Stúlka A

by Abigail Dean

Lex Gracie doesn't want to think about her family. She doesn't want to think about growing up in her parents' House of Horrors. And she doesn't want to think about her identity as Girl A: the girl who escaped, the eldest sister who freed her older brother and four younger siblings. It's been easy enough to avoid her parents--her father never made it out of the House of Horrors he created, and her mother spent the rest of her life behind bars. But when her mother dies in prison and leaves Lex and her siblings the family home, she can't run from her past any longer. Together with her sister, Evie, Lex intends to turn the House of Horrors into a force for good. But first she must come to terms with her siblings - and with the childhood they shared.

Genres: Fiction, Thriller, Mystery, Mystery Thriller, Crime, Audiobook, Contemporary

369 pages, Paperback

First published February 2, 2021

About the author

Abigail Dean is an author from Manchester, UK. She lives in London with her husband, children, and a very cantankerous cat. Her latest novel is THE DEATH OF US, a love story interrupted by a single, terrible act of violence. Film rights have been acquired at auction.

Reviews

[daph pink ♡ · Rating 1 out of 5]

I know a lot of people seemed to enjoy this, and honestly? Good for them. But I had to tap out. Life’s too short to waste on books that feel like homework written by someone who’s allergic to plot.

I made it through 60% — barely — and that was pure willpower, not enjoyment. I kept skimming, hoping it would finally become the thrilling, gripping read it promised. Instead, I was gifted a slow, meandering, bloated mess masquerading as depth.

Things this book made me feel:
• Bored out of my skull — I came for a thriller, but got a drawn-out existential therapy session wrapped in 240 pages of “nothing happens.”
• Confused and frustrated — the timeline jumped around like it was drunk, with no warning, no payoff, and no reason.
• Mentally numb — thanks to a never-ending info dump that could tranquilize an elephant.

Things I lost trying to read this:
• Hours of my life I will never get back.
• My patience.
• Possibly a few IQ points.

DNFing this wasn’t just a choice — it was an act of self-preservation.

[Nilufer Ozmekik · Rating 4 out of 5]

Breathtaking, remarkably intense, dark story of survivor girl who accomplished to escape from House of Horrors! Yes, he storyline already hooked me from the first chapter!

Get ready to read something shake you so hard! Your emotions will be everywhere as you witness the six children’s provocative, disturbing, extremely sad abuse, neglect story! This is one of the effective books will haunt you down and leave a permanent scar at your soul!

I have to admit this is not gripping mystery book. It’s about soul crushing survival story and aftermaths of traumatic experiences.

Those children have to face their pasts to heal their wounds, having a proper future ahead of them. But of course it will be something more profound, compelling and challenging struggle they have been expecting.

So I can define this book as a family drama/ a psychological, realistic fiction, a brave survival and complex settlement with the traumatic past story with well crafted, deeply layered characterization.

It’s pure, realistic, harsh, blood freezing, bleak and heartbreaking.

Lex Gracie is a fighter who finally escaped from her abusing family life, nicknames as Girl A, whose monstrous mom died in prison and left her children that creepy place she never wants to return back and twenty thousand pounds.

Now she and her sister Evie try to gather their four siblings to go back to house for the last time as a good will gesture which eventually bring out the ugly flashbacks of their past hit their faces harsher than they imagine.

I mostly keen on thrillers more than psychological fiction but it was still intriguing and heart wrenching novel which is beautifully written.

So I’m giving my well earned four, effective, poignant, shaking you to core stars!

Special thanks to NetGalley and PENGUIN GROUP Viking for sharing incredible arc with me in exchange for my honest opinions.

[Lisa of Troy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid 4-star book.

Girl A was the one that got away. After years of abuse, Girl A escapes the House of Horror where she and her siblings were held. Dad didn't make it out alive, and Mum went to prison. Now, Mum has passed, and Girl A (also known as Lex) discovers that she is the executor of the will and The House of Horrors is part of the estate. Lex meets each of her siblings as she prepares the final fate of The House with flashback to their time in captivity.

A captivity story usually ends with some serious action because the captivity usually ends in one form or another so you hold on trying to see how it all ends. This book however flips that old script on its head because it starts with the escape. With that being the case, the book had a very strong opening but had a much slower second half.

2024 Reading Schedule
Jan Middlemarch
Feb The Grapes of Wrath
Mar Oliver Twist
Apr Madame Bovary
May A Clockwork Orange
Jun Possession
Jul The Folk of the Faraway Tree Collection
Aug Crime and Punishment
Sep Heart of Darkness
Oct Moby-Dick
Nov Far From the Madding Crowd
Dec A Tale of Two Cities

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[Lexi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Anyway, let's bring in a large cast of characters with complicated relationships, speak vaguely about literally every god damn thing, and not explain what's going on or bother introducing the characters at all. This writing style drove me crazy.

[Val ⚓️ Shameless Handmaiden ⚓️ · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 Stars

I love true crime books that would make most people squirm. It might be morbid, but I find the psychology behind serial killers and people capable of unspeakable violence to be sickly fascinating. And the people who can do this kind of stuff to their own children? Well, there's a special place in hell for them, no?

As most Americans (and definitely most Californians) will recognize, this book is partly based on cases such as Rosemary & Fred West, and more obviously, the REAL "House of Horrors" case, which involved the Turpin family of Perris, California - which is about an hour and a half from my house.

I mean, Dean literally took some of the events of this book straight from the headlines.

In January of 2018, the Turpin's 17-year old daughter (real life's "Girl A," for all intents and purposes) escaped from chains to call police to her family's home. According to ABC News at the time:

"The 17-year-old told police that she and her 12 brothers and sisters were being held by her parents — and that some of her siblings were chained, according to investigators...When officers arrived, they discovered 12 people ages 2 to 29 being held captive in "dark and foul-smelling surroundings." Some of the children were bound, shackled or padlocked to beds, investigators said.

"Deputies located what they believed to be 12 children inside the house, but were shocked to discover that 7 of them were actually adults, ranging in age from 18 to 29," the sheriff's department said."

The news also offered pictures such as these:





...variations of both that made it into the book.

Here is the full article for those interested: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/...

Being familiar with the case, I was immediately interested in this book's blurb when it came up on Book of the Month.

And it didn't disappoint.

Although written in an admittedly disjointed format, with constant and abrupt flashbacks (which I usually hate) I found myself riveted from page one. Everything about this was haunting and I really enjoyed the way Dean captured the potential psychological traumas and post-rescue trials one might face when in a situation such as this.

I don't want to give anything away, so I will leave it there. Needless to say, I will surely think about this book in future and will read more from this author.

[Emily May · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was leaning towards four stars at first-- because Girl A was definitely compelling and kept me turning pages --but the more I think about it, the less satisfied I feel with the book overall. I wanted a lot more and thought we were left with too many loose ends.

The story is told from the perspective of Girl A, Lex Gracie, and follows the now grown-up Gracie siblings as they navigate adulthood after a childhood filled with horror, abuse and starvation. Many of the scenes from their childhood are disturbing, though I would say I didn't find it to be gratuitous in the way books like I Know Who You Are and My Absolute Darling were.

The problem is that the book seems to take a few steps in certain directions and then leave them unresolved. It is suggested that their mother may have been a victim herself, and that the elder brother Ethan may have shared culpability in some ways, but neither of these potential areas of exploration is actually explored beyond the mere suggestion of it.

Similarly, the book seemed to be mostly about Lex wrestling with her memories and feelings about what happened, but if she was supposed to experience growth or revelation then that did not come across. We left her at the end in very much the same state as we found her. To be fair, that may have been what the author wanted, but it felt odd after the story seemed to be building toward something momentous.

The one thing that could be described as a "twist" is obvious, too.

[Farrah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I know the reviews are pretty mixed for this so I'm happy that I fall firmly on the LOVED IT side.

True crime stories are interesting to me and although I know this is a fictional telling of the Turpin family I feel Dean did a great job of portraying how a family could descend into becoming a 'house of horrors' and also how difficult the survivors lives must be afterwards.

I liked the way it was told entirely from Girl A's point of view. Her story is clear and it invites the reader to fill in the blanks with the other character's experiences.

My heart melted for these poor kids and their horrible parents made me want to shred the pages of this book in anger! I don't know who was worse.... the lunatic father or cowardly, weak mother.

The ending was so good and is why I decided to round UP 4.5⭐

[Orsodimondo · Rating 5 out of 5]

E SE CI VOLESSE TUTTA LA VITA?



E se ci volesse tutta la vita? chiede Alexandra, da tutti chiamata Lex, la Ragazza A del titolo, l’io narrante del romanzo, dice Lex alla sua psicologa Kay, che per un gioco ed equivoco per Lex è sempre stata e rimasta K.
Kay risponde: Ci metteremo tutta la vita.
E il cuore di questo lettore ha palpitato di solidarietà e speranza, per entrambe: per la professionista che ha preso a cuore il caso della giovane Alex da quando adolescente (quindicenne) le è arrivata in cura, e ancora di più per l’eroina narratrice, che quando inizia il racconto è ormai una donna e ci conduce avanti e indietro nel tempo, tra l’oggi e vari ieri, con rara sapienza. Con maestria cinematografica: e questa volta uso l’accostamento al cinema come sincero complimento all’abilità di Abigail Dean.


Louise and David Turpin, californiani: nel 2019 sono stati processati e condannati al carcere a vita per aver abusato di 12 su 13 dei loro figli. La foto è presa dalla loro pagina Facebook.

Che esordio con il botto!
La mia prima curiosità è come mai un’avvocata di trent’anni decida di esordire con una storia simile. Laureata in letteratura inglese, specializzata in legge e tecnologia, lavorava a un ritmo tale (24/7) che le fece capire che stava per impazzire se non faceva qualcos’altro. Per esempio, scrivere un romanzo.
Si prende tre mesi off e inizia la scrittura. La prosegue e porta a termine cambiando impiego: ora è nel team legale di Google e dice che lavora meno di prima, ha le sere e i weekend liberi (faccio fatica a crederlo).
Ma il mistero rimane: perché mai debuttare con una storia così orribile e raccapricciante, inquietante e disturbante?
Non lo so, non ho risposta.
A meno che la risposta non sia la facilità con cui ha venduto il suo primo libro, questo, e a quali cifre, best seller internazionale dopo solo quattro o cinque mesi dalla prima uscita, e una serie tv già in sviluppo.
Ma non ci credo: non credo ci si possa sedere a scrivere pianificando la strategia di marketing. Men che meno il primo libro.


La vera casa degli orrori, quella a cui Abigail Dean si è ispirata, è in Muir Woods Road in California, che nel romanzo diventa Moor Woods Road in Inghilterra. Una normalissima anonima villetta in un normalissimo anonimo quartiere suburbano americano.

Non mi conoscete, ma la mia faccia l’avete vista. È l’incipit di queste trecentosessanta pagine di tourbillon che Abigail Dean padroneggia con sapiente abilità, accelerando e rallentando, approfondendo e sospendendo, alternando i piani temporali proprio dove conduce l’emozione di quel momento, di quella pagina.
Partendo da un caso di cronaca - quello indicato da alcune foto che si vedono qui – mischiandolo ad altri più o meno simili, ambientando in Inghilterra invece che negli Stati Uniti, Abigail Dean racconta la storia di una famiglia che definire disfunzionale è eufemistico: abuso, violenza, privazione, carcerazione…
Alla base esistenze scombinate, insoddisfazione, frustrazione, rancore, ed altro, il tutto drappeggiato in una qualche fede cialtrona – qui di origine cristiana: ma poi verso la fine anche Cristo al Padre della famiglia appare troppo moderato, fiacco – bibbia fissa sul tavolo, educazione e cultura fatta in casa, via dalla scuola e via da qualsiasi frequentazione, niente contatto sociale, via dal mondo, isolamento, segregazione.
Padre e Madre sono i due genitori mostri, Papà e Mamma quelli che seguono, quelli dell’amore e dell’accoglienza.
C’è almeno un momento in cui ho fatto fatica a trattenere le lacrime (non ci sono riuscito), e c’è almeno un colpo di scena notevole.

Mi viene da pensare a un altro libro, quello di Tara Westover: solo che quella era una storia autobiografica e aveva il sapore della finzione, questa è inventata e sembra vera. Solo che quello era scritto male e risultava noioso, questo invece è scritto bene e risulta avvincente e interessante.



Abigail Dean fa qualcosa che ho apprezzato molto: la storia agghiacciante, aberrante, sconvolgente, come titolerebbe la stampa, l’orrore, la violenza, l segregazione, le botte, le catene, le privazioni, sono raccontate senza indulgenza, né insistenza, né morbosità. Le basta usare espressioni come il Periodo dei Legacci Morbidi che poi diventa il Periodo della Catene per farci capire più di descrizioni particolareggiate.
Non è neppure il punto di vista dei “mostri”, non è entrare nella mente dei carnefici che le interessa, non è il sadismo e l’abiezione che vuole raccontare.
La sua attenzione m’è parsa focalizzata su cosa succede dopo, dal momento che Lex ragazza A riesce a scappare. La ricostruzione. La nuova vita. La normalità.
Se una nuova vita “normale” riescono a trovare, afferrare, quei ragazzi e quei bambini, che man mano si fanno adulti.
E così la storia inizia davvero da quella che a prima vista sembrerebbe la fine: quando ragazza A riesce a scappare e la polizia arriva nella Casa degli orrori (destinata a diventare meta di turismo scandalistico) per liberare bambini e ragazzi, ecco quello è il vero principio della storia.
E da quel momento Abigail Dean riesce a raccontate l’indicibile.

[Ceecee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Alexandra Gracie is Girl A, now a successful New York based lawyer at the age of 15 she escaped the ‘House of Horrors’ in England where she and her siblings suffered neglect and abuse.

This is an extremely well written multilayered debut which via Lexi’s narrative examines how characters survive childhood trauma in varying ways. It is absorbing and compelling reading and although it demonstrates the horrifying events of the children’s childhood at the hands of their parents it is never gratuitous or over detailed. It is obviously very bleak in places and heartbreaking at times but it is also profoundly moving as you appreciate how, despite outward appearances most of the siblings are psychologically damaged. It flows well from the past to the present and at no point did it feel to be disjointed. Lexi makes a fascinating and thoughtful narrator of the story, you feel her many different, powerful emotions, understand the protective walls she constructs and how this will collapse like a house of cards at times of stress such as she faces in the present day.

Overall, this is a very absorbing and powerful character study and a riveting story of resilience and survival and one I will not forget in a hurry. Highly recommended.

With thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins UK for the much appreciated arc for an honest review.

[Brenduh · Rating 1 out of 5]

I never leave long reviews. Ever. This is the first time and it was so cathartic that I may do it again.
When I finished the book, I had the strong wish that it was an actual book with pages. Because if it were, I could pick it up and hurl it across the room and let it hit the wall so hard it would leave a hole in the drywall. Then I would take my wheelchair and roll over it several times, after which I would burn it to ashes, that unfortunately, even the compost pile would reject in a feeling of superiority. Was that too ambiguous? The following is almost all spoilers so I have hidden the 9 points I have made just in case you don't want to be spoiled.


The following points really irritated me.
1. This book was obviously based off a true story. It happened in California. The Turpin family. They had 13 kids and their house was actually called a “House of Horrors” in the media. In the evidence that they showed the public, the family had a semi normal life, going to school etc. for a period of time. Then there is the photograph of them all standing outside their house wearing the same red shirt. It was the last photograph taken, just before their one and only vacation ever taken. After that the chaining started for all except the oldest child who was a son. The son was allowed to go to college but only with the mother going with him. I have mixed opinions on whether he was an accomplice or a victim. They were rescued when one of the daughters escaped out the bedroom window and got help. They were allowed to only eat once a day if that and only allowed to shower once a year. See the glaring similarities?
2. Flashbacks within flashbacks while changing points of view. I understand alternating timelines, that makes sense and is enjoyable at times. This is the type of story that it would usually work in. Unfortunately, while alternating timelines she chose to flashback and forward and change points of view while doing so. It got very confusing.
3. Writing this point makes me feel like a horrible person, but I would like to have had more meat and potatoes and less ketchup and steak sauce. Most of the book was fluff that I didn’t care one bit about. I want to know what went on in the house and in the minds of those in the house, including the mother. I would like to have had an inside look at Delilah and Gabriel in their room. I want to know what happened after Gabriel was found with the cake. I want to know what happened when the book of myths was discovered. It was alluded to several times but never explained. The rare event that was shown us was when the bed was broken at the hotel and Delilah was punished. I’m sorry but five swats on the butt do not constitute abuse. Was the author too squeamish or afraid of detailing atrocities? Then this shouldn’t be the sort of book for her. I believe there was more interesting stories that the policeman told us than this book.
4. I didn’t like any of the characters except the policeman that adopted Lex and, slightly, Doctor Kay. I felt no sympathy or familiarity or compassion toward anyone and in this type of book that should be the number one goal. I should have cried a few times, but I was never even sad. I felt anger at Ethan, but I didn’t know enough to know if that anger was justified. I felt pity for the mother and would very much like to have known what was in those letters.
5. Predictability. I’m sorry, but I know Evie was dead as soon as Lex told Ethan she had talked to Evie about the idea for the house and he laughed at her. I imagine anyone who reads this genre knew that. The only surprise was about baby Daniel. I thought the baby they were talking about was Noah until they named him.
6. Ignorance of the author. There were a few examples but the glaring one I can think of is the fact that a lawyer wouldn’t know what an executor is. I know she was trying to explain it to the reader, but she could have found a more believable way to do so.
7. Why didn’t anyone want her to go to the wedding? I still don’t understand that. They were ok with her staying with Ethan, visiting Delilah and Gabriel. Why not go to the wedding?
8. Here is a petty one. The narrator had a horrible American accent. That would not have been a deal breaker though, or even a star deplete.
9. And finally (well probably not but this long enough) the ending. What kind of ending was that? Did she go it water to kill herself? Is that what we are supposed to surmise? Or was it supposed to be a big shock that she was talking to Evie again? It was a horrible ending


I believe the author saw the true story and thought she was capable of making a book out of it. Unfortunately, in my opinion, she did not have the creativity or talent to make it into an interesting book. I have no idea where the ratings came from, but I am sorry I wasted 10 hours I will never get back. Was I too harsh? I don’t know.

[Blaine · Rating 4 out of 5]

“We each believe what we want to believe,” she said, “don’t we? You more than anyone.”
...
“Girl A,” she said. “The girl who escaped. If anybody was going to make it, it was going to be you.”

The book opens with the story, fifteen years in the past, of how then-15-year-old Lex Gracie dramatically escaped from her home—later dubbed the House of Horrors—where she and her siblings were kept in literal chains by their parents. In the present, Lex’s mother has just passed away in prison, and left the family home to the children. Determined to turn their old house into something positive, a Community Center, Lex must reach out to each of her surviving siblings.

The majority of Girl A is told through flashbacks to the years, months, and days before Lex’s escape, though it shifts constantly between those memories and the events in the present. While the description may sound like a thriller, this novel is not a thriller. It’s a quiet, psychological exploration of how one of these House of Horrors—these terrible stories you hear about every few years—can actually happen. More importantly, the novel explores the different mechanisms children placed in this impossible position employ to survive, and the lasting effects of this type of trauma on the survivors.

The comparison to Room is obvious. However, the book I kept thinking of as I read Girl A was Never Let Me Go. There are not really any mysteries in the present, but there is a constant sense of dread in the weighted conversations between the characters. Instead, the mysteries are in the flashbacks, about what happened in the house before Lex’s escape, as it becomes clearer that the reader has not been told some of the things that happened all those years ago. When the revelations finally come—some you may see coming, and some you probably won’t—it is sad yet satisfying (even the biggest one I saw coming was a well-delivered gut punch when it finally came).

Girl A is certainly worth reading, but you should know going in that it is a dark story. It’s very good, and absorbing, but it won’t leave you happier than when you started. Recommended, when you’re in the right mood.

[Joey R. · Rating 1 out of 5]

*** 1.0 stars for the 42% of the book I read. I usually finish every book I start, but not this one. To say I was bored from start to finish is an understatement. The author kept going between the past and present with a large amount of characters to keep straight. If this wasn’t annoying enough, the story of Lex, a survivor of abuse, who travels around England in an effort to get approval from her estranged siblings to convert the house they grew up in into a museum was extremely repetitive and boring. I enjoy all types of thrillers/ suspense novels, this one just happened to leave out the thrills and suspense.

[jaime ⭐️]

➽ 2021 reads: book 10/75

DNF'd at page 1oo.

this was just way too convoluted and i couldn't connect to the story at all. note to the author: if we're going to jump timelines (which is one of my all time favourite storytelling techniques) can we possibly not do that literally every other paragraph? i'm exhausted. hoping to pick this up again at a later date but not right now! i'm tired!

advanced readers copy kindly sent to me by harper collins new zealand

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[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tl;dr: Girl A isn't an easy read, but it's one you absolutely should read. Yes, even now.

Girl A is an unflinching look at the long term effects of child abuse and it's an intense and well-written novel.

I've seen some comparisons of Girl A to Room but Girl A is much darker and less sentimental about family as Girl A dives deep into what it would be like to be an abused sibling from a house full of other abused siblings.

I think it's very easy to assume that when a sibling group in an abusive situation is rescued, the result will be siblings who tried to protect each other and thought as a unit and will be bonded forever to protect each other. It's a nice way to conclude something terrible and makes us feel better about how awful family can be.

And there's the rub. Are siblings who grow up together with each fighting to survive, really all going to be close? Sibling dynamics are never sunshine and roses in any family and throw in the abuse in Girl A, in which children are subjected to horrific psychological and physical abuse, and the relationships get very murky indeed.

Girl A, Lex, has come to England, where she was "raised," as she's been appointed the executor of tbeir mother's estate following her death in prison. As Lex goes to see each sibling--Ethan, Delilah, Gabriel, Noah, and Evie--readers slowly come to realize that all of them are still suffering from what they lived through, but each of their relationships with Lex and among each other are either close in various unhealthy ways, and/or that as they were growing up, some of them suffered at the hands of each other and not just their parents..

I did not see the big twist coming even as it had become clear to me over the course of Girl A that Lex, the Girl A of the title, and the eldest girl of the seven abused siblings, who has grown into a savvy, smart, and successful woman, has some very strong and unaddressed issues with her siblings (and they with her*) as well as some even stronger and equally unaddressed issues with herself.

And when the twist did come it made me realize that when we construct narratives of happily ever after for well publicized abuse victims (or any abuse victims) we do it out of a desire for happily ever after. But the reality is that happily ever after is impossible and any long-term abuse survivor is always, always going to carry what they lived through. And when you've lived under a system of extreme physical and psychological torture, what you carry is so large and heavy. In other words, the deeper the wound, the bigger the scar (and scar tissue).

Is Girl A an easy read? No. But it's the rawest and most unflinching look at being an abuse survivor I've read in a long time as well as a honest and scathing examination of all the ways we, as a society, turn away from what we don't want to see, that instead of doing something or even just asking someone if they need help, we pretend away. (The whole "he/she/they were totally normal...well, except for X, Y, and/or Z" that always comes out when the neighbors of a horror are interviewed)

Girl A is a novel I'll never forget and am glad I read. It reminded me that the worst things I can do is also one of the easiest--to look away. Girl A is a powerful and gripping reminder of why I (and you) shouldn't do that. An absolute must read.





*I can't be the only person who finished this and thought about how much damage Ethan will end up inflicting on his family. Father, indeed. (Shudders)

[Paul Bryant · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have this mean-minded habit of reading one extremely-hyped modern book per year – Normal People, Gone Girl, Eleanor Oliphant is Great Thank You – in the same spirit that a spider invites a big juicy fly into his home. Girl A is the 2021 victim. Let’s extract its fluids and watch it writhe.

First, I don’t know about the ethics of this thing – you may remember Lullaby by Leila Slimani from 2016. This was a big hit novel closely based on a real crime in which a nanny stabbed to death the two children she was looking after. The real crime happened in 2012. Leila Slimani made a lot of dough fictionalising that crime. This is just one example.

Now we have Girl A. There are a few “House of Horrors” crimes where insane parents abuse their numerous children for years, but in 2018 there was the case of David and Louise Turpin which happened in California. 13 children were all kept in the house for their whole lives, some chained up, many actually starving when discovered. Police were only informed when a 17 year old girl escaped through a window.

In Girl A there are 7 kids but some of them are chained, all are abused and starved and the crime is only discovered when a 15 year old girl escapes through a window. So, I think this book is based on the Turpin case, and relocated to the UK. The surviving Turpin kids will maybe see Girl A in their local bookstore. I would be curious what they might have to say about it.

Second, the author’s intention turned out to be at odds with what I wanted, and I can’t fault her for that, but I was most interested in how the psychology of torturing your own children works in practice. Sure, the father is of course a religious lunatic and the mother is a cowed baby machine but how can even such people view their emaciated children on a daily basis and think everything is copacetic? And also - how can such grisly horrors be kept away from the eyes of the surveillance society and its many-tentacled authorities for years?

(Some lacksadaisical googling revealed that local authorities mostly DON’T check up on home-schooled children in the UK – that was a surprise.)

And thirdly, I wasn’t in love with Abigail Dean’s brittle, oblique style where everything is alluded to knowingly and hardly anything is spelled out, and there are about 300 characters. You finally get to piece everything together in the last 30 pages.

This book is not so much about the horrors but about how the kids survived their experiences. Spoiler alert – some did better than others.


2.5 stars

[Marialyce · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a hard book to both read and critique. It certainly portrayed well the concept of a family and its children who were deeply abused and literally held captive in their home by both their mother and father. Deep psychological problems run rampant through the family and as always it is the children who are scared.

The story begins with the thoughts of the oldest child, Girl A, the one who escaped and was able to free her other siblings. As she comes to terms with her mother's death in prison, we see the inner turmoil Lexie (Girl A) has gone through. Their father committed suicide so never really had to face the music, and contact with her mother was sporadic if at all. The children having been adopted by different families, have deep wounds, and Lexi, now a successful lawyer, has had little if any contact with them. As to the inheritance, the house left to all the children, Lexie travels back to England and a decision has to be made as to what to do with the house that fostered so many horrible things and memories of the children.

This is a difficult story one that in the beginning had all the making of a wonderfully portrayed family tragedy. However, it fell apart for me as to the time lapses and the view from the children now grown to adult. It was too jumpy, too randomly portrayed that I found myself losing that momentum I had developed in the beginning. It had potential certainly to be one of those family tales that breaks the reader's heart but fell short of that goal as the characters presented left one feeling a lack of emotion and caring.

[Lu Etchells · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lex Gracie is the girl who finally managed to escape her family’s house of horrors, raise the alarm and end the torture for her siblings. The story unfolds through Lex’s eyes, as she returns to London, from New York, to deal with her now dead mother’s estate and all the old wounds that particular issue re-opens.

This is an interesting premise for a book; however, it really left me feeling cold.

I didn’t connect with Lex on any level; I just couldn’t warm to her, and even found it hard to have any degree of sympathy. Which, given the subject matter, is quite an unusual statement to make. The same is true of her siblings, who just didn’t ever become real to me for some reason. Everything felt really detached.

For me, I think the problem was that in an attempt to be sympathetic of the various potential triggers within the book (and there are many), the author has overlooked a lot of the emotion. At times this felt more like a character study, a psychologist’s ramblings, rather than a work of entertaining/gripping fiction.

I appreciate the opportunity to have an advanced copy of this work; however, I think the need for further editing had an increased impact on my enjoyment. There are many occasions where Lex is talking about the past, and seamlessly, in the next sentence, slips in to the present. It takes a couple of minutes, and some re-reading of previous lines, to work out where the shift changes, and re-orientate yourself in the story. This was exceptionally frustrating, and I hope the team resolve these issues before it is published.

I was going to give this a three star initially; however, I’m going to have to go with a two. For whatever reason, this just didn’t work for me. I wasn’t remotely interested in the characters, and read on out of blind commitment than any real interest.

For me, I’m left wondering what the point was. I don’t know where the real crux of the story was – the past, or the present? What challenges were really overcome? It just felt like a long ramble in to nothingness and I was ultimately left quite disappointed. As many others seem to love it, I’m clearly just missing something.

For more of my book news follow me on Insta: @PointsofLu

[Dianne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this beautifully crafted debut novel. I think it’s been mis-marketed as a thriller, but it’s a character-driven psychological drama about the survivors of an abusive “House of Horrors.” The story appears to be loosely based on the 2018 Turpin family saga, in which the parents chained, starved and abused their children until their 17 year old daughter was able to escape and summon help.

This book follows a very similar story arc, right down to the siblings on holiday in identical red tee shirts. It is narrated by “Girl A,” the daughter who escaped. Lex is an adult now, forced to face down her past when her mother dies in prison and leaves Lex the executor of her estate - a decent sum of cash and the decrepit house where Lex and her siblings lived in filth and squalor. As executor, Lex needs to contact her estranged brothers and sisters and obtain their agreement on how to handle the proceeds of the estate.

The story is a slow reveal, and jumps in time between the past and present. The book is divided into sections that focus on each of the siblings as perceived by Lex. I thought this set-up worked very well, both as a look at family dynamics but also as a view into Lex’s damaged psyche.

I’ve read quite a few reviews that said they couldn’t relate to or warm up to Lex’s character. Lex is cynical, defensive and uses deflection to hide her pain. She is scarred and flawed, imperfect and totally human. A survivor - and I loved her.

Recommended to those who appreciate character driven novels. It is beautifully written, with sharp and perceptive observations of human nature. The only distraction for me was the frequent jumping between past and present without any warning or preparation. It can be jarring until you get used to it.

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lex and her siblings grew up in her parents house of horrors, she managed to escape and was known as “Child A the girl who survived”

When Lex’s mother dies in prison, she is asked to be the executor of her mother’s will, as she has left her their childhood home and £20,000 to be shared between her siblings.

Along with her sister Evie’s help, she wants to turn the house into something good but will need to get her other siblings to agree. Lex has to face the childhood that she had left behind and meet up with her family, bringing all the bad memories back.

The book goes back to when they were children and how they were badly treated by their parents. I must admit to crying, as this felt so real and you do read about cases like this in the newspapers!!

This had me gripped from the start, you can’t help but be drawn in with this beautifully written story about survival against all odds.

This is going to be a must read book of 2021.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy in exchange for a review.

[Charlotte May · Rating 3 out of 5]

I need something light now because fuuuuuuuuck.

Lex is known as Girl A, the first child to escape her parents ‘House of Horrors’ and lead the police to discover her siblings, chained and starved.

Each section of the book places more emphasis on each of the children, 7 in total. There were a few things kept behind until revealed later on they mention 7 children but only name 6, I knew that what had happened to the 7th would come out eventually. Also I had an idea that Evie was no longer alive which was confirmed later on.

I agree with a lot of what Wendy Darling wrote in her review. I didn’t necessarily need more grim descriptions, but with all the jumping between timelines there wasn’t a clear narrative as to when things started getting worse in the house and why. I’d have liked a cleaner line to follow, though i can understand why it was written this way.

I also would have liked more justice annoying that the dad never got punished because he killed himself. There definitely should have been some retribution for Ethan too. Yes he was young but he definitely wasn’t innocent and avoided nearly everything the others suffered.

It was well written, and hard to stomach at times. A gripping and frightening story of trauma and how it stays with you.

[Wendy Darling · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars Engrossing and well-written, though ultimately I wanted a little more detail to the story and characterizations. While I appreciated how this touched on how trauma manifests itself in various forms, I would like to have seen this explored in more depth.

Skirting around what exactly happened in “the house of horrors” does disservice to abuse this brutal and inhumane—I don’t need gratuitous detail, but the facts and the physical and emotional effects of this childhood should be deeply understood and felt. A late reveal isn’t entirely unexpected, either.

Still, the writing has moments of making you connect with it in a visceral way.

Anything could be Mystery Soup: cheese, coated in emerald fur, languishing away on the counter; a few scraps of fried chicken, in paper from the takeaway on the high street, which Father abandoned on the kitchen table; a year-old box of cereal, never unpacked from the move. I have an encyclopedic recollection of the meals at Moor Woods Road; they were so precious that I stored them in my memory, to eat again.

More of this, please, in whatever book the author writes next.

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Look who finally got around to her February BOTM… I sure am glad I waited though because if I’d gone into this remembering I’d picked something they marked as “suspense”, I’d probably be very confused and disappointed right now. Luckily for me, I’m into true crime, memoirs and character driven books, all of which describe this much better than the thriller/suspense/mystery tags I’ve seen thrown around.

Girl A (Alexandra/Lex) was the oldest girl in a family of 9, where the parents went from isolating the children to keeping them chained to their beds, living in poverty and squalor, before she finally managed to escape and alert the authorities. Now, the mother has died in prison and the book follows Lex’s journey through reconnecting with her siblings in order to fulfil her duties as executor of the will. Some she has kept in contact with over the years and some she hasn’t, and the book introduces us to their stories through only Lex’s interpretation of them, which I enjoyed as a plot device. Our memories in general are terribly unreliable things; throw in trauma and the mind's way of coping with things by shielding you, and it becomes an interesting thought-project to wonder how reliable Lex’s narration really is.

I have to imagine this would be supremely confusing to try to listen to as an audiobook. The chapters are very long and jump back and forth between various periods in the past and the present. Without the assistance of page breaks, I’d have been so lost. Therefore I’d recommend the print version of this if at all possible.

Recommended for: Fans of true crime, survivor stories, and psychological profiles (*not* psychological suspense or thrillers though). This is a slow, detailed study of trauma inflicted upon a family and the effects it had on the children as they grew up, each in different households and with different manners of coping, and who began the healing at different ages.

3.5 rounded up.

Also, if you haven’t heard of the Turpin family, give it a Google. Abigail Dean took pretty clear inspiration from their story for this book, and it’s a truly tragic tale in its own right.

[Liz Barnsley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Girl A is beautifully written and has a fascinating central theme, as such it is likely to do very well and rightly so.

However I maybe wasnt as enamoured of it as a few advance readers who have come before me....subjectively speaking I enjoyed it without ever tipping over into the kind of bookish obsession that grips me.

The characters are well drawn and compelling for sure - the exploration of survival and resettlement after trauma is well done. After the first third though I didn't feel it offered much in the way of tension or likelihood of anything unexpected happening, I finished it to see where the characters ended up in a kind of half interested way.

This is character study more than anything else and a passionately thought out one too. For whatever reason though it just never really took off for this reader.

Still recommended though...its one of those novels that has genuinely talented writing and plotting so is worth a read for that reason - the rest is entirely in the eyes of the beholder.

[Allison Krulik · Rating 3 out of 5]

I ALMOST did not finish this book due to boredom and jumping around the timeline mid-chapter...but I am glad I didn't because the second half of the book was really good.
It is about a group of siblings who grew up tortured and abused. They are then separated into different adoptive families once the truth comes out about their biological mom/dad. We learn about each of the siblings, now grown, and how they have come along. They meet (most of them) again at the end to discuss some financial matters regarding their childhood home.
I gave 3 out of 5 stars because the first half was rather boring to me.

[Dash fan]

Unfortunately DNF this one tried really hard to read it. It was nothing to do with the subject matter, more to do with the style and how it went from past to present with no warning. Very confusing, just wasn't for me.

[Fiona Knight · Rating 5 out of 5]

It feels a little bit strange to call Girl A beautiful, even though it is, because on the surface this is very much still a book about a family that went the worst kind of wrong. The way Abigail Dean writes it though, it's much more than that.

I read this after reading an interview with the author, where she talked about her inspiration - "I saw the power of teenage girls to escape and be incredibly strong", she mentioned, after referencing the real world cases that factored in to the writing of this story. I love the way she put that - and it's an attitude that carries through to this book.

This is not a story that will drive you into reading with the need to find out what happens - from the first page the reader is allowed to know what happened, and that Lex - Girl A - our narrator, has come through to the other side. No, this is your classic case of journey mattering over destination - we follow Lex throughout, be it past or present, and she just tells her story.

I loved this book, despite how absolutely sad it could be. There's a real balance to it, and any heroics are the everyday kind, small acts that nevertheless speak volumes. Most of the detail about the worst moments are kept off the page, or told without detail - not necessarily to spare the reader, but because those details aren't the point. Abigail Dean has done an amazing job of walking a tightrope over a pit of crocs, here - this is the kind of book that requires some expert handling. For a debut author, it's even more impressive -I'm very excited to read what she does next.

[Lit with Leigh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Writing: 4/5 | Plot: 4/5 | Ending: 3/5

THE PLOT

Girl A, aka Lex, escaped her troubled family home (her religious zealot father namely) and now is a successful lawyer. After her mom dies in prison, she must return to the literal scene of the crime to sort shit out. Told in a series of flashbacks and current events, Lex recounts the events that led to being a prisoner in her own home, and what life looks like after the spectacle slides away. Based loosely on the Turpin family (Cali couple that locked up their 12 kids, until the elder girl escaped).

MY OPINION

Girl A is a bad bitch. Periodt. She plans and executes a daring escape from the literal House of Horrors created by her failure father.

Abigail Dean did a great job showing her father's descent into religious mania and I loved how Lex's therapist drew parallels between her father's failures and how it triggered his cruel actions at homes. Not to be too serious but... This happens all too often IRL, and kids are left to deal with the consequences of their parent's bad days. Anyways...

This is a juicy j read for those who were fascinated/horrified/curious about the Turpin case that left us all wondering: "WHY!????" This novel is a great explanation as to WHY.

The reveal at the end was kinda sad tbh and it made me wonder why her adoptive parents didn't intervene earlier, considering they knew what was transpiring. Also, she seemed way too chill with going back to the House of Horrors... I would've shit myself 40 times. Not necessarily a huge con of the book, but she kinda just breezed back in after literally experiencing the worst moments of her life there.

PROS AND CONS

Pros: Juicy storyline, great character development of the father, well-paced

Cons: I wish there had been more character development of Girl A. Yes, she's a baddie who went from imprisoned child to tough as nails lawyer. Other than her weird on-and-off relationship with some rando, there really wasn't much explanation for how she got where she is. I would've liked to know how she got her education after being so far behind and what were her motivations behind being a lawyer after dealing with such a horrendous childhood. I also didn't understand the point of her relationship with the cheater, but I digress.

[Tammy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lex, Girl A, is the survivor and savior of her siblings from their parents’ home where they were starved and incarcerated. We’ve all read accounts of these horrifying houses but what happens to these kids afterwards? And, how does something so shockingly abusive affect them as adults given that each child was clinically treated differently and raised in different homes? These questions are answered as Lex confronts her siblings with a plan to convert their inherited family home into a community center. The characters are layered, nuanced and conflicted. A sure-fire bestseller.

[Maria Espadinha · Rating 5 out of 5]

☠️ A Casa dos Horrores ☠️


***Contém alguns Spoilers***

A Rapariga A conta-nos a história dos Gracie — 7 miúdos filhos de pai e mãe católicos fanáticos que foram negligenciados, espancados e subalimentados pelos próprios progenitores que os mantiveram cativos em casa até ao dia em que Lex (a Rapariga A), desesperada, saltou da janela para a rua e ligou o 911…

“A polícia chegou à casa treze minutos depois de eu ter saído. O cheiro levou os elementos da unidade de emergência a recuar logo diante da entrada. Encontraram o Pai caído junto à porta das traseiras, como se tivesse tentado fugir e depois mudado de ideias. A Mãe estava junto ao corpo, claro, e a chorar. Encontraram Daniel quase por acaso, num saco de plástico e comprimido num armário da cozinha; por essa altura, havia vários meses que era apenas matéria orgânica. Noah estava no berço, rodeado pelas suas próprias fezes. Gabriel e Delilah estavam atordoados e esqueléticos. Ethan esperou calmamente na sua cama, a refletir no que deveria ou não contar. Evie continuava no nosso quarto, e ainda acorrentada. Estava inconsciente. Quando um polícia pegou nela, achou-a tão leve como a sua filha. E a sua filha ainda não tinha entrado para a escola.”

“A Rapariga A” conta-nos a descida dos Gracie aos infernos. Contudo, não é um livro negativo — a sua premissa é, não tanto a decadência, mas sim a renovação, i.e., a forma como as mazelas do passado vão sendo, gradualmente, processadas após a libertação.

E é importante referir que não se trata duma mera obra de ficção: “A Rapariga A” é uma história baseada em pais reais que torturaram, subnutriram e acorrentaram filhos reais até que uma das filhas conseguiu escapar e informar a polícia:

https://www.dn.pt/mundo/a-historia-da...

São 5 estrelas — para o livro e para a real Rapariga A!!! 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

“The witch is dead, it seems!”

And so it begins... when Lex Gracie aka “Girl A” learns that her mother has died. After living with her adoptive parents since she was 15 and not once going to visit her in prison she really could care less, but there’s a will involved and her mother has made her the Executor.

The will includes the inheritance of the Gracie home and there’s money to be had. But, she can’t make the decisions alone, for she has brothers and sisters that must sign the documents as well, the other Gracie kids: Boys A to D and the two other girls labeled B & C. Some siblings she’s talked to, others have lost touch, some she’s purposely avoided— but Lex is determined to follow through with the task at hand no matter what she’s forced to face.

The Gracie family has a horrifying past, one that includes child abuse, child neglect; starvation that all took place in the home that has now been bequeathed to the kids. Better known in the tabloids as “The House of Horrors” this isn’t a place that anyone in the family wants to own nor revisit.

Lex sets off on a journey to reconnect with her brothers and sisters and learns some things about them that she’d rather not have known. Tracking each one of them down isn’t a simple task. After their father killed himself when Lex escaped and their mother was taken to prison they were all separated, adopted by different families across the map.

One uses the word of God and her good looks to get through life, another is in a mental institution from so many years of damage, and one it seems turned out just as bad as her father and uses the past to his advantage. Lexi has scars both physical and mental that will never go away and not just from the pain the she was forced to endure but from watching it happen to those she loved.

“..She believed —with work and time—that is was possible to discard parts of the past, like an old season’s coat that you never should have bought.”

Lex will quickly learn that this will is going to be so much harder than she expected and will it will test her own sanity every step of the way. Being the oldest sibling she felt responsible for these children’s well-being, but what can you possibly to to help save them from the wrath of a father, the disillusion of her mother, while chained to a bed and wasting away? Victims, every single one of them —in different ways.

“He crossed the room and took me by by the throat. Palm crushed against the the cram of tubes and bone. Just for a second, just long enough to show me that he could. As soon as he let go, i clambered from the bed, coughing from the shock of it.

But some questions still remain unanswered— why weren’t the boys ever chained? If they weren’t held captive why didn’t they escape? How could they stand by and watch the abuse?

3.5 ⭐️ for the story itself
4 ⭐️ for the suspense and pacing

Thus my first ever 1/4 star rating...

3.75 ⭐️ rounded up to 4 for goodreads

SPOILERS beware:

The reason why this was not a 5 star read for me:

1.The timeline was very confusing. The paragraphs would jump from past to present without fore-warning you. If it were labeled more clearly what time period you were reading from I think that this book would’ve been a lot more clear and enjoyable.

2. Also, I wanted way more details of what exactly happened in the House of Horrors, a lot was left to the reader’s imagination and very vague. This book was written to scare us, so let’s have it!