The Lost Girl

by Rosie Goodwin

1875

With their father missing and their mother suddenly passing, Esme and Gabriel are forced to track down their estranged grandfather in Lincolnshire. Cold and unwelcoming, he is reluctant to take them in, but aware of his standing as the village vicar, he knows must protect his reputation, and allow the children to stay with him.


Esme's relief at finding refuge soon turns to despair when Gabriel is sent to boarding school, leaving her alone in their grandfather's unhappy home. But the house isn't as empty as it first appeared and Esme, with her unusual gift of being able to see spirits, begins to encounter the ghosts of young women in the abandoned rooms and dark corridors of the rectory. The women are trapped between this world and the next, seeking help from Esme and leaving her with a mystery to solve if she is to stand a chance of establishing a peaceful, happy life.

Can Esme lay the ghosts to rest to save herself and find the life she deserves?

404 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 28, 2023

About the author

Before becoming a writer, I was a Placement Support Worker and foster carer, and worked in the social services department after completing a teacher training course. Many children have joined my family over the years. I still live in Nuneaton, where many of my books are set, with my husband, Trevor, and our beloved dogs.

I was thrilled to discover that I'd become one of the top 250 most-borrowed library authors in the UK, and would like to thank all of you who have taken out my books over the last few years! I love meeting my readers and am always pleased to hear from you. I hope you will all continue to get in touch and please do sign up for my newsletter!

Reviews

[Ali Bookworm · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having read quite a few of her books, with a delicious long list still to go, Rosie Goodwin NEVER disappoints. This was a bit ghostly perfect for this month of Halloweeny reading.

[Raven Dinkie · Rating 4 out of 5]

right… now …
this book would have been 5⭐️ but there was part of the book that was extremely triggering… and it made me want to put it down so many times… it was a beautiful, well written book though despite the shocking middle story line … but i persevered… and well lets say the last 40ish pages had me all mixed with emotions, happy, sad, shocked and in love tears streaming down my face … i will give it 4⭐️

[Dorinda Miles · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was gifted this book and I found that I really enjoyed reading it, although the ending was a bit rushed I felt.

[Mrs J Watson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lovely story set in the 1800, about 2 orphaned gypsy siblings. Easy read.

[Simone McKenna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! What a gripping and moving read. Having mainly just read YA, modern-day novels for a while, I wasn't sure how much I'd enjoy this book at first, with my mum having just got it for me at a car boot sale, but now I can safely and happily say that I am definitely moving onto this genre of historical fiction and will definitely be reading more of Rosie Goodwin's books from now on, having already ordered three others. I realised as well that this is the genre for me after all, as I have always enjoyed fairy tales and other historical fiction books and this book definitely had a fairy tale-esque feeling it, only a bit more grown up.

I found myself determined to keep on reading and find out what would happen with the suspense of it all keeping me more and more curious and hooked. I really found myself feeling great empathy for Esme and Gabriel, having felt so much pain for both of them, not only seeing but feeling just how much adversity they had to suffer and how it only got worse and worse and the dark turns their lives took halfway through the book. You hear of abusive relatives in stories loads, but their grandfather was beyond abusive, and was just so damn scary and evil that whenever he appeared I would feel myself jump and my heart sink even, knowing things were only going to get worse. What was so scary and disturbing was that you think he's horrible and abusive enough with the way he emotionally and physically abuses his grandchildren, but then he also ends up sexually abusing his minor grand-daughter, which I did not see coming and really took a dark turn in things. He reminded me of Mr Brocklehurst from Jane Eyre being a fundamental christian clergyman and being a similarly horrible, heartless tyrant who abuses children, only far worse, to the point he might even make Mr Brocklehurst look like a teletubby! But what topped off this evilness was the reveal that he was actually a serial killer, which was again another dark turn that was taken, as you start off thinking he's just a really horrible, abusive, heartless tyrant, but then he's revealed to be a pedophile who molesters his minor grand-daughter, then a serial killer, and you realise just how incredibly dangerous and scary he actually is! Oh and he actually killed the dog! Poor Gip, he was just innocent in the whole thing, and the fact he'd harm innocent animals just for pleasure as well as humans is honestly the lowest and most evil kind of scumbag you can get! I just wish there'd been more closure on the killing the dog part, as it wasn't really addressed after that. The biggest and darkest shock of all was when he killed Mrs Sparrow (albeit off-page), who had been so kind to Esme and Gabriel despite her initial apologism for their grandfather, and the fact it was just after she finally realised he could no longer be tolerated and was going to tell him she was done with him. I was really hoping she'd get her happy ending, she was the ultimate tragic figure in the story. Oh and that plot twist-he was her nephew! Only I was a bit unsure of how that would work as I would have thought they'd be quite close in age but I guess it can possibly work with aunties and uncles and nieces and nephews. The most cathartic part in the whole book was when her ghost, along with the ghosts of all the other women he killed, killed him. I was waiting and looking forward to him being caught by the police and hung, but honestly this was so much cooler and more fitting! It did annoy me though that after how brutally he'd physically, emotionally and sexually abused Esme, and just after he was about to kill her too, she still couldn't help but feel "a little guilty" about his death, even after she'd fully acknowledged how wicked he was. That and how naive she was when hearing that Mrs Sparrow died by murder and it didn't occur to her that her grandfather could have done it even though it was right after Mrs Sparrow was going to tell him she was quitting and having nothing to do with him. She was a great character otherwise, but really, why would she have felt guilty after all that he had done?! Not to mention it's not like she'd even killed him herself.

Poor Gabriel, I felt so much pain for him when he started attending the boarding school his grandfather sent him to, only for it to be even worse than living with his grandfather, having been very severely bullied every day by both all the other boys (bar Jeremy of course!) and all the teachers! That honestly made me feel more angry than ever, I honestly felt steam coming out of my ears when he was getting severely bullied only for the horrible teachers to all side with the bullies and blame everything on Gabriel, even when the other boys were clearly at fault! The teachers made me even angrier than the boys, as it was clear that they knew the other boys (especially Thomas Broadhurst!) were bullying Gabriel and were just simply supporting the boys in their bullying of him, because they hated Gabriel just as much as they did for being a gypsy and not from a wealthy background like them! Honestly I hated those teachers more than anything, the absolute scumbags, they made me so angry and I just wish they'd got their comeuppance as well! Even with Jeremy being the only person in that entire school who was kind to Gabriel it still didn't make things a lot better for him, as the bullying and abuse he suffered from both his teachers and peers only got more and more severe and darker! I wish they'd all died and not just the main bully. Poor Gabriel, having been bullied into committing manslaughter, which is when things took yet another dark turn, as I was so glad that scumbag Broadhurst had died yet was really worried for Gabriel realising that it meant if he was found by the police he'd get killed himself, and realise that in Victorian times there probably wasn't such a thing as 'compassionate grounds', or even any exceptions being made, especially given the amount of stigma there already was towards Gabriel by all these people. I honestly wasn't sure how things were going to pan out there, as I wasn't sure if a happy ending was really going to be that easy after all, but I was really happy to be proven wrong in the end and that they managed it.

I like as well the disparities between social class that were highlighted, with Olivia, who came from an upper-class, noble background, having clearly lived a much happier and more fortunate life than Esme, yet the two of them still ended up becoming close friends, and like how Olivia and her family (with the exception of Luke!) weren't snobs! The only lack of closure there was was with Luke, who turned out to be really unpleasant and obnoxious, as it would have been good if Olivia and her parents saw his true colours and went off him (though then again he was their family I guess!) Then you see the even more infuriating disparities between the working class Gabriel and his upper class peers at the school, who receive much better treatment from the teachers than him due to their upper class status/background, whereas Jeremy is mistreated and prejudged for being from a working class, gypsy background, with the first thing the teachers say to him before he even says anything is that they hear he's a gypsy and they've dealt with his sort before so they will know how to handle any trouble with him. The scummy teachers in that scummy school infuriated me more than any other character in the book, having felt more scared of the grandfather than angry to be honest, and I at least was sure he'd end up getting his comeuppance anyway!

I was so happy for Esme and Gabriel getting the happy ending they deserved in the end! Esme had done so well for herself in coming as far as she did, and her job as a Veterinary Nurse seemed so fitting and just the perfect step in her life. The ending with her and Jeremy getting together might have been a bit cliched (who am I kidding very cliched!) but I'm still glad they got together, thinking it to be very fitting indeed, as Jeremy was such a nice guy, easily one of the nicest people in the book.

So yeah, I would definitely say a phenomenal read of historical fiction that made for an excellent holiday read, and will definitely be reading more of Rosie Goodwin's books!

[Leigh · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was not expecting this. In fact I wasn't even planning to read this book at first it was a ghost story and not part of a series. But I saw the gorgeous cover and bought it and am glad I did. First off this book further cemented my belief that the author is at the very least a fan of Flowers in the Attic. This book features not an abusive grandmother but an abusive sadistic grandfather which it can be argued Malcolm Foxworth technically is even if we never really see him in that book. There is possibly someone locked in a room on the third floor (sort of an attic) and the kids hear people moving around up there. It is also the first book outside of Flowers in the Attic that I've heard the term devil's spawn. Now onto the story. Esme and Gabriel live with their parents in a gypsy vardo, their father is a gypsy their mother the child of a vicar. One day their father goes to get them a new horse and never comes back and their mother falls ill and begs them to go to her father. She dies and the kids head out and after a harrowing journey arrive at the house of their grandfather. He reluctantly takes them in and the kids are faced with a life of horrible hardships. Esme has inherited her gypsy grandmother's ability to see ghosts and begins to see the spirits of several young women appear and senses something sad and sinister has gone on in the house. Gabriel is sent to a horrific boarding school and after a terrible mishap finds himself on the run. Esme endures abuse of her own and finds refuge at the manor house and soon becomes fast friends with the daughter of the house. As I said I wasn't expecting this book to be like this. I thought it would be either a contemporary read or another typical saga as per her previous books. This one had drama, mystery, ghosts, I loved the main villain's ending it had some abuse that wasn't easy to read but not so much that it felt gratuitous. I didn't kind of wonder at the grandfather calling the kids names gypsy names. Esmeralda I could see but I thought Gabriel was a Christian name, the Angel Gabriel? Other than that this book blew away my expectations and I'm so glad I changed my mind and decided to read it after all.

[Shirley Dawson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although I do not think this is one of Rosie's best, it was a well written story with a bit of a spiritual nature which is unusual for her. I found the beginning a bit slow but it got better and ended up a very good read. As always, a little bit predictable even up to the last page.

[Kris Gaffney · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 for this one. I was kind of put off by the whole ‘ghost story’ thing but it’s not really a ghost story at all. A nice easy fairly predictable read.

[Sarah Tysall · Rating 5 out of 5]

Was a great story from start to finish. Couldn't put it down, only took me 3 days to read

[Eric Bruce · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read a book by this writer a couple of years ago and determined to try another. Though it's not the sort of book I normally read , I've savoured Austen , the Brontes and Eliot for pleasure in the past , so why not Rosie Goodwin ? The story is set in the mid-1800s and tells of a brother and sister in their teens who lose their parents and go to live with their grandfather in the wilds of Lincolnshire . As a vicar , he has no option but to take them in , and the book follows each child's progress - one at boarding school and the other in the vicarage . Neither find their experiences quite what they expected . I enjoyed it enormously and will definitely continue to read the author from time to time .

[Sophie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm going to be honest I chose this story because one I loved the cover and two because I saw it involved ghosts.

In regards to the paranormal side of things it was actually quite thin. Yes the main character Esme is a medium she has a gift, can see ghosts and the Rectory was haunted with them but I guess I was expecting more of a supernatural mystery? At first it was like that but then it became rushed and it wrapped up quickly so I was disappointed.

In regards to the storyline it was a ok read I did like first half more than the second. The story was repetitive at times and some parts were very long winded which did make me bored. I do like the characters (Expect the Grandfather he horrible) the main characters Esme and Gabriel they go through so much your heart does break for them but it was great seeing their character development especially Esme from a young scared girl to a strong, independent young lady. I really do like Jeremy I like his friendship with Gabriel and his slowly growing relationship with Esme.

I do think there should be a trigger warning in the beginning as it did contain some triggering topics. Fortunately I don't get triggered but there are some readers who could be stressed by it. I was surprised by the dark turn halfway through.

Overall 3 stars for me I see the majority have given it a high rating maybe the book just wasn't for me but it was good as a break from my usual genres.

[Nicola Louise Ankers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another book by Rosie Goodwin that I had absolutely enjoyed reading. Another book of hers that had actually brought tear to my eyes. Two young siblings lost their mother and having to travel to their grandparents home to be looked after, then the cruel encounter of what their grandfather had put the younger sibling through had brought me to tears. But knowing that they both get reunited towards the end and then be reunited with their father who they had thought had passed away. It is a beautiful but sad read, also shows you what some families have and are going through themselves. I give this book a 5⭐ I do enjoy reading her books but I do also advise people to get a tissue or a box of

[Faye · Rating 5 out of 5]

loved, loved, LOVED this book! got to be one of my top books!
this is the second book that I have read by rosie Goodwin and loved it just as much as the other book I read (our dear daisy).
rosie is extremely talented with her writing and characters, not a single bit of slow burner - it absolutely hooked me from the beginning and I remained hooked throughout. the only disappointing part is that I've finished it and wish I could start it all over again- can't wait to read more of rosies work!

[Trudie · Rating 4 out of 5]

After Esme and her brother Gabriel's father disappears one day and their mother passes away they go and live with their Grandfather, a vicar who is not as kind as they think he will be. So much happens to them during this story, which as usual is very well written. I really enjoyed it.

[Carol · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent.

I enjoyed reading this book immensely,so much so that I feel sad that I have finished it. It is a page turner and I did try to ration myself but I couldn't, I needed to know what happened next!
I would recommend this book!

[Natalie Burgess · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely outstanding book. It was an easy read as well full of twists and turns, and I was in tears at a few points in the story. The main characters were extremely likeable, this is the first book I've read by Rosie Goodwin but I'm now going to try and work my way through all of them!

[Lisa Thewlis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant

Absolutely fantastic read. There's so many twists and turns, Esme and Gabriel are such lovely young people struggling through life without their parents. Esme has a gift for seeing lost one's but she doesn't want it, but it will help her in her life, fantastic storyline.

[Adrianna Cubbage · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was definitely not what I expected. But I enjoyed it nonetheless. There were some parts where I wanted to stop reading the book but I pushed through and I am so pleased I did. I very much enjoy this read.

[Lori Graf · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am so glad that I found this incredible author, Rosie Goodwin. Another incredible story of a young girl, Esme who faces heartbreak, fear & brutality & survives. I couldn’t put this book down! Looking forward to reading more books by Rosie Goodwin.

[Vicky Bell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very Good Book

This has been my first book that I have read by
Rosie Goodwin. I look forward to reading the next one.

[Sue Hickling · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book ,read it in 2 days .

[Judith · Rating 2 out of 5]

Only a few pages in and mention of ghosts, psychic girl - that was it for me. Not interested.

[Patricia · Rating 5 out of 5]

A brilliant read, it held me from the start, so glad Esme and Gabriel, found happiness after the cruelty dished out to them from their Grandfather, the Rev Silver,

[Linda Hobson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it

[Marie Salt · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed it, but it was different compared to her others book she written.

[Susanna Chin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not my favourite from this author, a predictable tale told in a simple way ( sometimes repetitive). However it was entertaining, even though not a masterpiece.

[Jackie Casey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another brilliant read

[Trudi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lovely story, I couldn’t stop listening

[nicky matts · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book
Nice to have a bit of a change with the spirits

[Denise Varty · Rating 5 out of 5]

Easy to read but very enjoyable