An original and well-written story of suspense. While the events depicted are traumatic, they are not salaciously written and the unsaid is as powerful - or even more so - than what is on the page. Compulsive.

Beautifully written and elegantly structured, Girl A is being touted as 'the book that will define a decade'. The story follows Lex Gracie, known as 'Girl A', who escaped abuse at the hands of her parents as a teenager, held captive inside their family home known in the press as 'The House of Horrors'. After the death of her mother, Lex must revisit what happened to her and her siblings.

I really must take my hat off to Abigail Dean's prose. It's gorgeous. So many turns of phrase I adored; dissonant details, choice words.

The story moves expertly between the past timeline (the abuse in the house) and the present, where the grown-up Lex must navigate the adult world and return to what happened to her. I loved the cuts between timelines, which kept me turning pages to find out what happened (why, exactly, did the father introduce 'Binding Days'?).

The abuse is handled delicately, without too much detail, which I appreciated from one point of view (being able to stomach it, for one...), though what precisely happened to the siblings does remain opaque by the end, which I didn't entirely expect. Instead I found horror in the small things; The Territory between Lex and her sister Evie's bed is a wasteland of rotting trash, which screams 'neglect' more loudly than some of the characterisation and explanation does. It's chilling.

If I have one criticism it's that Lex stays relatively static for me, as our narrator. She is unknowable, and not given a huge transformation in the narrative. I expected a big showdown at the end; it didn't come. And maybe that's more sophisticated, more classy, the change in Lex internal. There is a small twist, which was incredibly satisfying to guess correctly and I anticipate book clubs will love crowing about that next year! But overall Girl A hews more closely to the characters, eschewing multiple thriller tropes and focusing, instead, on excavating the past.

I'd describe Girl A as MY DARK VANESSA meets FLOWERS IN THE ATTIC. Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for letting me read an early copy, I really enjoyed it and read the whole thing within a day.

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC copy.

Lex Gracie is the first of the seven Gracie children to escape from the house of horrors that they called their childhood home. Known since as Girl A, Lex has tried to forget about their horrific past but when her mother dies and leaves her as beneficiary she is again thrown into the turmoil of her past. She must now comes to terms with what happened to her and her siblings and how it has affected the lives they have now.

A harrowing and sometimes uncomfortable read as we learn the secrets of the past, and sometimes the present, and what a damaged childhood can do to a person. All that being said it was an enjoyable read and I would highly recommend it.

I would like to thank the author, the publisher and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read an ARC of this book. I was really looking forward to reading it and it got off to a good start but then it went nowhere so I was quite disappointed. It is well written just not the book for me.

This is Lexi's story. She is @GirlA. She grew up with abusive parents who eventually imprisoned their children in the house - named The House of Horrors by the press. It is a story of serious child abuse and neglect from parents with serious mental health problems - so be prepared for that.
To begin with I had to keep reminding myself that the story was set in the UK and not the US. The author is British and as the flashbacks unfold and the back story builds all becomes clearer and I could envisage the town, the house and the schools which are in the North West of England. The flashbacks are used effectively throughout the book to provide us with the reasons for why the adult Lexi is as she is.
Girl A is really well written and the reader experiences a roller coaster of emotions, with not everyone being as they seem.
I have to be honest and say I am not 100% sure how I feel about the book. I am a child protection social worker so I found myself asking a 101 questions about legal processes, adoption, why the family were not pursued by the authorities prior to Lexi's escape, etc etc. These are not questions that needed to be answered by the book of course, and my many questions won't have an impact on any lay person reading it.
A big thank you to the author, the publishers and #NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this original and fascinating story.

This is a tough read but an incredibly interesting one. What starts out as a simple story of children escaping from a bad upbringing becomes something infinitely more heart rending and complex. It raises so many questions which are not easily answered the main one being why didn't they simply tell? The answer is painfully sad and subtle as we follow Lex dealing with her siblings after the death of their remaining parent. Highly recommended.

Despite the rave reviews, I'm afraid this for me was a 2* 'OK Read'.

It's the story of family history, complicated relationships and a young woman's harrowing past.

The story is one of a group of children, all kept prisoner by their parents until Girl A escapes and manages to gain freedom for her siblings. After the parents death, Girl A is given the task of being executor to her mother's will and as such needs to visit all her siblings to gain their acceptance of her idea for the house in which they suffered so much and which is now their joint inheritance. The book takes you on her journey in reconnecting with each sibling whilst also facing her own demons.

It's a well written story, but, moves back and forth in (for me) a confusing way and I just found the whole thing quite a difficult to follow read. It's certainly not an easy read.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to preview.

Wow! This really took my breath away. Abigail Dean's writing is sublime and I can't believe that this is a debut novel. "Girl A" is a complex and deeply emotional read. Some parts of Lex's narrative left me drained and exhausted. It's not an easy read though I would say it's an extremely worthwhile one. I particularly enjoyed the themes of hope, resilience and triumph over unimaginable adversity. Incredible!

Full of twists and turns this look at the aftermath of a family trauma is shocking, and fully engaging. Well written and keeps you wanting more I fully recommend.

This is one of those books that stays with you long, long after you reach the final page - and will definitely be one of the must-read novels of 2021.

Lex Gracie and her siblings grew up in their parents' house of horrors. After managing to escape, Lex became known as 'Girl A', "the one who survived.

After their mother dies in prison, Lex is called in to be the executor of her will - and finds that she and her siblings have been left with £20,000 and their childhood home.

Lex is determined to turn the house into something good and, with the help of her sister Evie, sets out to see her siblings and convince them that they should agree.

Alternating between Lex's journey to get her siblings on-side and their childhood, Girl A draws readers in from the very first page - and it doesn't let go until the very end.

I've seen lots of hype around Girl A, which got a huge publishing deal, so maybe that's why I went into this with high expectations. Unfortunately for me this didn't live up to the hype, and I'll explain why.

This is narrated by Lexie, in her late 20s/early30s, who is on her way to prison. Her mother who was sentenced for abuse has died and named Lexie the executor of the will. Lexie and her siblings inherit the House of Horrors, where Lexie ran away from aged 11 years old and alerted helpful strangers to her home where her parents kept the children chained. Lexie wants to convert the house into a community centre that helps people, but to sign the idea off she has to first get her siblings to sign the legal papers agreeing to it. Except for her older brother Ethan Lexie hasn't spoken to the others since they were taken into foster care and sent to live with different families. As she meets each sibling she finds herself relieving the traumas of her past and confronting unsolved conflicts...

This had potential. An intriguing concept. However the main problem for me was that this book is being promoted as a psychological thriller/suspense/mystery novel, which it's not. For a genre book there isn't any suspense and mystery at all. We pretty much find out everything in the first 10% and there's a little reveal in the last 20% that's been done SO MANY TIMES that it's become a cliched and not surprising at all. This is more of a psychological drama/literary book. The premise reminded me of the Netflix show, The Haunting of Hill House, which also has a House of Horrors and complicated sibling dynamics, but unlike the show this doesn't really explore the sibling relationship. It felt like disjointed short stories where we follow each adult sibling and how they dealt with life after their traumatic childhood, they agree to Lexie's plan and then they disappear from the novel. The childhood flashback scenes were more gripping, however, I felt like the characterisation of the parents was poor and stereotyped with the jump to chaining the children given no explanation, particularly the character of father who's your usual run-of-the-mill Bible clutching religion fundamentalist. Also, I think because I've read books that deal with similar themes that have done it better, such as The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell, that in comparison to those Girl A just fell apart for me. It's 2/5.

A amazing debut which will be huge.
Disturbing and unsettling this is not a easy read especially as a parent.

A thought provoking book which at times o found difficult to read - the story centres around life after escaping captivity from her parents Girl A and her siblings learn to live again . Set years after escape the book takes you back to childhood life with a religious upbringing which led to Girl A and her siblings being basically locked in their rooms shackled and at times beaten . The current story tells of what happened after and where they have come to since.

<i>Girl A</i> is a suspenseful novel following Alexandra aka Girl A who upon her mother's death becomes the executor of the will and inherits the House of Horrors that she grew up in. The book switches between the present day - where Alexandra must get in touch with her siblings many of whom she has not spoken to in years - and the past in the House of Horrors itself.

This book was not entirely what I expected, I think I thought it would be more of a mystery and instead Abigail Dean deliver an interesting dive into recovery from trauma packed with plenty of twists along the way. Whilst it clicked instantly (and there were points I suspected it but quickly told myself I must have misunderstood) the end reveal took me completely by surprise. This story builds with so much anticipation, there are some things you know must be coming but there's so much to pause at along the way. Dean expertly chose the moments to focus on and knew just when to switch between the past and the present to maximise the effect.

Alexandra is a great perspective to view the story from, as the girl who escaped she's gathered sufficient attention but the reader is told that she is trying to leave the past behind, but the hints we're dropped and the stories Alexandra tells shows us why that's not entirely possible. I loved Alexandra as a lead, she was headstrong, independent, but flawed and acknowledged it. The exploration of her life after she escaped was absolutely fascinating and I found the mystery surrounding JP almost as interesting as the mystery surrounding her childhood.

I felt this book also did an excellent job of showing the horrors of the house without delving too much into it. Too often explorations of trauma and abuse can feel like they're there to serve the reader, that you have to go into deep detail to really show how horrible the situation is. Girl A doesn't dwell on specific instances, it shows you how horrible it is by showing the whole picture, by putting you in the mind of Lex and her confusion over what is taking place. We can tell what happened is horrible without Dean having to spell it out for us.

Overall I really enjoyed Girl A, and the amounts of twists and secrets helped me to fly through it and kept me on the edge of my seat. It'll definitely be one I think about for some time to come.

Lex Gracie escapes a house of horrors, along with her siblings she was placed into care and they were all adopted out to separate families. Now her mother has died she has to make peace with her siblings and herself in order to move forward.
This was not exactly what I expected but in a good way. It’s intriguing and shows a lot of emotion. Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for this arc in exchange for my honest review.

Thanks to Netgalley for the loan of this book.
I'd heard a lot about this book and therefore was greatly looking forward to it. Unfortunately I was disappointed with it. It got off to a good start, but then kind off never got off the ground for me.
The story starts with a girl A finding out her mother who was in jail, has passed away, leaving the house she grew up in to her an her siblings, who all live apart from each other. She sets off to visit each of them to see if they'll give their permission for her to turn the house into a community centre. The story jumps back in time to when all the children lived in the house, and the horrors they lived through, while there. The abuse they suffered in the house became more harrowing over time before girl A escaped and raised the alarm. The children are subsequently taken into care, their father kills himself and their mother ends up in prison. The story then drags on going back and forth between past and present until the end of the book, when a there is a shock revelation. This book dragged on for me, and left me wanting more. A good book, but did not excite me.

This book was heartbreaking and very heavy! I liked the moral ambiguity of the characters and how they weren't simply split into good vs evil. It was really devastating to see how their situation went from bad to worse. However, I found that the constant jumping around the timeline at times was difficult to follow and often had to read back a few pages to figure out where in the story I was. The ending didn't offer too much in terms of closure either but maybe that's more realistic for the story.

This is a long drawn out story with a lot of characters to get your head around. Their are a lot of flashbacks which can be confusing at times and hard to follow. It's based on a true story and it's beautifully written. Once you realise who all the characters are the story flows along nicely. Personally I prefer the flashbacks, which give you a deeper understanding of what Girl A-Lex and her siblings went through. It's harrowing, evil, sick and it gave me the shivers in places. It's a heartbreaking read and very sad in parts especially the ending, so have plenty of tissues on hand.
Don't be disheartened by the length and all the characters, because it all comes to a great, but sad and happy conclusion.
It's a brilliant debut and I'm looking forward to see what Abigail Dean writes next.

This book was so well written. It transported me right back to the children's past and to the atrocities they endures at the hands of their parents. The descriptions really didn't leave too much to the imagination so it was quite upsetting at times but unfortunately, tales like these are not always fictitious. For some they are the reality. Girl A was the girl who escaped. Every body knew of her, but didn't know her. She was the girl who survived the horrors inflicted by her own parents. She was spoken about across the land and eventually people moved on, just as she did, and she did her very best to put her horrific past behind her in an attempt to never have to think of that trauma again. But things change and when her mother dies she bequeaths their family home to Lex and her siblings. Upon hearing this news Lex embraces the fact that she must face her demons and look the trauma of her past in the face in order to move on with her life. Despite the subject matter, I really enjoyed this read and I give it 4 stars.

This book is one you won't be able to put down or forget.
Similar to 'room' and 'we need to talk about kevin' I was excited to read this book.
It is based on Lex and her siblings and their life they had living in her parents ’ House of Horrors before Lex escaped . After her mother dies in prison,and leaves the house to Lex and her siblings they have to finally face what happened to them and she has to eventually come to terms the horrors they all experienced..
Along with her sister Evie, she wants to turn the house into good and this can't be achieved before coming to terms with all that happened.