I love a road trip novel - girls on a mission. The dynamic of the sisters coming together, the generation aspects with little Beanie, navigating their relationship with their deceased mother and how it shaped them. When I saw the 'Sorrow and Bliss' comp, I just knew I had to read this!

I loved The Girls, I was looking forward to reading it and it was even more wonderful than I was hoping for. Mattie, Nora and Bean will stay with me as they made me laugh and smile but they also broke my heart. A perfect book. Thank you to Orion Publishing and Netgalley for letting me read this beautiful book ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Girls by Kirsty Capes is about sisters Mattie and Nora whose mother, Ingrid, was a famous artist who mostly neglected them. Mattie became pregnant when she was sixteen, and her daughter, Beanie, is now seventeen, but she has been largely estranged from Nora for several years. When Ingrid dies, Mattie and Nora are forced to address their chaotic upbringing, partly through a road trip to San Francisco to see a retrospective of their mother’s work. I really enjoyed Capes’ debut novel Careless which was longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction a couple of years ago, and ‘Girls’ is just as compassionately written in its depiction of complicated family dynamics. Many thanks to Orion Publishing Group for sending me a review copy via NetGalley.

So much promise, didn't quite land for me. Girls is part a heartwarming story rekindling of Matilda's relationships in her life and deciding not to settle, part fun girls roadtrip, part biography of a tortured artist, and part tragedy. I think it would have been more successful for me if it had been more decisive about what it was going for and cut some of the repetition. That said, I was invested in the story until we met Dolly Parton - this was where it jumped the shark.

The book has been reviewed more favorably by others on NetGalley, so it may work better for you than it did me!

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the eARC, it is always appreciated.

Eight years older, Matilda raises sister Nora through a turbulent and neglected childhood whilst still a child herself. When Matilda falls pregnant aged only sixteen, she has to make a decision to put her child first, leaving Nora vulnerable to their mother’s wild life style. When their mother, famous artist Ingrid Olssen dies, Matilda and Nora are left to process the trauma of their upbringing. Fast forward to a couple of years after Ingrid’s death, with Nora on death’s door and Matilda in a relationship with their mother’s biographer, the sisters reunite to protect their mother’s legacy.

My early impressions of this book were how dark it is. The themes of extreme neglect and suicide were heavy and will be incredibly triggering for some. Both the book and characters are complex. There is lightness and humour to balance out the dark and tragic and the characters do unforgivable things in almost impossible to understand situations. It is so well-written that though I personally struggle with the themes and actions of the characters, in particular, Ingrid, I found an uplifting sense of acceptance and understanding by the end. It definitely takes you on an emotional journey, and I personally felt like I had emotionally gone through the wringer. Kirsty Capes is an immensely talented writer and I would recommend reading to anyone to understand for themselves… but a word of caution, it may not be for everyone, and I would be weary of the triggering dark themes before signing up.

Mattie and Nora are the daughters of notorious artist Ingrid Olsen. Their childhood was largely one of extreme poverty and neglect as their mother went through one psychotic episode after another. With no father on the scene they were largely left alone or the care of their self interested aunt Karoline.
Mattie got pregnant at 16 and left Nora , who was several years younger, to fend for herself. The rift this caused has damaged both of them and Nora has tried to kill herself or more than one occasion.
The novel largely follows the sisters as they drive across America to try and stop Karoline putting on an exhibition of their mother’s work.
Mattie, Nora and Beanie ( Mattie’s daughter) are strong, well drawn characters and it is easy to see how their childhood has shaped them. The relationship between the sisters is tender yet full of anger and regret. The road trip worked well as a device to manage their slow rapprochement. Generally this is beautifully written novel that is easy to lose yourself in.
The plot was a little predictable at the end and maybe dragged out a little longer than needed but otherwise another fine novel from Kirsty Capes.

I started off really engaged with this book. There's no doubt, Capes can write about relationships and mental health really well. But I began to lose interest as the book went on and took me in directions I wasn't so invested in. There were aspects of the dialogue that I started to find jarring and not authentic. Also, the storyline began to feel less and less individual and creative and just a bit clichéd. Think this is a long book which could do with some heavier editing to have really succeeded. DNFd at 43%.
This honest review is given with thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this book.

indulgent but surprisingly well written. the prose is there and the characters are clever. nicely done but not exceptional

I really don’t know how to do justice to Girls, the most powerful and memorable novel I’ve read this year.
Mattie and Nora are sisters, the daughters of controversial artist Ingrid Olssen. After their mother’s death, the estranged sisters and Mattie’s daughter Beanie embark on a road trip to San Francisco to a retrospective exhibition of their mother’s work.
I was absolutely immersed in this novel and feel absolutely bereft now I’ve finished it. It was an intense and at times shocking and heartbreaking read, learning about Mattie and particularly Nora’s childhoods. The novel illustrates the impact of childhood trauma and the guilt carried by those who manage to ‘escape’. However there is light and humour here too, so brilliantly combined with the darker side of the novel. The writing is beautiful not a word is wasted and I adored Matty, Nora and Beanie.
I wish I could give Girls more than five stars, it’s an absolute triumph of a novel that will stay with me for a long time and I’m sure it will be my book of the year.
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this digital ARC.

I was delighted to get an early copy of this as I love other books I’ve read by Kirsty Capes. Matilda and Nora are the daughters of an eccentric artist. There’s a significant age gap between the two and Matilda left home when Nora was still very young. Their mother has passed away and they’re reconnecting on a road trip and working out where things went wrong for them. This book took me a really long time to get into and I didn’t find the writing as gripping as normal. I did still enjoy it and thought it was an interesting story about complex sibling relationships.

What a beautiful story! Absolutely loved it! I got swept in and I devoured it.

Toxic mothers, difficult siblings relationships, regrets, and so much love binding it all together.

Thought provoking and addictive, it’s the perfect recipe!

What an incredible book!
Capes manages to capture loss and heartbreak in such a tender way that leaves you enraptured. I really cannot praise this book enough for how poignantly it handled some of its darker themes. All while adding humour and a spark of hope throughout.
It is a book that I anticipate will stay with me for a long time and I am all the better for it.

4.5 stars
It’s a beautiful story of family,love,loss and addiction. Hard hitting and emotional, it moved me to tears at times but also had moments of joy to lift the darkness. The lives of the characters so intimately detailed - the darkness and light of their lives shown completely. The damage caused by addiction, by neglect is heartbreaking and the story certainly doesn’t shy away from the harder side of life and relationships. It’s a powerful and emotive read and one which will stay with me.

Girls was my first read from Kirsty Capes but it certainly will not be my last.

This is an incredible, blistering read that really sits with the question of legacy and artistic value. It re-examines the tortured artist trope in such an interesting and thought provoking way, asking what price should art exact on the artist, the subject and the viewer. Each role comes into play within the narrative as we focus on two of the most famous subjects in the art world, Mattie and Nora, who were painted by their mother Ingrid Olssen. Art has informed each of their lives differently and the trauma of their childhoods has also fundamentally shaped them. This road trip allows them to confront aspects of the past, shown to us through narrative flashback chapters and excerpts from There is a lot to unpack here about voyuerism and the way the public has claimed their lives, wanting to understand the artist and fascinated with her exploits. Everything becomes public property and exploited for the views of the masses.

At the same time, Capes contrasts this with a devastating portrait of two sisters whose lives divulge forever and the cracks that form in their relationship. Caught up in a halestrom of fame and abuse, everything becomes an unstoppable whirlwind. Their choices have long reaching consequences that are beginning to be faced in the van. The grief from their mother’s death amplifies this as they try to unpick their own messy relationship with her, but also with her art and her use of them as subjects. It was such a poignant look at sisterhood, survival and the destructive capabilities of creativity. At points, it really hit home, especially the last few chapters. Make sure to bring tissues for reading.

With Girls, Kirsty Capes snuck into my life and broke my heart. This was devastating and raw in its emotional vulnerability.

An absolutely stunning book. I really felt connected to Matilda. Nora and Beanie.
The themes touched on in this book are so beautifully crafted and well done, that I believe Kirsty knows, or has done diligent research on childhood trauma and abandonment.
I really like the way the story was written and told. With thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this before publication. I just reviewed Girls by Kirsty Capes. #Girls #NetGalley

Matilda and Nora Robb are sisters, daughters of the late artist Ingred Olssen.
Their childhood spent in Richmond England.
The book is told in part as information is gathered for a forthcoming book to be written about Ingred Olssen. The other parts of the book are present timescales and episodes from the past.
There are some very poignant moments, loved the choice of words and descriptive feelings.
A powerful and emotional read, some very sensitive issues are covered. A good book.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Publisher for an advanced e-book copy. Opinions about the book are entirely my own.

This book 👏

I was so excited to receive a copy of Girls by @kirstycapes.author via @netgalley having previously loved Careless and Love Me, Love Me Not.

Girls follows Mattie and Nora Robb, daughters of the renowned, some may say infamous, artist Ingrid Olssen. But, it’s unlikely the world will see her work again. On her death, Ingrid’s last request to her girls was to throw her ashes in a canyon and her paintings in to the sea. As Mattie, Nora and Mattie’s daughter Beanie embark on an epic trip to fulfill her wishes, they begin to unpick the painful scars of their past…

I loved this book 🤍 It had me completely hooked in the way I’ve come to expect from Kirsty’s writing.

This is such a vast, layered and intricate story, told through a cast of vivid and complex characters. It is a novel about the human experience, about navigating life’s challenges and learning to live with the burden of legacy. The world created is incredibly immersive and the characters seem so real - it feels like the girls could live down the road and be people I encounter in my everyday life.

While often tackling heavy topics - grief, mental health and generational trauma among them - there’s a warmth and humour that permeates the writing. Because as much as it is a novel about those topics, it’s also a novel about family, sisterhood and human connection.

This balance is one of the things I’ve come to expect from Capes’ writing and, for me, is something I love about her work. She doesn’t shy away from the more challenging aspects of the human experience, instead exploring them in a way that not only enhances the narrative, but also makes me as the reader relate to the characters more strongly. Although the situations may be very different, the universality of the emotions and the human experience jump from the pages.

I finished reading this one last night and it’s one of those where you feel sad to leave these characters behind.

Girls publishes on 16th May and I honestly think will be among my books of the year for 2024. I’d highly recommend it, and if you haven’t already discovered Kirsty’s writing, do pick up Careless and Love Me, Love Me Not!

Girls by Kirsty Capes is an enjoyable read about mother-daughter and sister relationships and about trauma and grief. I would read more from this author.

Directly after finishing Girls, I tweeted (xed? what is the verb now?) the author to say 'I have no words'. True, but unhelpful for a review so I will do my best to conjure some up. Girls is original, compulsive, heartbreaking and dazzingly written and deserves to be on every must-read and finalist list this year.

A new book about her now-dead mother forces Matilda, oldest daughter of celebrated and provocative artist and it girl Ingrid Olssen, to confront her past as she struggles to reconnect with her younger sister, Nora, parent her daughter into adulthood and come to terms with her own childhood, one in which she was neglected at best, abused at worst. A teen mother, Mattie is still in her early thirties, and on the surface doing well, working as an art therapist and in a new relationship, but under the surface she is filled with anger, guilt and denial, as well as protectiveness for her 17 year old daughter, Beanie, a protectiveness which has guided all her decisions since Beanie was born. Meanwhile Nora, still only in her twenties and making a name for herself as a performance artist, is fiercely independent yet severely struggling with her mental health.

When a retrospective of Ingrid Olssen's work is announced, a retrospective the artist herself would have hated, the three head off on a road trip through the Nevada desert to California with no clear goal except a knowledge that they have to do something. It's the most time Nora and Mattie have spent together since Mattie moved out in her teens, and with seventeen years of betrayal and unspoken truths and feelings between them, the ride is going to be bumpy in more ways than one.

There are so many truths in this book, about sisters, about loss, about childhood, about trauma, about parenting a new adult and watching them pull away, that I wanted to notate every word, save them to read again and again. I was utterly absorbed, unbearably moved and completely in awe of the author's skill and talent. It's only April but this might just be my book of the year. Highly recommended.

From the opening of this book I felt it had big promise to be like Daisy And The Six or books with that feel, hints that a epic journey was about to become sadly as the book went on the promise wasn't to be and while there was a journey it was no where epic.

Having the read the authors previous novel "careless" I wasn't sure what to expect when reading this while the premise of the book is very different a lot of the themes about childhood trauma, bad parenting, the relationships between mothers and daughters which are presented in a very different type is story this wasn't a bad thing and the writer makes some really clear important social points about mental health, the class divide and neglect.
The flashbacks to the girls childhood were heartbreaking. The author takes real care with these parts and writes them with tenderness and respect.
While on the face of the synopsis the book sounds like a complete shift from the authors previous work they are in face very alike, dark, depressing and harrowing.

Told in the first person POV via Matilda and with interview transcripts we are told the story Ingrid and her two daughters moving back and forth though the past and present. The story itself is harrowing I found the pace, tone and characters all lacked. It was very slow in parts and dragged on, in particular the present day parts. I felt though out I was waiting for a big revelation or something to happen but nothing ever did.

The book is quite depressing and leaves you feeling cheated, while I liked how the ending was a happily ever one I felt the full book lacked any nuance it was very slow and heavy going.

Am sure this will be a big success but for me there was something I couldn't connect with, be it the characters, the writing style or the plot it just didn't hit the spot for me, perhaps I was expecting a different kind of book going on the synopsis and that's why it didn't work for me