Following a family catastrophe Clare along with her daughters, Pip and Grace, move into a London flat that backs onto a communal residents' garden. Once settled in they become part of the local community and Clare has no qualms about letting her children roam unsupervised in the park with other local teenagers. Then the unthinkable happens, after a party Grace is apparently assaulted and is found lying unconscious in the private garden...
The book opens with the discovery of Grace and is then divided into two parts: the 'before' which sets the scene and the 'after' which slowly reveals what happened on the night in question.
I'm a huge fan of Lisa Jewell's books and I loved The Girls in the Garden. It's not a fast paced book and I don't know that I would call it a thriller - for me it is more of a domestic novel that meanders a little and slowly reveals what has happened. Although I didn't love the ending (I felt that it was a little too neat) it's an intriguing book that is skillfully written. There are a lot of characters in the book and the author not only does a great job of developing them so that they are all totally believable, she handles them and their place in the narrative extremely well.
This was a highly enjoyable read that I immersed myself in - I wanted to read it quickly but held back so that I could savour each page.
Recommended.
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