An Impressive Debut Novel. The Garnett Girls by Georgina Moore

 I was sorry to finish this moving novel about family secrets and sisterhood, set in the stunning Isle of Wight. Can you ever really overcome a traumatising family secret? The book shows the dramatic effect that it can have on one family.

Margo, the mother, dominates this book. Still wild and bohemian in her sixties, she has affairs with younger married men, and tries to run her daughter’s lives. She’s haunted by her husband Richard’s suddenly leaving her several years ago and searches for vestiges of happiness in her untamed life.

Her three daughters, Rachel, Imogen and Sasha, have a fraught relationship with her because of her alcoholism when they were young, and her silence about Richard. I didn’t find Margo terribly sympathetic but she also struggled to get away from her own bossy mother when she fell passionately in love with Richard as a schoolgirl, and you can see why she’s so affected by his leaving. I especially enjoyed the story of her passionate romance.

Rachel lives at Margo’s beautiful old house on the Isle of Wight, Sandycove, but yearns to return to London. Sandycove and Wight are like separate characters here. Idyllic times of beach parties, catching crabs and generally running wild by the sea are lovingly described.

Imogen is almost engaged to sensible, stable William until she has an affair with a beautiful young actress. She feels pressure to marry William and hides the affair. Understandably, her mother’s keen for her to ‘settle down’, although she never really did herself. When William has a crisis, Imogen has to decide what she really wants…

Sasha has a controlling, possessive husband who she can’t seem to get away from and tries to hide this from her family. She’s also still secretly keen on her old boyfriend. In some ways, Sasha is the most likeable, because she’s discovered Richard’s secret, and she wants to reunite the family.

It’s a beautifully written, luminous novel which gets right to the heart of family dynamics. If you don’t have sisters, it will also make you wish that you did!

I read this for The TBR 26 in ‘26 Challenge. Amazingly, I got it at the Little Library nearby. I’ll return it during the week.