The Whitsun Daughters

by Carrie Mesrobian

From a critically acclaimed author, a twisty and gorgeously written YA ghost story about young women separated by centuries but connected by a desire to control their futures.

"How quickly everything in the world disintegrates. Everything but the loneliness of young women."

So begins The Whitsun Daughters, a story of three contemporary teenage girls--sisters and cousins--in a small Midwestern town, narrated by the ghost of a young woman who, over a century earlier, lived and loved on the same small patch of farmland the girls now call home.

The book follows both the present-day story of the three Whitsun girls and the story of Jane Murphy a century earlier as they fight to assert their own desires in worlds determined to ignore and minimize them. The Whitsun girls struggle with an unplanned pregnancy. Jane is determined to defy her arranged marriage and have both the baby she carries and the young man she loves.

The Whitsun Daughters leaves readers with a profound sense of the unbreakable thread connecting generations of young women who sought and continue to seek control their destinies.

Genres: Young Adult, Historical Fiction, Fiction, Fantasy, Paranormal, Ghosts, Audiobook

224 pages, Hardcover

First published August 25, 2020

Reviews

[Nursebookie · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Whitsun Daughters
BY Carrie Mesrobian

A story about three girls Lilah, Poppy and Daisy from a Midwestern town in a dual timeline story with a ghost of a young Irish immigrant, Jane Murphy, from over a century earlier. Mesorbian weaves the stories of the two timelines beautifully in this haunting story about young women and their experiences with mental illness, sexuality, unplanned pregnancies, abortion and unrequited love.

In this beautiful quick read, I was completely mesmerized by Mesrobian's prose and the third person omniscient point of view as the story was told giving voice to these strong women and their stories.

[vanessa ♡ · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a beautiful and atmospheric story which alternates between the ghost of a woman from the 1800's telling her own story, and her descendants, three teenage girls, coming of age in modern times. It is bold and unashamed in its portrayals of the things many young girls experience growing up, and speaks plainly about things like menstruation, sex, and pregnancy. The story connects the women of this family with those experiences they have in common, even though they live centuries apart.
I really enjoyed the writing style of this book. It was atmospheric and moody, and the writing was poetic, while still maintaining a sense that the author was speaking plainly about things. I especially loved this directness when it came to topics that most authors skirt around with vague and flowery inferences. I loved the idea of a ghost watching her descendants grow up just as she did, but in a different time and a different way.
The characters felt very real and many of the youngest sister, Daisy's, experiences and feelings rang true for me. There are definitely some questionable events happening in this story (particularly a sexual relationship between a 15 year old and a 19 year old), and some of it made me uncomfortable because I could never tell if the story was aware of itself there or not. On the other hand, I do feel that the uncomfortable feeling, and the uncertainty around what's ok and what's not, is something that so many young girls have to feel while growing up, and it's presence in this story, whether intentionally or not, added to the theme for me.
My only complaint would be, again, the fact that some questionable things are not fully addressed. I also think the marketing might be a little off calling this a "ghost" story when really it's just narrated by a woman from the past.
But overall, it was a gorgeous and captivating read.

Thank you Penguin Teen for the Netgalley ARC!

[Sammy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I received a copy of this book for review from Penguin Teen in exchange for an honest review.

At first, I really liked this book! I loved the alternating POVs, with one person being in first person and the other in third person, it really solidified the vibe of someone watching them. I also thought it was cool to go back and forth between past and present to see how life progresses. I thought the writing was really good and the tonal change from past to present was also well done.

The characters were all interesting, although I didn't get much time to get to know Violet or Carna. Daisy was a sweet character, but I was worried for her. Watching her pine after Hugh, her cousin's ex-boyfriend, was sad. Especially since he is 19 and she is 15. The age gap was really concerning for me - and then we get a revelation and I was disturbed.

Before the last 25% of this book, I was really enjoying it. I probably would have rated it higher. But after a certain reveal about two characters, it really grossed me out. Then we also add on the age gap between Daisy and Hugh, which is gross. And the writing itself got harder to understand. By the end of the book, I wasn't sure what had actually happened, but if my understanding is correct, it's really gross. And sad. So I have to drop my score due to an almost promotion of some concerning ideals, plus the fact that the storyteller became so cryptic I couldn't even understand what was going on anymore. I was left confused with a lot of additional questions.

SPOILERS!!!!

So the concerning topic I was not only confused, but worried about, was the accusation and hint that Hugh and Poppy are half siblings. Daisy, who is Poppy's first cousin, effectively slept with her cousin who is also 19. While I'm all for taking back sex and being free, a 15 year old sleeping with a 19 year old, who is not only Poppy's ex, but potentially her brother, is really gross. And it really disturbed me. Plus, the fact that the book ends with our ghost somewhat confirming this allegation, but being so incoherent with it it's hard to tell, was off putting. I really enjoyed the book and the original message, but the ending was so off putting it ruined the book for me.

[Kai (CuriousCompass)]

Carrie Mesrobian? Check. Ghosts? Check. Family Lineage? Check. With Dark Secrets™? DOUBLE CHECK.

I. Need. This. Book.

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Carrie Mesrobian's writing is phenomenal. Read this book if you want something wholly original and containing topics not often found in YA. I wish this book got more love.

Note for Librarian Amy: for mature readers.

[Kristin Boldon · Rating 5 out of 5]

I would have loved to have this book as a teen, in the pre-internet days. My main source of information about sex and my body was from books, and there were so few realistic teens in what I read, and even fewer that had frank portrayals of the push/pull of teen sexuality. Mesrobian intertwines two timelines, a past narrated by a ghost who was a child bride to a distant Midwestern farmer, and a present in which the ghost observes a trio of teen cousins (The Whitsun Daughters of the title) who struggle to understand boys, sex, menstruation and more in a modern midwestern farm town. There is an impressive amount of background history. In the past, there is infidelity, immigration, and strange cures for madness. In the present, there are secrets upon secrets, layered over two generations. What I liked best about the book was its depiction of teen desire, as well as the matter-of-fact portrayal of teen bodies, menstruation, and sex.

[Christie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Across the sea from where I was born, what was O Cathaiseach is faded away to the mere unmusical Casey; my kin, O Murchadha, descended from the sea wolf, in this place shriveled like a salted snail: Murphy.

Three girls are growing up in a small Midwestern town, while they are watched by a ghost of a young Irish immigrant, Jane Murphy. Jane's story parallels that of Poppy, Lilah, and Daisy through first loves, unintended pregnancies, and chafing against society's roles for women.

This was one of those books that sounded so good at first, but the actual execution is lacking. Jane's story was great and I appreciated her POV chapters. The contemporary story was not as great. I didn't connect with any of the characters and I felt like they were all very one-dimensional. I also feel like the "big reveal" was a little forced. The writing was almost incomprehensible at times, everything wrapped up with metaphor and symbolism. There were times that I wasn't sure what was supposed to be going on. It was just a very frustrating book, especially for a YA book where things are usually a bit more straightforward.

If you like literary fiction, then you might like it, but I don't know how well it works for a YA audience (or even a non-YA audience).

CW: abortion, cancer, death of a prominent character, deceased parents, depression, homophobia, infidelity, institutionalization, medical procedures, sexual content (several detailed scenes), slut-shaming, swearing (strong language throughout book)

[Mick · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5*

[Clementine · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a gem of a book.

[Shannongibney · Rating 5 out of 5]

This gorgeously written historical novel about three sisters and the mysterious nineteenth century ghost who haunts their dreams and house will have you enthralled from start to finish. The book is downright atmospheric -- I couldn't put it down. The characters are also intriguing, as are their relationships with each other.

An unabashedly feminist book, the frank scenes about first periods, misplaced tampons, Diva Cups, and teenage sex had me laughing and gasping for air, they were so engaging and surprising.

Can't emphasize how much you don't want to miss this one, folks. I really enjoyed it.

[Jeff Koloze · Rating 2 out of 5]

The masturbation scenes don’t deflect from the plot’s abortion; rename this novel “Teens Who Kill.”

The masturbation scenes in Mesrobian’s novel are titillating but not as remarkable as the euphemisms hiding the chemical abortion plot. Of course, the scenes which abuse male sexual power are meant for the sexually immature (teens or young adult readers). Serious readers (everybody else) can use Mesrobian’s fiction as yet more evidence of the linguistic gymnastics, if not duplicity, which pro-abortion characters use to promote a practice which harms mothers, kills unborn children (whether surgically or, as in this case, chemically with abortifacients), and alienates fathers.

The euphemisms to refer to the killing practice called “abortion” are numerous. Daisy, a main character, expresses surprise that “the things required to unmake a pregnancy would be sold someplace as ordinary as Walmart” (84). “Unmake a pregnancy”? Why the euphemism? You mean abortion, right?

Daisy’s claim that her aunt “knows someone who—” (87) with the dash indicating that the sentence is unfinished is a literary technique other writers have used to hide the fact that characters are talking about, yet again, abortion.

The chemical killing of Lilah’s unborn child is discussed with the usual impersonal third-person pronouns and deceptive language. “It’s starting”, Poppy says, using “it” to refer to the abortion (155). Poppy “explained […] that it would be slowly happening now, the lining shedding in layers of blood and tissue” (157). “It”, of course, refers to the abortion, and “the lining shedding” obscures the fact that it is not only “the lining” which is “shedding” but the unborn child him- or herself who is being killed by “shedding” along with the “lining” and “tissue.”

Daisy’s boyfriend Hugh asks if her sister is “not-pregnant” (160). The narrator records Daisy’s reactions that “whatever lived inside in Lilah began its descent” (162). Translation: the dead body of the unborn child, now separated from his or her warm and life-giving uterus and therefore dead, is being passed out of that uterus, thanks to an abortifacient drug which his or her aunt gave to his or her mother. (Yeah, nonsexist language is cumbersome but must be used to be fair to the unborn child character who may be one of the two genders.)

One character’s Freudian slip—“to get rid of the baby” (174)—is quickly covered by deceptive abortion language a page later when Lilah talks about what some mothers did to “expel the contents of the uterus” (175).

Just like other abortion novels, whether written for teens or adults, post-abortion syndrome is obvious even here, in a novel whose characters clearly do not advance pro-life ideas and are hostile to religious persons who are pro-life. Typical of mothers who have aborted, Lilah seems happy after her abortion (197).

Jane’s last reminiscence, however, which closes the novel, suggests that Lilah suffers from post-abortion syndrome: “She thinks of the babe she did not have; she ponders names late at night in bed, her eyes on the once-fractured seam in the celling. When I watch her, I find myself remembering what I cannot reclaim. It is the closest I can come to human pain now” (208).

This is not literary evidence of abortion which is supposed to make a woman happy. It is, obviously, literary evidence of post-abortion syndrome.

Overall, even though the author is most likely a leftist and pro-abortion Democrat (same thing; consult her Twitter feed), Mesrobian’s work could suggest a fascinating paper for a student to write about the dishonest language which abortion-minded characters and authors use to dehumanize the unborn child, to suppress evidence of post-abortion syndrome, and to ignore the role of the father.

Just make sure your professor is pro-life and not a feminist hag who thinks abortion is the only choice for an untimely pregnancy.

[Keri · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well here is a case where maybe my desire to go into books mostly blind backfired. All I read was this was a ghost story, along with the semi-creepy cover/mysterious cover and I was in.

What I was in for did not match what I was expecting.
It wasn’t bad, but I didn’t like it much. To me this was not a ghost story, and if the synopsis hadn’t told me one character was a ghost, I would never have known. I even read the synopsis at the end to double check.

This was more a clipping out of these two sets of characters lives, each set in a different timeline. It felt like a quiet story where nothing really happens besides some serious events in all these girls’ lives, many surrounding sexuality and how it’s presented and/or pushed on people, women especially. I wonder if I wouldn’t liked it more going into it with the correct mindset...but as it was, I felt interested enough to finish listening, but kind of bored.

[Courtney · Rating 3 out of 5]

The writing in this book was superb. It was very atmospheric and beautiful. The sisters/cousins were written well as sisters, the dynamics were there except for the whole sleeping with your sister's ex scenario and felt true.

The mothers/aunts were the worst parent figures almost in the history of fiction. If you know your child may be the half-sibling of their boyfriend, you tell them. You get over your own past and deal with it and tell them.

My other disappointment with this book is probably my own fault. My expectations of this book were that the ghost of the past had actual interactions and was helpful to the girls on the present. Except for one weird dream sequence, this was not the case. While I enjoyed both perspectives of past and present I am sad there were not interactions.

[sleepybear · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thank you to Penguin Teen for giving me a free E-book copy of this book.


This story was not for me. I hardly cared for any of it. I didn’t like the authors writing style, I thought the plot was boring, and this isn’t a twisty ghost story and I’m not sure why it’s called one except there’s a hint of one at the end but there’s not contact or anything. There wasn’t any relation between the two POVs until the end, and I just didn’t care.

However! While some of the scenes were a bit gory for me (and by that I just mean I’m squeamish with blood), I did greatly appreciate the author taking the time to show young girls and their introduction to pregnancy, sex, and periods. I think that was an awesome thing to write, just not so awesome for me to read lol.


Again, this book wasn’t for me, but I think lots of other people would like this.

[MB · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a really interesting book. At first I thought it would have a similar theme to little women, where it was a story about 3 girls(two sisters and one cousin) and their lives. While this was one of the storylines, there was another that took place in the past, about a woman and her marriage. It was very interesting and had a lot of plot twists. This was a very fast book, that took place over only a couple of days. It was very interesting, but had some topics and scenes that didn’t sit right with me. Something I don’t see in many books that I enjoyed in this one was how the characters openly talked about sex and their bodies. Altogether this was a well written book, but some parts of it I personally didn’t enjoy.

Tw: abortion, pregnancy, cheating, death, inc3st, r*pe

[Patricia · Rating 3 out of 5]

The writing! So good! But this is a hard book to get into. There are two plots--one back in the day maybe mid-1800s? and one modern. The first chapter has five members of an extended family, plus another guy, plus an ex-boyfriend, plus a dead mother, plus a mention of a different guy, plus a reference to a different family, plus a dog named Rusty.

By the end of the first chapter, I had a rough sketch of all the people, but it was touch and go there for a bit. At any rate, Mesrobian, besides being a lyrical writer, is so good at portraying emerging female sexuality. I'd say it's worth wading through.

[Holly Ristau · Rating 1 out of 5]

I didn't like this book. I didn't like the characters, or the total lack of story. Were there lessons in there I missed? Two women shouldn't be allowed to head a household? Children should make all the major decisions in their lives? Everyone should keep multiple secrets? Men are jerks? Sisters are jerks but they'll help you out before your terrible parents?

None of the characters felt like real people to me. I'm not sure why some of these characters were even in the story. Why the drunk uncle? Why the friend who went away for the summer?

I don't recommend this book.

[Kara · Rating 3 out of 5]

I started out really enjoying this book, good characters and interesting storylines, but things change midway through. I will not spoil the story for any readers with specific details. Towards the middle there are some disturbing events and the way the characters deal or don’t deal with them are even more infuriating. Towards the end it was challenging to keep up with the multiple storylines and I feel it ended too abruptly. I seriously had to check my phone to make sure I hadn’t accidentally hit the fast forward button.

[Lindsay Collins · Rating 2 out of 5]

Age gap, incest, periods, abortion, past and present. These are the things that stick out the most to me. This book was strange. It’s meaning weird to me. But I did end up liking the story some how. But the whole infest plotline and literally I think the last half of the book was one of the girls abortion process. It’s a sad weird story. And somehow I liked it but I probably wouldn’t recommend it. It’s very short so if I ever need a quick random read this will do.

[Erica Sage · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is gorgeous. The words are poetic, the storytelling atmospheric. I was completely captivated by both the ghost's chapters and the girls' chapters. It addresses mature themes, and it's not a fast-paced story, so I can imagine this book is not for everyone. In fact, it doesn't read YA, but it's too short to be adult. Regardless, I loved it.

[Stacy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gorgeous prose and a compelling double story line. This historical novel is a departure for the author, and I loved how detailed Jane's timeline was. Carrie Mesrobian is so good at writing frankly and empathetically about teens' sexuality. I only wish we had gotten to know Lilah better, as she was maybe the most interesting character to me in the contemporary storyline.

[Morgan Tiner · Rating 3 out of 5]

I mean it’s a good book. Some parts were even a little spicy which I liked. Some of it was a little hard to follow, I kept having to go back and re-read some of it. I also did not like the ending. Just as things were finally getting interesting it just seemed to end. It wasn’t horrible by any means, and I don’t regret reading it, it just wasn’t my fave.

[Lu Rose · Rating 1 out of 5]

4 or 3 different girls with their own problems living life within the time of war.
It was interesting at first but the more it when on the more boring it got for me.
It was continuously switching from each girls' stories thru out the book.

This is a thumbs down for me on this one.

[Shellby Derksen · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a weird one. I'm not even sure where to go here. It had a lot of potential, and I feel like if I read it with an English teacher, there would be some great discussions. But I'm just disturbed and confused.

[Judy Grace Legaspi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Surprisingly light for a book that dealt with women's woes. It felt like just another summer story when in fact, the plot is quite messy, made appalling by secrets tangled in two neighboring estates and around women from two eras.

[Abigail · Rating 1 out of 5]

Evidently I saw "ghost" and "Irish" in the description and ignored everything else. This was just a bunch of teenagers in two different centuries experiencing sex. I only managed to finish the book because I was listening at 2x speed.

[Micaela]

The phrase "unusual family of women" almost guarantees I'll read it.

[Wendopolis · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a waste of my time. While the writing was beautiful, there was no plot. Nothing was at stake and the daughters were all incredibly unlike able and flat.

[A'Llyn Ettien · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice, moody story of women's lives in the past and the modern day.

[Taniesha · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not really sure what I listened to. I was a bit confused... abortion, sex, infidelity, blood, incest... not my cup of tea. I guess I missed the point of it all.