Wow what a great story, I started reading this and wasn't too sure of it as it flitted back in time with no warning or definition but once you get your head round that... Just Wow!

This sampler gave me a small snapshot of Girl A.

Lexi Grace goes to the prison after hearing about her mother's death. She's been chosen to be executor of her will and her abusive childhood comes tumbling back. She and her siblings are very successful in their chosen careers and she finds that they've been left a sum of money and the house they grew up in. Can they go back?

We learn of her daring escape all those years ago and a glimpse of their hellish home life at the hands of their parents and how she feels about it all.

This is one of my most anticipated books of 2021 and I can’t wait to get my hands on the finished book! The writing is brilliant - harrowing, complex and human.

I have only read a sample of this book so can only give a partial review, but I didn't like it enough to request the rest of it!

I don't think the book is badly written at all, and it is definitely interesting. But I just found it a bit too gruesome and depressing.

The main character, Alexandra, is dealing with her mother's death. Through this we find out about her horrific childhood where she appears to have been held captive by her parents along with various siblings. The descriptions of this are pretty blunt and disturbing - the children were left in squalor and didn't seem to be fed properly etc.

From the section I've read, one thing I found a little far fetched was how well the children appear to have done for themselves in adult life. They are presented as being pretty well off and having successful careers. Of course this can happen, but I found it a little unrealistic given their awful start in life.

I think this is well written and engaging, but because it focuses on a very disturbing subject matter, it just wasn't the kind of book I wanted to read at the moment!

After hearing a lot about this book on social media, I couldn't wait to read this book. The story begins with the protagonist, Lex Gracie, visiting a prison after the death of her mother. Known as Girl A, she is an adult survivor of parental abuse. In the early chapters, she tells of her escape from the house of horrors and her life in the present. Lex is now the executor of her mother's will, a difficult role considering her feelings towards her parents and her estrangement from the majority of her siblings.

I enjoyed the sample that I read and would have loved to read the full novel. From the excerpt I was sent, I can see that this is a gripping story that explores the legacy of childhood abuse in a sensitive, fresh way. Although Dean does not hold back from describing what the Gracie children endured, the scenes I read were uncomfortable but not gratuitous. I look forward to reading this in full, as I'm sure it will be a success.

Loved this free sampler and was so happy to be approved for the full book. I've since read the full book and will be sending my thoughts soon.

I've heard so much about this book and it is still a few months from publication - that always bodes well; especially as it is a debut novel.

The story is not an easy one to read; Lex is Girl A, the survivor of years of abuse at the hands of her parents.

The structure of the novel means that this tale, which is sadly not a new one, is told in an interesting way. We start with Lex going to prison to deal with her mother's belongings and Will. In the Will she is left twenty thousand pounds and the home that she was essentially imprisoned in.

The rest of the novel is told by following the stories of each of the other 6 siblings (but still through Lex's narrative) and it explores the dynamic between each of the siblings. They were all adopted into different homes and their lives have followed very different trajectories.

Throughout the book, we flash back to their childhoods and find out how their home environment descended into the horror that it became.

The characters are incredibly well developed and I couldn't stop thinking about them when I put the book down.

This is a character driven exploration of family and abuse and it is incredibly well written; if hard to read in parts.

Thanks to Harper Collins and Netgalley for the eARC of this debut.

This is a terrifying and haunting account of a family of abused children, their escape and subsequent relationships. I was enthralled by the characters and their attempts to come to terms with their incredible tragedy.

I expect this book will be an immediate bestseller based on this excerpt.

Despite my keenness to review this novel in its entirety, I can only go on the extended extract which I was sent. This is a shame as it promises a rich, considered exploration of abuse and its aftermath through the eyes of its protagonist.

Previously known only as Girl A in the subsequent court proceedings, we meet Lex Gracie as the now adult survivor of horrific historical abuse. Following the death of her mother in prison, Lex is named in a last and particularly cruel gesture as the executor of the family estate. The imposition of this requires her not only to return to the site of her former childhood abuse and torture, but to liaise with the siblings that endured this trauma with her in order to decide on a fitting disposal of assets. This in itself promises to prove problematic as Lex has apparently grown estranged from all but one of them, her sister Evie.

Lex presents in the early chapters as a competent albeit psychologically scarred adult. The halting, unemotional narrative belies a life of careful arrangement, designed to allow her to operate in the real world whilst keeping the demons of her past at bay. The mannered quality of this point of view powerfully suggests the defence mechanisms at work here, initially distancing the reader. As we delve deeper into her childhood flashbacks, however, it soon becomes clear why this has become a necessity for Lex, and Dean is not mean on details. Squalor, humiliation and fear seep off these pages, in which the possibility for love and connection is posited as a miracle of human endurance rather than an assumed entitlement.

Deans’ prose is assured and impressively confident for a debut author, and had I been allowed to view the novel in full I am sure that this early promise would have been sustained throughout the story. Sadly, it is too early for me to tell if it can yet prove itself to be in the league of its early comparison novels - specifically, “Room” - but it’s a very promising start indeed.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for this extract in return for an honest review.

Thank you netgalley for the sampler of this book.

The historical abuse that the children endured is a dark cloud that will, I imagine, remain at the heart of this disturbing story.

It is difficult to judge from a small sample but the way this is written indicates that the full novel will be well worth a read.

This is an incredibly well written and gripping start to what I'm sure will be one of the most hard hitting books I'll ever read. Typically, not everything is given away from the start, and as a reader you have to piece the puzzle together as you go, but from only this short extract I have a pretty full idea of the history of our protagonist, and the horrors she endured. I am so excited to read the full novel and cannot wait to get my hands on a copy - it definitely feels like it's going to be well worth the hype it's already getting!

So excited already for the book. If this sample is anything to go by thr book will be a hit! I can't wait to read it & thanks for the preview of this great book

Gripping enough to tempt me to want to read the whole book.

Three stars as difficult to judge a sample. I will review properly when I've read the rest..

Thank you to NegGalley and to the publisher for allowing me to read this sample in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks to netgalley and the publishers for this early sampler read
Although I don't normally like books about child abuse this sampler had me gripped from the beginning & I look forward to reading the full book to see how Lex & Ethan get on.

The story follows siblings who were abused by their parents and are now adults. Unlike other books where individual chapters swap between time periods you have both time periods in one chapter in this book. I personally found this hard to follow at times but the story still captured me. I would buy the book to continue reading the story.

This was a special book
It had all things inside
We had our photograph on the Moor Woods road
I arrived to the prison to see that my Mother died
I am Alexandra
I was glad my mum had died
I got an ARC

Thankyou to Netgalley and the publisher for a sample of this book.
Basically, I am hooked. From the few chapters I was given I am so invested in the story and will definitely be buying it on publication day.

I have only read the sampler, but so far, so good! I have been desperate to get my hands on this book as the initial premise really intrigued me. Children escaping their parents house of horrors and how they each go on to shape their lives and handle the trauma in their own way. The narrative tells the story of before and immediately after the escape, and when the children are adults, once their mother has died in prison, leaving them the house where the abuse happened.
The plot is really intriguing as it has several similarities to real life cases. I can't wait to read the full book!

I only read the sampler so I can't comment on the whole book but I found the initial set up intriguing, six siblings who have survived their parents house of horrors are being forced to confront their past due to their mother's death and her will. I was fascinated by how differently all the siblings had tried to cope with their experiences and the psychological impact it had had on all of them and I would love to finish reading to see how the author explores this further.

Now this is just a sampler; I would never read a couple of chapters to judge if a book is worth reading. Books can run out of pace or pick up half way through being insight and relief you’d persevered.
But books with lots of spin and ticker tape interest me. Usually, they disappoint and I sometimes feel the wide appeal means they lose something I look for in a good read.
NetGalley sometimes allows these tasters, just a snippet but mostly leaving you demanding more.

Girl A was brilliant in the first chapter. I thought the character of Lex was believable as an adult and as a child. Ethan clearly has more issues or perhaps more obvious ones. This second part of this sample, Chapter 2 seemed more disjointed and unclear regarding where the narrative was heading.

The truth is the hype is just that. A book is a moment in time that often resonates with a reader in the process of being read. It can be a very lonely experience and is usually confined to just one person. A review again is just one person’s take on a book.

Without doubt Girl A will be a huge success. It approaches child abuse in a fresh and revealing way. You cannot survive such an upbringing unscathed and it will be interesting to see how each sibling manages the trauma and lives with the scares.

The reason I would recommend this book on the brief passages read is that I believe the author has something fresh to say and through this story inform. At times it may be a difficult read but I sense it will engage the reader in both emotion and thought.