“Something was going on in the village. Not that anyone would believe her. .. but once you passed eighty, no one believed you had a single thought wroth listening to. But she knew something was going on.”

Thank you to Lake Union Publishing and TLC Book Tours for gifting me a copy of THE LOST GIRLS OF DEVON by Barbara O’Neal.

“It’s been years since Zoe Fairchild has been to the small Devon village of her birth, but the wounds she suffered there still ache. When she learns that her old friend and grandmother’s caretaker has gone missing, Zoe and her fifteen-year-old daughter return to England to help.

Zoe dreads seeing her estranged mother, who left when Zoe was seven to travel the world. As the four generations of women reunite, the emotional pain of the past is awakened. And to complicate matters further, Zoe must also confront the ex-boyfriend she betrayed many years before.

Anxieties spike when tragedy befalls another woman in the village. As the mystery turns more sinister, new grief melds with old betrayal. Now the four Fairchild women will be tested in ways they couldn’t imagine as they contend with dangers within and without, desperate to heal themselves and their relationships with each other.”

While this story is placed under the mystery genre, I believe that it’s best suited for women’s fiction. There was the overall mystery surrounding the disappearance of Zoe’s best friend, Diane, but to me, that was not the main plot of the storyline. In reality, this book focused on a family that has spent years holding back the truth from one another.

Four generations of women, Lillian, Poppy, Zoe, and Isabel; each woman carried with them a bit of their past or their future that they were scared to come to terms with- from lost memories, child abandonment, and an act of such terrible violation. (Trigger warning: sexual assault and sex trafficking).

What made THE LOST GIRLS OF DEVON so fascinating to me was how each chapter alternating between the four Fairchild women and offered a different glimpse into each of the lives and the secrets that had been harboring for all of these years.

I did enjoy the air of mystery to this story but I didn’t find it to be the sole focus as the synopsis implied. I, also, think that the mystery as to what was happening in Devon was wrapped up a little too quickly. But, overall, I always enjoy a book with a mystery as I find I, too, am trying to solve what was happening.

THE LOST GIRLS OF DEVON will be published on July 14, 2020, and is available for pre-order now!