I love Sarah Hilary's Marnie Rome series so I was interested to see what a stand alone would look like. I'm glad I did, this was a really well written and clever, albeit slightly creepy, thriller and much to be enjoyed.

Nell and Joe have run away from their foster carer from Wales to London but now Joe has gone home from a club with a much older woman and Nell must find him. What is their story and how will it play out? Read this novel for yourself, you won't be disappointed!

Nells story is a shocking one. As a foster child she is abused and put to work by her foster mother Meagan whose only motivation is money. The more children she takes on, the more money she makes and the mire work Nell has looking after them all. As she becomes a teenager Nell and Joe develop a secret relationship that takes them and Rosie their 6 Yr old foster sister on secret rendezvous. During the hot summer they sneak out to a nearby pond to swim with the tragic consequence being the catalyst for what happens next. Surviving first on the street and then as a housekeeper the tangled tale draws to the inevitable and tragic conclusion.
The style is dark and haunting, the characters not that appealing but the story is compelling enough to carry the reader through. Not a happy take but one that will make a lasting impression.

I found this a very interesting book. It threw light onto the lives of foster children who in some cases are not treated well by foster carers. I am sure that that there are some very good ones, but there must be others who present a front to the social services, whilst treating their children in a bad way.
This book shows the damage done to some and this led me into the story of Nell and her search for someone to care for her.
She did seem a sad figure , but she was very resourceful.
She ends up as a housekeeper, after tricking her way into the house of a doctor who is a magistrate. What follows gets ever more complicated, but it was a very readable book and I enjoyed it.

The story begins with children in foster care. The plot was intriguing and I definitely wanted to keep reading. I felt the characters were toxic, if somewhat unbelievable. The second part of the book Nell worked as a housekeeper to a man whose ex-wife appeared to have an unnatural control over him and the depraved activities within the house. I was left questioning whether it could ever be a plausible situation.

However, it was a very complex plot with all damaged or broken characters. Throughout the story was filled with uncertainty.

A very uncomfortable read but I wanted to continue until the end.

Enjoyed this one, it was quick and easy to read, the plot was easy to follow if a tad slow at first. Overall enjoyable read.

Thank you to Netgalley and Pan Macmillan on the arc of this book.

3 star read for me- This was a good read, well quick one too I read within 24 hours, it was a good book, well structured and written get confused at times but then gets brought back into it.

⭐⭐⭐

A really interesting premise of a girl who has grown up in foster care and escapes, only to be "imprisoned" again working as a housekeeper/maid in a bizarre ancient house in London.

This book definitely kept me guessing up to the end, as it was completely different to Hilary's usual style. Her first stand-alone novel and she is branching out to explore new ways and styles of writing.

This novel has an other-worldly feel to it and I must admit, sometimes I thought bordered on magical realism, even though there is nothing fantastical that happens. All the characters seem to be psycho-analysing each other intimately and there is a lot of complexity in the ways that they are all connected.

Not what I expected - this is not your run-of-the-mill police procedural, but intriguing and relevant all the same.

Thoroughly enjoyed it.

I rarely read psychological thrillers, but the description enticed me to try something different. However, I found it to slow and it took to long to engage with the story. It was intriguing to know the outcome and to try to understand how the characters were linked so I did read to the end. I found the ending at odds with my expectations. It was clear that some children who are put in foster placements can be mal treated, but it was disturbing that the main character had such a sad, damaged life which led to her attachment to her foster sibling/boyfriend. However, the well off male to whom she became housekeeper was very strange and it felt to unrealistic to me. His wife was even stranger.
I am sure this story will appeal to many who enjoy psychological thrillers, but it was not for me. Hence giving only 3 stars.

A girl sits in a cafe watching the house opposite, waiting for someone to emerge. Only he doesn't come out. So, she takes matters into her own hands and gains entrance, finding herself a job, a home, maybe a lover in the process. But Nell knows better than most that there is no place like home and the past will always, always, come to find you.

Taking in broken marriages, broken homes, broken trust and revenge, Fragile is a tight claustrophobic book filled with broken characters. As a reader there's no way of knowing who to trust, whose reality is manufactured, what is real, what imagined and what is hoped for. With just five characters, the tension never lets up, yet as every character is flawed and untrustworthy, it's also hard to root for any of them as they lie, cheat and coerce their way through the book. Intriguing and deftly plotted, Fragile is an uncomfortable read.

Two teenagers run away from their foster home after a traumatic event.
After Nell is abandoned in London by her boyfriend Joe she talks her way into a job as a housekeeper for a man who is working on cataloging his books and papers.
A dark and disturbing slow moving story about jealousy, control and revenge.
Thank you to NetGalley and Pan Macmillan for my e-copy in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks Netgalley and the Publisher. What a fantastic read, terrific storyline, great characters and generally a wow read.

I’ve tried several times to start reading Fragile but it just doesn’t grip me. DNF

- Middle rating for fairness -

Nell Ballard and Joe Beach are former foster children from ‘Lyles’ in Wales previously run by Meagan Flack. Nell and Joe are bound by secrets and both are manipulated by cold hearted and lazy Meagan. They run away to London where after a few months Nell talks her way into a housekeeping job with Dr Robin Wilder at Starling Villa where he has strict rules. What unfolds is a dark psychological thriller with shades of the Gothic. The story is told by Nell and Meagan, both questionable in their reliability.

I really like the premise of this novel which is extremely well written and absorbing. There are some good descriptions both in Wales and London. Starling Villa almost comes alive and certainly appears to keep a watchful if grubby eye on proceedings, although it is pristine after Nell has finished with it! The characters are not likeable but they are horribly fascinating in their toxicity. They are all fragile and damaged in some way shape or form and most carry the burden of guilt and seek a safe haven from their past. The first half especially contains creepy, mysterious occurrences and it is menacing and full of threat. The second half is a weird power play of destructive behaviour between several protagonists with revenge and the need to survive to ensure they are not collateral damage in the unfolding domestic noir.

Overall, this is a very intriguing psychological thriller with multiple threads running through it. It’s dark and thought provoking with much to reflect on, especially the fragile nature of human beings and their hope for redemption.

With thanks to NetGalley and Pan McMillan for the arc in return for an honest review.

Nell is an intriguing protagonist, her past is sad and painful and her present status is ambiguous, is she meant to be in the strange house cleaning and cooking?
When her past starts to come after her, she doesn't try very hard to stop it. Meghan is monstrous - how she was ever allowed to look after any children is bizarre.
A really intriguing story about control and power that I couldn't put down.

Thank you for the advanced copy of this book.

I really liked this book, in fact I read it in a day because I NEEDED to get to the bottom of the story. It’s a very dark story and I while I can’t say I liked the characters (as in as people, the characters are very well written) I found myself wishing for Nell’s happy ending.

If you are a fan of psychological thrillers then this book is right up your street! I highly recommend it.

A dark and twisted novel of dual aspects, the rich is rotten, the clean is dirty and the lies are secrets.

Sarah Hilary really showcases her exquisite writing style in FRAGILE. So different, so removed from anything she has written before and quite possibly a risk taken for fans of her Marnie series.

I went into this book with a clear mind, choosing to put aside everything I have read by Hilary, knowing that this should not and cannot be compared.

I raced through the first half of this book loving the detail, mystery and drama of the story. But over time I felt that the ‘drive’ of the story was becoming weaker and I was struggling to connect with the strange Dr Robin.

I suppose my critical mind was slightly annoyed with Nell’s imagination. A lot of her life’s worries in Starling Villas was, to my mind, of her own invention rather than reality.

It’s such a tricky book to review and I’m not entirely happy awarding it 2 stars because the writing deserves more. But for me, the story could’ve been a lot stronger. Sarah Hilary is very good at weaving twists and turns and I wonder if this deviation in style has meant that that skill took a bit of a back seat?

Thanks to NetGalley for my advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

There is a deliciously dark thread running through this book. The characters are well drawn and defined and we get to know them better as this story unfolds. All the participants are damaged and slowly reveal their secrets.

However, I found myself facing a huge dilemma. Should I read this as quickly as possible to follow the storyline and the characters to discover the ending and just what did happen to Rosie? Or, should i read it slowly, in small chunks and savour every word?

I chose to linger over the tale and enjoy the prose. But, I couldn't help myself and in the end read the last 20% in one go. I needed to see what had happened and why.

this book shows that people can be damaged in so many ways. Being a fostered child or a respected magistrate is no indicator or protection.

Looking back I realise what an extraordinary piece of work this is, full of menace, joy, dark and light; the question of redemption must remain just that.

I love Sarah Hilary and her crime novels but this didn't hit the spot for me I 'm afraid

This is a very dark novel (yes her crime ones are too of course) but this seemed very dark and very sensitive. As story about foster children and those running away from home to seek revenge. I was confused at times and the characters didn't always ring true for me. The house at the centre of the story though was the real star for me. OMG get out of there and RUN i wanted to shout, Very atmospheric.

There were a lot of messages about the state of society here and whilst I did enjoy aspects of it, I prefer her more straight forward crime novels.

‘Fragile’ is a stand-alone story by Sarah Hilary and the reader reads it through Nell's eyes and experiences. Nell becomes a housekeeper at the house of a very reclusive and strange house owner. It was difficult to get into the book at first, but when I started rolling with it, I couldn't wait to finish it! Recommended for anyone who loves a mystery with a twist!
TB

I flew through the first half of this book,desperate to know it all,as the tiny clues were not enough.
It's full of strange people doing strange things... then it continued to be so,and I felt it didn't go anywhere.
Enjoyable writing,just left a bit unsatisfied with the whole story.