A stunning read.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for letting me read an advance copy of this book in exchange for my review.

A meandering tale of the ups and downs of the garnett family. I found it a bit slow in places, but I loved the talk of seaside life.

Many thanks to Netgalley, HarperCollins UK Audio and the author for the ALC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The Garnett Girls follows the story of a Mother Margo, and 3 daughters, Rachel, Imogen and Sasha. 4 women who are traumatized from their past, still slowly finding their way back to themselves and each other. This book had a way of coming off slowly in layers, in the sense that the story and the different trauma's unveiled themselves as the story progresses. Each woman (as I detest the term girls being used to address adults) have distinct yet linked personalities, they love and hate with passion. The heart of the story is located in their childhood home in Sandcove, The house holds everything from their first cries to steps to heartbreaks and it is only fair that it all resolves there.

The narrator was so good! They managed to bring out the different personalities in each of the women and the side characters. There is nothing more satisfying than seeing a tight knot of trauma slowly come loose and women start healing from the trauma caused by men and their callousness (I know this is very generic, but that about also sums it).

This is an astonishingly heartfelt warm debut, with the family shining through the pages.

TW: Parental abandonment, substance abuse, alcoholism, depression, anxiety, homophobia, Emotional abuse, Domestic violence.

I really enjoyed this book and especially the audiobook. The story was intriguing and so were the characters. Highly recommend

The Garnett Girls is a beautifully written novel set mainly on the Isle of Wight. It features Margo and her three grown up daughters Rachel, Imogen and Sacha. The story revolves around them and their extended family and friends while also examining their childhood after their father, Richard abandoned them.
The characters are well developed and even though you may not necessarily like them all, they are without doubt interesting. The family dynamics are fascinating and relatable and while there is a strong storyline, the relationships are the main feature. The fantastic narrator, Kristin Atherton also added to my enjoyment of the book.

I loved this book, I was completely invested in the characters and found myself completely drawn into their world,, The narration was great and suited the different personalities really well. The story was told from multiple points of view. I would definitely recommend.

This was a family saga of pretty grand proportions. There is drama, there is intrigue, there is glamour and there is self-reflection. The Garnett Girls are an eclectic bunch of women who make for some interesting reading and I enjoyed this glimpse into their lives.

Margo was the person I connected with the most. She is the matriarch of the family but has always struggled with the idea of having it all. She is someone who realises your children can’t be your whole life and that she has to live for herself, but where does the line fall, what is too much and what is not enough? She has had to deal with this dilemma since her first daughter was born and then she had the added pressure of the girls not having the best support in the form of a father or a husband for her.

Rachel, Sasha and Imogen seem to go on the biggest journey over the course of the book discovering each other, their mother and themselves in the process. I empathised with a lot of the struggles that they face because I think that we are at a similar position in our lives but their behaviour when they were around each other, as well as their behaviour when they were in their childhood home was sometimes a lot to handle.

I listened to this on audiobook thanks to a review copy and I will say that sometimes I had trouble keeping track of which Garnett Girl was being focused on, where we were and what time period we were in. I think this is one of those books that would work better as a physical or an ebook or would pair well with a copy you could read at the same time as listening to the audio which was incredibly well-narrated.

I really enjoyed this book. I loved the characters and the depth that each of them had. I thought it was well written and the narrator of the audio book was easy to listen to.

This book is exactly my kind of read! I just really love family saga type reads where we get to follow along with everyone in the family and there’s drama and love and beautiful scenery.

I particularly enjoyed how it wasn’t just set in the present day but we also got chapters dedicated to the girls childhood and even Margo’s younger days. When the chapter focused on one particular character, it might have shown somebody else in a kind of bad light, but then you followed them and more things fell into place and I ended up feeling sorry for them. I loved all the different relationship dynamics between each of the sisters and Margo.

I’m not going to spoil anything, but this is a beautiful book with some good twists and characters to get annoyed at but also fall in love with.

I listen to a lot of audiobooks only very rarely does a narrator not work for me, unfortunately this was one such time. I gave this three decent attempts but unfortunately this audio was detracting from the story for me. I found the recording quite grating and the narrators voice , for me, didn't suit the story.

From what I did listen to, I am intrigued by the story and I will buy a copy of The Garnett Girls when it is published this week.

Leaving a three star rating as I cannot give an honest opinion on the book.

Interesting but slowly developing insight into a family of girls and a woman with a past. Very much a matriarch she is controlling and is referred to by her name, rather than as mum by her adult children who tiptoe around her.
This book was too
Slow
For
Me

Sisters forever, no matter what happens they always stick together. The Garnett girls are mother and three daughters who grow through their lives with misunderstandings and unsaid truths. The mother is protecting her girls from the truth about their father and why he abandoned them however it gets to a point where it does really matter anymore and the girls are old enough to face that truth. and make peace. Beautiful writing about relationships and bonding including the husbands and children who grow into the strong group of women, the dynamics and interactions described very well. Narration was expert and just right for this book. Thank you #NetGalley for the audiobook to review.

This is a delightfully warm hearted and accomplished debut from Georgina Moore, a nostalgic family drama, featuring that eponymous Garnett Girls, the vivacious, free spirited mother, Margo, and her daughters, lawyer Rachel, married to Gabriel with 2 daughters, writer Imogen, and the more distant Sasha, with her troubled marriage to the controlling Phil. Set in the beautiful Isle of Wight and the family home of Sandcove, and in London, I had the pleasure of both reading the book and listening to the audio, wonderfully narrated by Tabi Craig, 9 hours and 40 minutes long. In a story that goes back and forth in time, it focuses on the trauma and repercussions on the Garnett women through the years of husband and father, Richard, an alcoholic and aspiring poet, who walked out on them.

Richard leaving left Margo unable to function for an entire year after the loss of her all consuming, life altering passion and once in a lifetime love as she retreats to her bedroom, leaving the girls to fend for themselves, with the young Rachel, sacrificing her childhood to ably shoulder the adult responsibilities of taking care of them and Sandcove, with the help of Aunt Sylvia. We learn of how Margo and Richard got together, with Margo having to fight for their love in the face of her mother's disapproval. In the present, with Richard's name forbidden through the years, Rachel is living in the crumbling Sandcove with her family, feeling an underlying discontent with her life, Margo still treats it as her home, still organising parties that people want to attend. However, Gabriel is content here, so how does she persuade him to move to London? Imogen finds her plans to marry William go awry, whilst Sasha is seething with resentment and a secret that is eating away at her and an ageing Margo begins to reflect on her current lifestyle and its impact on her girls.

This is a wonderfully entertaining read and listen, of a loving family of women, of a mother and her daughters, the addressing long standing issues between the sisters and the healing of their relationships, the emergence of lies, secrets and deceptions, marriages, misconceptions, of identity and sexuality. Everyday life is depicted in all its dramas, but it's the complex trauma of Richard as husband and father that is buried deep within the women, and untangling the emotional fallout of parental errors lies at the heart of this enthralling novel, and I particularly appreciated the poignant epilogue. Moore evocatively creates a wonderful sense of location, of sunkissed days on the beach, in the present and the past, and the central place of Sandcove, a place that no matter what, is home. Highly recommended! Many thanks to the publisher for the ARC and audio.

Thank you HarperCollins UK Audio, HQ and netgalley for this audio oportunity. I was always curious about this Island since it was mentioned in an Italian song. I adored it and also the describtion were in this book really took me there. The story about sisters was sad for me but it was interesting and would love to list. I liked the three sisters. Each was unique. The past was not nice to them so they hope for more in present. I have not forgot about the mother, somehow I admired her as well.

I would love to visit Sand Cove on the Isle of Wight. The setting for this family saga is just perfect.

Having grown up in a house of girls, I love reading books which explorer mother-daughter relationships.

The Garnett girls, Rachel, Imogen and Sasha, along with their mother, Margot are such wonderfully portrayed characters. I felt like I knew them personally and could see many of my own and my friends personality traits in each of the characters.

Richard, the girls father walked out, when the girls were young, and this traumatic event has shaped each of their lives in different ways Margo refuses to discuss him which adds to the grief they all experience.

The book let us glimpse all stages of the families lives, Margo from young newlywed to grandmother and the girls from toddlers to married woman .

The issues we all encounter in life were written with understanding and empathy. Love, infatuation, affairs, control and coping mechanisms are only a few intertwined throughout the book.

I listen to the audiobook and I loved how I could drop into the storyline whenever I had free minute. I recommend this book, which left me wanting to spend more time with The Garnett Girls

Really enjoyed this amazing family story. Loved all the garnet girls & the back story. Amazing plot & narration & look forward to to more by this author.

So we’re all moving to the Isle of Wight right?! Who knew that a tiny British island could make such a perfect location for this gorgeous novel of mothers and sisters!

I absolutely adored this debut which I ended up listening to on audiobook. It tells the story of the Garnett Girls (yes shocker) - mother Margo, and sisters Rachel, Imogen and Sasha, along with various friends, love interests and other family members who add so much to this moving novel. At the heart of the story is some unresolved trauma around the girls father Richard, who left when they were young, and who Margo wouldn’t let them keep in touch with. Each of the sisters has processed the event differently and therefore has different feelings towards Margo - and it all ramps up at their childhood home Sandcove. There’s also plenty of relationship drama with affairs, proposals and controlling husbands, so there’s plenty going on to keep you absolutely hooked!

I found myself incredibly emotional by the end of the book because I was so invested in these characters and their heartache. But whilst it is incredibly moving, it’s also fun and glamorous, and has that timelessness to it where I had to keep checking the time it was set in. I think fans of The Whalebone Theatre or TJR will love this big, messy Garnett family - I certainly did. A captivating debut 👏

The Garnett Girls is a wonderful family saga circling around three sisters and their mother and is set on the Isle of Wight. The story focuses on their past and growing up in a broken family and dealing with being abandoned by their father. I listened to the audiobook which is a great experience narrated by Tabi Craig. This is a beautiful story about the strong bonds of sisterhood. Georgina also describes the Isle of Wight and Coastal living so vividly - you want to jump on the next boat to get there! Definitely one to have on your radar. Thank you to Harper Collins and Netgalley for my copy.

This was a really beautifully written family drama set on/in? The Isle of Wight. I think the authors love for the setting is clearly weaved throughout. A great which I’m surprised to note is a debut

Unfortunately for me I had some struggles with the audio, I sped up, slowed down and slowed down again and I just couldn’t get it to sound like the narrator noted punctuation. I’m restricted now to audiobooks. therefore this is of great importance to me personally and had I enjoyed it more I’d probably have given a higher rating.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to listen to this audiobook in return for an honest review.

This was a beautiful book which in its description of its setting very much put me in mind if The Chamomile Lawn. A love letter, in this case to the Isle of Wight. It is a story of a strong often single mother and her essentially fatherless girls all different but all devoted to her. Their relationships and life issues are explored but the anchor is their childhood home. A gorgeous book, so why only 3 out of 5 stars you may ask.
I was gifted the audible version and therein lie the problems.

Firstly, there are many, many characters. A mother and her sister, the mother’s multiple daughters, their partners/husbands and children, family friends, colleagues and work related characters. It is one of those books that you need to get your head around the number of characters; flicking back through previous pages or perhaps drawing a family tree. Audio books don’t make that easy and so there were occasions where I became confused by relationship connections - particularly early in.

Secondly the choice of narrator was at best irritating. How can someone be chosen to narrate a book when they cannot pronounce simple text. Honestly if I hadn’t been reading this as a NetGalley reviewer I would have given up a couple of chapters in. Actually I was tempted on more than one occasion to throw my phone through which I was listening. Here are some basic examples (trust me there are many, many more -

- Rib not R.I.B
- wily not Willy
- Cravat not Cra-vat
- Kaleidoscope not Calais-dascope
- Manuel (fawlty towers) not Man-u-elle
- Banquette not bank-wet
- Feigned not fined
- Doted not dotted
- Rosti not roastie

This may seem petty, but as a lover of words I found this excruciating. Such a shame, as I say the book is beautiful, switching seamlessly through time periods and POV’s with a gorgeous ending. It would make a fabulous film or tv drama. But I will never listen to another audible by that narrator and am still stunned she was chosen.

This audiobook was gifted to me by NetGalley in return for my honest, personal review.