching for. What is it with all these books with “Girls” in the title? The last book I read was The Girls. Now I have just finished The Girls in the Garden – which I gather was titled The Girls in the UK. And last year I read Those Girls… 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. I give Lisa Jewell a lot of credit, right from the start I felt totally immersed within the garden community. The setting descriptions are beautiful and almost at times unsettling in their real-ness. I found myself feeling like I could totally picture the places these characters were walking. It's a real sense of adventure to be able to immerse yourself in a book like that.A few days later, Alix and Josie bump into each other again, this time outside Alix’s children’s school. Josie has been listening to Alix’s podcasts and thinks she might be an interesting subject for her series. She is, she tells Alix, on the cusp of great changes in her life. When the book begins, Alice sees a stray man sitting on a bench next to her house. Due to her inquisitive nature, Alice wants why the man was sitting on the bench, while it was straining. However, Alice knows that she should stay out of it. When the fleeting memories however start getting clearer by the day, Melody launches a desperate mission to uncover the true story of her childhood. 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?