The Lost Girls of Devon by Barbara O'Neal ~ a Review

by Susan Roberts

 

"Something was going on in the village.

Not that anyone would believe her. They would tut-tut and pat her on the head and compliment the imagination that had given her more than a hundred mystery stories over the last 50 years, but once you passed eighty, no one believed you had a single thought worth listening to.

But she knew that something was going on." (loc 100)

Amazon affiliate links are used on this site. A free book was provided for an honest review.

July 2020; Lake Union; 978-1542020725
audio, ebook, print (351 pages); mystery

I enjoyed many of the previous books from this author and was excited to get a chance to read her new book.  It was as good or better than her previous books and she has now been added to my favorite authors' list.

The Lost Girls of Devon is about 4 generations of women and the bitterness and pain between several of them.  When Zoe was seven years old, her mother, Poppy, left her with her grandmother, Lillian, and never returned.  When she grew up, Zoe escaped England and the memories of her mother and moved to Santa Fe.  She lives there with her 15-year-old daughter, Isabel.  When Zoe finds out that her best friend, Diana,  has disappeared from the village they grew up in, she and Isabel head home to see if they can help find her.  When she arrives she isn't happy to find out that her mother has also returned to the same village and Zoe refuses to see her or talk to her.  She also finds out that Sage is living in the village.  She has lots of growing up memories about the times that she spent with Diana and Sage.  So here she is back in England with a mother she doesn't want to speak to, a grandmother who is getting senile, a typical teenage daughter with lots of attitude, an old boyfriend (Sage) and a missing best friend.  Not only are they all trying to find Diana, but they all have personal issues with each other that need to be solved.

The chapters alternate between the four women so we are able to find out what secrets they are hiding and how they feel about each other.  The women are all well written and the story flows nicely as the secrets are revealed.  Will they be able to improve their relationships with each other as they struggle to learn how to deal with the past?

This book has a little mystery, a little romance, and lots of family dynamics between the four women.  Along with that, it has beautiful descriptions of the Devon coastline.  I really enjoyed this one!

Buy The Lost Girls of Devon at Amazon

 

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Susan Roberts lives in North Carolina when she isn't traveling. She and her husband enjoy traveling, gardening and spending time with their family and friends. She reads almost anything (and the piles of books in her house prove that) but her favorite genres are Southern fiction, women's fiction, and thrillers. Susan is a top 1% Goodreads Reviewer. You can connect with Susan on Facebook, Goodreads, or Twitter. 

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