I love multi-generational books and this one fit the bill exactly. Four generations and all of the secrets and heartaches that come along with it. This is my first read by Barbara O’Neal and while it took me a little longer to get into this book, once I was hooked I couldn’t put it down.
This book explores the bond between families and the theme of forgiveness. If you’re looking for an uplifting read, I would highly recommend this one!

Barbara O’Neal is a favorite author for reliable, enjoyable women-centric stories.  This one, set in Devon, with a few references to New Mexico, hit all the right notes for me.  A bit of mystery, a bit of romance, highlighting the lives of four living generations.  No political references, which was exactly what I needed at this time of CV-19.  Even though the mention was relatively small, I loved that the family weaver was male.

A gripping tale of four generations of strong women, each grappling with their own challenges.  The story slowly reveals how each woman is able to face her own challenges and how those challenges strengthen and/or heal their relationships with the other women in their family.  It is a tale of love, loss, grief, bonds, community and family.  Entwined in this heartwarming family tale is a murder mystery solved only as the women heal their relationships.

Another beautifully written and compelling story by Barbara O’Neal. I fell in love with WHEN WE BELIEVED IN MERMAIDS and couldn’t wait to dig into THE LOST GIRLS OF DEVON. It did not disappoint!

The reader quickly finds themselves entangled in the  lives of four generations and all the life that comes along with each of them. The story is full of mystery, intrigue and reconciliation. If you’re looking for a book to escape into, this is it!

The Lost Girls of Devon draws you into the lives of four generations and all the turmoil that you would expect. The title has a twist as the woman are lost emotionally to each other and there is also a mystery in the story that involves missing girls.This was a  great storyline with lists of twists.mystery and new loves. I really enjoy Barbara O'Neals writing style and have read all her books.. 
Thank you to the publisher and Netgallery for the ARC and to the Author.
This is my honest review.

A compelling, heartfelt tale of four generations of women, seeking to find their path and heal their pain; some of which they caused each other.

Isabel is fifteen and has been traumatized by an experience with her High School friends that she isn't willing to talk about - even with Zoe, the mother she is so close to.  Meanwhile, Zoe's friend in England has disappeared and so the two of them decide to cross the Atlantic to visit Zoe's ailing but proud grandmother in the same town. 

If you're looking for escapism in these dark times, this book will sweep you away to Devon in the South of England, to a fishing village complete with quaint shops, white cliffs, fish and chips and an annual festival. As always, Barbara O'Neal paints with all the senses, not just the sights, but the smells, sensations, colors, and taste of being there in her story universe, nestled in a village by the sea.

With this novel she touches on a universal theme of forgiveness, and how the inability to forgive can prevent us from moving forward and being happy in the now. And asks the question of whether forgiveness can really be an option for Zoe, who has never moved on from her own mother abandoning her as a young child?

Lovers of intergenerational stories and those looking for an escape from today's reality, where you can be immersed in a different place and the lives of others, will particularly appreciate this uplifting exploring the bonds between women.

This is the third Barbara O'Neal book I've read in six months, after When We Believed in Mermaids and The Art of Inheriting Secrets, and I'm happy to be back on her bandwagon. Like those other two books, The Lost Girls of Devon tries to pack a little too much plot into the pages; apparently Women's Fiction isn't enough anymore unless it has a suspense subplot woven in. But O'Neal juggles the multiple balls in the air deftly, and if the suspense angle is the part that gets a little short shrift, I'm okay with that.

The title is ironic; several women are missing from the English West County community of Devon, including Zoe's one-time best friend Diana. But Zoe and the rest of the women in her family are "lost" as well. Her grandmother Lillian, a successful mystery novelist, is starting to show signs of dementia. Zoe is recently divorced and her 15 year old daughter Isabel has suffered a devastating trauma, the details of which she refuses to divulge. Zoe decides to leave her Santa Fe home for Devon to check on her Gran, give Isabel space to heal, and see if she can find any clues to Diana's whereabouts.

Once she is in Devon, Zoe has mixed feelings about running into her old boyfriend, Sage Cooper. She loved him deeply but ended up breaking his heart when her dreams of becoming an artist met an end early in her college career. But there's no mixed feelings about her mother, Poppy, who left her with her Gran when Zoe was a child and never returned. She refuses to speak to her, or even be in the same room with the woman who abandoned her. Poppy may be the most lost girl of all; her one-month adventure to find herself thirty years ago turned into years of adventure and loss, and now she is home to take care of Lillian and come to terms with the impact of her free-spirited behavior.

As the four main characters take turns narrating, we get a chance to see parenting is a variety of forms - neglectful, careless, loving, smothering. We are also allowed to make up our own minds about what can be forgiven, if not forgotten. While Lillian wasn't always a great mother to Poppy, at least she was present. It's a lot harder to understand Poppy's rationale for leaving Zoe behind for so many years. Her kindness to other vulnerable local girls, her caretaking of Lillian, and her immediate connection with Isabel don't compensate for the terrible damage she caused to Zoe. As someone with her own Mother issues, I can say that the scars you receive as a child aren't easily healed, so I viewed the reconciliation between Zoe and Poppy with a great deal of suspicion. But O'Neal gets it just right, neither fully absolving Poppy nor damning her.

The second chance at love plot with Cooper is predictable but sweet. Zoe and Cooper have a chance to find their way back to each other as they work together to find Diana. Their physical connection is as strong as ever, but they have to make their peace with their respective pasts, both good and bad, before they can be together.

The suspense plot was the least interesting part of the story to me, and I suspect O'Neal's heart wasn't truly into it either. But she does a decent job at seeding clues throughout the story, and although most of the work is done by the local police, Zoe and her family do have an important role to play in solving the mystery of the girls' disappearances.

O'Neal successfully combines romance, family dynamics, and a bit of suspense in a beautiful setting. Definitely a strong candidate for a summer beach read (if we're allowed to go to the beach in the summer of 2020).

I received an ARC of this book from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.

O’Neal weaved a tale of characters that quickly draws you in. To the point, readers will stay up past their bedtime because they can’t get enough. I’m not typically one that enjoys a multi-plot storyline, but she did it seamlessly. There’s a bit of everything, for all types of readers. A taste of magic, suspense, and drama. I will definitely being reading more of Barbara O’Neal’s stories.

An estranged mother suffering from dementia. A daughter whose oblivious to her own daughters tragedy. Four women in need of change.
What could be worse than having a mother dying (estranged) and not being there for her? Well, try having a daughter who was abused and not knowing about it because you were off having an affair with a married man?
Oh, snap!
But look, I get it...We all have problems..
Zoe daughter of Lillian and mother to Isabel has to overcome more than just shyness as she attempts to learn to love, forgive, and tear down walls built for protection.
This brings to light a new tunnel that she slowly goes through to reach a new life and love.
Meanwhile, all is not roses as we uncover her best friend Diana went missing.
A body was found on the beach which was a girl who visited Poppy for palm readings.
Now, we learn that a storm is brewing and sadly it's bringing something with it to light...
Diana has been found!
Life is cruel. Life is hard. Life is not perfect.
This is the story of those flawed characters that's beautifully written and magnified in a way that brings too light those imperfections and triumphs over tragedies.
Thank you to Barbara, the pub, NetGalley, and Kindle for this ARC in exchange for this honest review.

Thanks to Netgalley for the preview of this book.  I really enjoyed it. The style of writing was quite good & the characters were easy to warm to & care about.

A really good read. Devoured it in a couple of days. 
4 generations of one family all with their own story to tell. I loved learning about each character and working through their issues. From great grand daughter and bullying to mother with abandonment issues. Notbdepressinb but uplifting. Also set in beautiful surroundings.

I loved this multigenerational drama . I have loved everything   She has ever written . She has a way of creating a love story without snappiness and her novels are always atmospheric .

5 stars / This review will be posted at BookwormishMe.com on 01 July 2020 . 


This book was phenomenal. I don’t even know where to start to review it. Just a wonderful story from start to finish of four generations of women. Zoe is the mom of Isabel. Isabel has had some sort of tragic bullying episode in high school that has traumatized her and prevented her from going back to school. Zoe is divorced from Martin, a musician, and estranged from Poppy, her mother. Zoe and Isabel live in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where Zoe’s father raises sheep and is an artistic weaver.

Poppy is a free spirited woman who runs a shop in the town of Axestowe on the Devon coast. Poppy grew up in Devon and fell in love rather young. She raised Zoe in a commune in Devon along with several other children, Sage & Diana. When Zoe was seven, Poppy left to chase her dreams in India, saying she’d be back in a month. Zoe was left with her grandmother Lillian, a prolific mystery author, in a grand old estate in Devon. 

Each of these four women has had both tragedy and triumph in their lives. From Lillian’s late in life career as a novelist, Poppy’s successful Kitchen Witch shop, Zoe’s career and motherhood, and Isa’s ability to write. Yet there is also tragedy in each of their lives that holds them back from being all they can be. O’Neal so successfully captures these women as whole and real and imperfect. Zoe smothers Isabel because her own mother didn’t. Poppy ran off to chase her dreams because her mother didn’t. And so the cycle continues.

Enough good things cannot be said about this novel. I loved it so much that I might have to read it again and again. The sign of a well-written and well-cherished piece of work. There is the human factor, the mystery, romance and reality all rolled into one amazing piece of writing. Definitely a must-read!!!

Well written and entertaining book.  Well crafted plot and characters.  I received an arc from the publisher and this is my unbiased review.

A really good story about four generations of women.
It was an engrossing book and I enjoyed the story and characters.  I will say that I had a hard time keeping everyone straight in the first couple chapters. I’ve read several of this author’s books and this one didn’t disappoint. Definitely recommend! Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the early copy

Over this book was drawn right in.Beautiful settlng wonderful strong women.Each character is beautifully written each chapter devoted to a woman Looking forward to reading more by this author.Highly recommend.#netgalley#lakeunionpublishing

A  family drama of strong women set in the beautiful area of Devon.  How I wish i could return and visit that area again.  That saying, I loved this book and so glad that i Downloaded it.  A wonderful woman's fiction novel that I will suggest to my friends

Fantastic. A great story about four generations of women dealing with the unraveling of deep hurts and finding out who they are and loving who they are and knowing together they are stronger. There is also the mystery of a close friend Diana who has disappeared  and discovering just what happen to her. 
.Lillian, mother to Poppy and grandmother to Zoe, who was a fiction writer who is slowly developing dementia and coming to terms with the disease and also remember her own betrayal of her daughter by not being there when Poppy need her. 
 Poppy, mother to Zoe and daughter to Lillian, who escape marriage because of its constriction and left her seven year old daughter behind to find herself and finding love with a man who was married not thinking of the consequences of that relationship. 
Zoe, the daughter of Poppy, who keeps people at a distance so she doesn't get hurt again (I understand this one), who is still dealing with being abandonment by her mother.She is also dealing with her own betrayal of her old boyfriend Sage.
Isabel, Zoe daughter,Poppy granddaughter and Lillian Great granddaughter, who is dealing with a sexual assault from people who she thought were her best friends and dealing with such a deep hurt that I don't know how she survived it, but she does it with the love of the strong women in her life.
The mystery of the friend seems secondary but it  helps to tie all the elements together nicely and I kind of figure it out at the beginning.

While I enjoyed this book it was not my favorite by Barbara O'Neal. I liked the story but I feel like it was too wordy and descriptive and not enough of the story. The last part of the book was better than the first for me. That is when the story began to tumble out and get good. Even so, this author will always be an automatic read for me.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this book for an honest review.

This is a multi-generational story....4 generations, great-grandmother Lillian, grandmother Poppy, mother Zoe and her teenage daughter Isabel.  Their trials and tribulations, the dysfunctional setting between two women Poppy, and Zoe as well as Isabel who is running away from school and her friends set the stage for this story in the village of Devon.  As this scenario plays out, we have a missing women  Diana and the mystery behind her disappearance.  What happened between Poppy and Zoe, and what caused Isabel to leave her friends and school?  As we seek the answers to these questions, we're also trying to solve the disappearance of Diana, was it a murder?

This book set with emotions, frustrations, secrets and forgiveness was a book I just couldn't put down.  The author's details in writing this novel was amazing.  Highly recommended, a book you're sure not to want to miss.