Blog Tour Review: The Garnett Girls – Georgina Moore

I received a copy of this book from the publisher

About The Book

Love makes you do things you never thought you were capable of…

Forbidden, passionate and all-encompassing, Margo and Richard’s love affair was the stuff of legends – but, ultimately, doomed.

When Richard walked out, Margo locked herself away, leaving her three daughters, Rachel, Imogen and Sasha, to run wild.

Years later, charismatic Margo entertains lovers and friends in her cottage on the Isle of Wight, refusing to ever speak of Richard and her painful past. But her silence is keeping each of the Garnett girls from finding true happiness.

Rachel is desperate to return to London, but is held hostage by responsibility for Sandcove, their beloved but crumbling family home.

Dreamy Imogen feels the pressure to marry her kind, considerate fiancé, even when life is taking an unexpected turn.

And wild, passionate Sasha, trapped between her fractured family and controlling husband, is weighed down by a secret that could shake the family to its core.

My Review

The Garnett Girls by Georgina Moore contains everything I love in a book. A big old house, some secrets, family, siblings, relationships and just blooming good writing. Set on the Isle of Wight, in and around their home, Sandcove, The Garnett Girls is about matriarch Margo, and her three grown up daughters; Rachel, Imogen and Sasha. Sandcove is a crumbling mansion right on the coast and is a place filled with memories of long lazy summer days, barbecues on the beach at Christmas and of the huge fights between Margo and the girls’ alcoholic father, Richard and her subsequent breakdown when he walked out on them.

Set in the present, but occasionally jumping back to the past to show us how Margo and Richard met, their relationship and the fallout after he left, this is as a real page turner a book. Moore has created a wonderful cast of very believable characters and a delicate plot which weaves together cleverly and in, at times, unexpected ways.

Moore explores a myriad of themes in this book, but does so with a deft touch, even when tackling the big issues. There are a number of secrets which are alluded to and then revealed in an elegant way. This isn’t a book with big ‘OMG’ moments, it is far quieter than that, approaching marriage, love, coercion and loss sensitively and gently.

At its core, is the relationship between the three sisters and their mother. Moore doesn’t write a saccharine sweet relationship, it is messy and complicated, and at times vicious, but there is a lot of love. She really gets to the heart of female siblings and how complex that relationship can be, particularly when the three siblings have dealt with trauma at a young age and now live in the shadow of their fabulous, evervescent and at times overbearing mother.

Margo is one of the most multi-layered women I have read in a very long time. She is flawed, and she makes mistakes but everything she does comes from a place of love and, most importantly, she isn’t afraid to grow. It is so refreshing to read a book featuring a woman like Margo, somebody who is slightly older, has grown up children and is enjoying her life and freedom to the maximum, having fun, having sex and throwing parties whenever possible. I’d love to read more books featuring women like her, she is a breath of fresh air.

I felt huge Marian Keyes vibes when reading this, due to the way Moore’s female characters interact, and the complexities between them. The writing is just as good too; really engaging, compelling and heartfelt. I particularly loved the depiction of the Isle of Wight, a place I have never been to, but feel like I know intimately due to the way it is portrayed. The sense of place is so wonderful that it has really made me want to visit and I’d be so upset to find that Sandcove isn’t real!

I really recommend The Garnett Girls, it is a huge page turner and a brilliant read. This was one of those books which when I wasn’t reading it, I was thinking about it, and really, there is no higher accolade than that.

About The Author

Georgina Moore

Georgina Moore grew up in London and lives on a houseboat on the River Thames with her partner, two children and Bomber, the Border Terrier. The Garnett Girls is her first novel and is set on the Isle of Wight, where Georgina and her family have a holiday houseboat called Sturdy. You can find her as @PublicityBooks on Twitter and @georginamooreauthor on Instagram