A new year and a new author. What a stunning debut this is! Thrilling and chilling at the same time, and engrossing from the start. Although the basic promise is not a particularly new one, the story is told in an original way, and it is beautifully written. We meet the seven children of a cruel and controlling couple and we are able to see what has become of each following their escape from virtual imprisonment, principally through the eyes of Girl A. I look forward to future novels by the very promising Abigail Dean.

When Lex Gracie's mother dies in prison after making her the executor of her will, she must approach each of her siblings to get their permission to turn their old house (branded the House of Horrors by the press) into a community center.

I loved that each chapter focused on a different Gracie sibling, detailing how they coped with their childhood trauma and how it has led them all down very different paths. While it deals with tough subject matter, it was such a compelling read that I read in one sitting.

This is sure to be one of the biggest debut novels of 2021 and it deserves to be a massive success.

Thank you to Harper Collins and #NetGalley for an advanced copy.

‘Girl A’ is Abigail Dean’s really impressive debut novel. Don’t be put off by the cover which does nothing to hint at the complexity of the sensitive portrayal of the eponymous heroine and her damaged siblings. Don’t assume that this may be yet another hard-to-stomach misery tale. It is far more than a simple catalogue of horrors. Perhaps one of this novel’s strongest features is its intricate and highly effective structure. We learn almost immediately that the Gracie children are rescued from their abusive, dangerous parents and, gradually, moving back and forth from past to present, we become aware of how they all arrive at the point where, Girl A, as she is known to the world and Lex as her family call her, has the tenacity and the courage to scramble out of her bedroom window and stagger towards help.
Some readers may be reminded of ‘Room’ by Emma Donoghue, given that the children are held prisoner in appalling conditions by warped adults who gradually lose all grip on reality, and the quality of the storytelling is certainly as nuanced and powerful. However, ‘Girl A’ also addresses the relationships between the siblings and how, in order to survive, total loyalty to each other is not a given. And what are the consequences of this when they are rescued?
In the latter half of ‘Girl A’, Lex explains her family’s emotional and psychological condition metaphorically. Describing a once sound house and garden, she conjures up a natural predator: ‘This is Japanese knotweed. By now, its roots will have penetrated the foundations of your house. … In time, it will destroy your property. If a single stem us left in the ground, reinfestation will occur.’ It is this ‘knotweed’ that we grow more and more aware of as we read of Lex and her siblings’ lives post-imprisonment. A fascinating, intelligent, shocking, yet never gratuitous, portrayal of damage.
My thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollinsPublishers for a copy of this novel in exchange for a fair review.

Intense, exquisite and unbelievably tense - I loved the sampler & the book delivered. Though I did find it a very dark and unsettling read I was hooked from page one.

I loved this book! Tense, intriguing and terrifying, but with plenty of human emotion. The novel is so well written and I really felt like I was part of the story. I believed every word from the minute and loved watching the narrative unfold. I am not great with thrillers, but this told a very sad and dark tale in a way that was manageable.

This book was brilliantly written and gripping to read, I wanted to keep doing back to the story to find out what would happen next.
It wasn’t an easy read though – the subject is a hard one (and although I obviously knew that before I started reading) I was still surprised by how down I felt at the end of the book. The first half almost felt quite hopeful but as the story progressed the real darkness came out.
I liked the style – often in the present but with flash backs to how things got to the point they did. Knowing what was coming it was easy to see how things would progress from the lower level abuse but also easy to see how those in the centre of it wouldn’t see it coming.
Lex was a likeable and resilient character and the author did a fantastic job of depicting a ‘realistic’ recovery for her and her siblings – it wasn’t all sunshine and roses. I think Gabriel was the sibling who tugged at me the most. There were so many points when you as the reader just wanted to sweep him up and protect him.
I had anticipated some of the revelations as the story progressed but not all of them at all.
All in all a superb novel that deserves the praise it is getting but not one to read if you are in a place of needing a happier story. Obviously lots of trigger warnings for this one as well – that I think are fairly obvious from the blurb but this contains, child abuse (physical and mental), cult tendencies, spousal abuse.

Lex is Girl A. She and her siblings escaped the 'House of Horrors' and their parents who inflicted untold abuse on them. When her mother dies in prison and leaves Lex in charge of the family home, she must face her past.
This was a tough read at times and incredibly dark.

I was attracted by the premise: "starts where other horror stories end", and Girl A is true to its word. I do slightly mourn the novel that is even more about the futures of the children, and less about the memories of their traumatic abusive childhood in the 'House of Horrors'. Having said that, Girl A does a good job of eliding the grimmer aspects of said childhood, focusing less on grisly details than similar novels might, and more on the complexity of recovery.

It's an admirably complex novel all round, with great characterisation and subtly shifting family dynamics, both in the remembered past and the narrative present.

I thought the strongest element (of many strong elements) was the tense, fragile relationships between the surviving siblings. The effects of trauma bonding and the struggle to build and maintain relationships outside of that trauma come through really well. This is helped by excellent writing - the kind of excellent that you don't even really notice. You might call it 'workmanlike' in that it does its job very quietly, which in my opinion is a great way to write anything thriller-adjacent.

It's well-paced, understated and unsettling, but not bleak, despite its honesty about the long-term effects of such extreme trauma.

4/5 stars

Thanks to HarperCollins and NetGalley for the ARC.

Having read a few reviews, I was a bit wary of Girl A due to the subject matter, which sounded very dark and disturbing. It is, but it shouldn’t put you off reading it.

Alexandra Gracie is Girl A - the one who escaped, aged fifteen, from her parents’ House of Horrors, leading also to the rescue of her siblings. (I’d initially expected a kind of Fred West scenario, perhaps because of the House of Horrors tag, but it’s not that - Lex’s parents are “only” abusive to their own children, keeping them - by the end - starving and chained, in a house rotting from within. Yes, it’s dark.)

In the present day, the children’s mother, Deborah Gracie, has died in prison, naming Lex - now a lawyer - as executor of her will. Lex wants to do something good with the house and the money - something to benefit the community- but to achieve that she has to reconnect with her siblings, all separately adopted and all with their own issues.

While the story is inevitably distressing - how could it not be? - we see only enough of the past to make the horror clear, without wallowing in it. (It’s not a “misery memoir” sort of thing, thank goodness.) Father’s accelerating madness and Mother’s hopeless apathy, as witnessed by their children, make for compelling reading, but the greater part of the story takes place in the present day, exploring how each child has dealt, or not, with their trauma. (I found Deborah, the mother, quite intriguing and while we do see a little of her backstory, it would have been interesting to have known more about her take on events while they were happening.)

Girl A is a fascinating read which raises questions about guilt and responsibility, trauma and recovery.

I really liked Lex, who has her issues - how could she possibly not? - but is a good person and a true survivor. I can’t agree with some readers who have found the characters underdeveloped.

Some readers have found the changes in timeline confusing - I didn’t find this to be the case at all. (To be honest I don’t know when I last read a book which just started at the beginning and carried on till the end... they’re certainly in a minority!)

A devastating read and a very impressive debut from Abigail Dean.

I was very excited to receive a copy of Girl A. It was considered one of the most anticipated this year, so I had fairly high expectations from the start. It’s a remarkable book and a difficult book. Remarkable, because I read it in such a short timeframe which for me means the writing flowed, the premise kept me engaged and the characters were lifelike in their struggles. Difficult because of the subject of child poverty, abuse and mental illness. The upside is, it’s a tale of escape and empowerment.


Told in two timeframes: Lexy now, trying to escape the media storm of the past. She is the eldest child in the Gracie family and executor of the will. After her mother dies in prison, the house is left to her and her siblings, forcing a return to Moor Wood Road. Faced with her siblings now, all of whom were adopted out, it’s time to unpack their separate journeys and past traumas. As the two timelines begin to merge, Lexy is determined to turn the house into something good.


Then there’s Lexy as a child, whose chilling experience in what the press hypes as a house of horrors is a deeply layered excavation of the past. I was chilled to the bone with ‘binding days’ and a wasteland of neglect between the beds dubbed The Territory. You can smell rot and you can see skin ingrained with filth that would take several scrubs to put to rights. Flashbacks of early memories are painful to read – the slow decline into degradation and a mother powerless to stop the violence and the unnatural isolation of hungry children chained to beds. This, and the undertones of an obsessive father caught up in a chaotic and cult-type faith, will be hard for some readers. The book will have triggers, so check the comps (My Dark Vanessa being one).


At the start of the book, Lexy is a little disengaged, which is correct for a child in such an abusive environment. Tormented day and night and desperate to protect her sister, Evie, she understands there is no one to save them unless she escapes. Her plan is meticulous and cleverly executed and the author did a fantastic job of capturing the mood. My adrenalin spiraled out of control at this point.


I understand this book is based on a similar case set in a different location, but none of that detracted from the story itself. Masterful writing coupled with the need for survival had me gripped. It gave me the shivers in places and a few tears now and then. It’s one of those books that will stay with me for a long time.


Thank you Netgalley, the author, Abigail Dean, and Harper Collins UK - HarperFiction for the privilege of reading this book.

#GirlA #NetGalley

I was very excited to get the ARC of Girl A – from everything I had been seeing on social media it looks to be one of the ‘watch for’ books of 2021. Perhaps the high expectations going into the book ruined it slightly, however this book disappointingly fell a little flat for me.

The book itself shows a great premise – I enjoyed the flashbacks which showed the slow decline of the family from being ‘normal’ (if a little religious) to disturbing. Usually books like this would grip me and keep me reading until I finish it in one or two sittings. However, I found this book hard to keep picking up and that wasn’t to do with the subject matter. I found the characters a little hard to empathise with which is ridiculous considering the plot! The main character of Lex I felt too detached from in particular and this didn’t help with my engagement.

I enjoyed that the author took the time to fully explore each character per chapter in terms of what happened to them in the past and their journey since being adopted. However, I found the jumps between the timelines and character perspectives to be a little confusing and disorientating at times. The storyline of trying to spend the inheritance felt a little too forced and didn’t really introduce tension or suspense in any way to help hurry the plot along. The book also felt a little too long in places and I feel like it needed a better edit to make it punchier. I really liked the end twist though and I truly didn’t see it coming – this was what bumped it up to a 4 star read for me instead of 3.

Overall, for me Girl A felt a little over-hyped but it’s a moving and interesting book nonetheless. Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Collins UK – HarperFiction for the chance to read the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

There's been so much hype about this book and its all well deserved, Girl A grabs you from the beginning and doesnt let you go. Lex is one of 7 siblings who have been terrorised by their parents throughout their childhood; when her mother dies and she is left the house as an inheritance, Lex has to deal with the insurmountable issues that have built up.
Rich evocative writing, wrapping you up in the emotional complications and repercussions that such an unimaginable childhood would bring.
Definitely a huge hit for 2021, well done Abigail Dean

My thanks to NetGalley and publisher HarperCollins UK, HarperFiction, for the ARC.

Oh my goodness - what a heart-wrenching story!

Lex Gracie and her 5 siblings were rescued from their prison of a house after Lex, then aged 15, managed to escape. Lex is "Girl A", their names protected from the media. The story begins when their imprisoned mother dies, naming Lexi as Executor of her estate, meaning she has to contact her brothers and sisters regarding the family house and financial legacy they have been left. Along with the help of the solicitor, Bill, she begins her contacts and the narrative progresses through each of the children's points of view. The horrors of their childhoods; the abuse and torture they suffered at the hands of their parents - mostly the father through his decent into utter religious derangement,
This is not comfortable reading but each of the characters comes alive through their memories - from their own points of view, with Lex providing flashbacks of her own ordeal alongside conversations with her siblings as to the most appropriate use of their mother's legacy.
But Lex has one further ordeal she has to face on her own - does she want to, or is she content to leave things as they are? Are her memories of her childhood the same as those of her siblings?

A real page-turner which gradually reveals the past, leaking into the present. Totally engrossing. A Must Read!

“Girl A,' she said. ‘The girl who escaped. If anyone was going to make it, it was going to be you.’
A family of seven children- all but one are tied and neglected. Girl A, Lex, manages eventually to escape and raise the alarm. we then get two storylines- of the children as adults and of their life before the neglect. This isn't an easy read in places as you can imagine and anyone who has suffered abuse of neglect may find this triggers memories.. Once discovered the children were adopted individually by various families. The father had killed himself at the time of the discovery and the mother was imprisoned. She has now died and they have come together to sort out her will and the old house.Lex and Evie the youngest want to make the house something for the community and finally to do some good after the horrors that went on there. A harsh, stark, well written and vividly described tale of hardship but also of determination and tenacity. A much hyped book with a message- one that should be read by the oh-so-protected snowflakes- that not every family is loving and supportive- and no, it's not just in books- this really happens even now.
A gritty read and one to contemplate what may happen on the other side.
(restof links on publication)

'Girl A' by Abigail Dean is a tough read. It is harrowing in its depiction of childhood abuse, violence and the psychological scars which result from such experiences. It is stunning that this is Dean's debut novel as she takes some incredibly difficult themes, and a complex narrative web of past and present colliding, and sequences the events with great skill to immerse the reader in the dark past and bleak present of the Gracie family.

Lex is a survivor of the Gracie 'House of Horrors'. One of 7 siblings, she manages to escape her chains and run to find help, finally rescued from the maniacal clutches of her father. The reader follows her life years in the future, peppered with flashbacks of her childhood, as Lex deals with the issues of her mother's estate following her death in prison. We gradually meet her siblings, witnessing the long-lasting psychological impact of what they went through. Their dysfunctions and suffering as adults are not surprising considering the abuse depicted from their father, masquerading as religious devotion.

Whilst Lex, understandably, is not the most likeable protagonist, throwing herself into her work and keeping all people at an arm's length, her being a well-adjusted angel would not ring true considering what she is having to mentally recover from. She may well escape the house in the first chapter but there are plenty of harrowing secrets to be uncovered and twists along the way.

Dean has written a book with a hard edge. A difficult read but worth it for Lex's journey across the novel and the serious questions raised around how such a horror could be allowed to happen.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher who provided an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

A well written and interesting novel regarding the long term effects of child abuse on the victims both physically and mentally. I did find the disjointed timelines quite irritating though and found as there were quite a lot of characters I never really got to know any of them well.
Thank you to netgalley and Harper Collins for an advance copy of this book

Did not enjoy this book. Far too much back and forward which was confusing and hard to follow. I had heard great things about this book but it fell flat for me.

Thank you to Harper Fiction and Netgalley for an e-arc of this book!

I didn’t really know what to expect going into this one but oh boy what a rollercoaster.

I loved the chapter splits and how we were told the story of past and present day bit by bit. It was really well written. There was a few things I would have liked to have been more explained like all the operations Lex had to have, maybe the author was leaving it to the readers imagination.

The ending was so sad, I really didn’t expect that this book would make me feel emotional but it did. It felt like I was reading a true crime book.

Can’t wait to check out the authors second book when it’s released.

Girl A is a powerful and dark story about Lex, who survived horrific child abuse by her parents and is dealing with it as an adult when she has to return to the house along with her siblings.

There’s a lot of layers in this story which draws the reader in – we have her complex relationship with her brothers and sisters, as well as her experiences after escaping and going into care. We learn more about the effects of their awful childhood on each sibling – and learn that not everyone had the same kind of experience.

We jump between timelines, returning to Lex’s childhood as she tries her best to survive, and there are so many moments when I felt so desperately sorry for her. It really drives home the way that, should a parent choose to behave in a certain way towards their children, it can take a worryingly long time for anyone to realise just how badly wrong it’s gone.

The writing is addictive and the story flows really well as we uncover surprises. I may not have picked up on all the hints but I really enjoyed the realisation that some parts were not quite as they seemed.

The novel is laced through with an unsettling undercurrent of Lex never feeling quite free of her past, and there were characters in it that I really hated. There’s definitely parts that are hard to read but that’s to be expected given the theme. It’s a long book but one that grabbed me.

A powerful debut and I’m looking forward to whatever comes next from this author.

An interesting read. Abigail Dean can write extremely well -- I was quickly pulled into the story, which is narrated by Lex. The alternating between the present and past was well handled, each time offering more details of the Gracie children's traumatic upbringing and parental abuse.

I didn't love the book, and there were some decisions that didn't work for me (not going to include spoilers). There were a couple of cliches, but they're popular so I can see why they were included. But, Dean is a very good writer, so I'm definitely interested in reading whatever she comes up with next.

Well written, well-constructed, and quite gripping. If you're a fan of "gritlit" then I think you'll love it.