This book is so tense.
It’s about mothers and daughters, secrets and lies this book, was such a page Turner. A great book.

I thoroughly enjoyed Animals at Lockwood Manor and was excited to dive into this one.

The dual timeline will always appeal to me. I find this is the best way to unravel a story and get my mind whirring with all my different theories.

Once again Jane Healey writes beautifully and completely draws you into the story. I loved the descriptions and the tension that the slow burn provided.

This was my first time reading a book from the author but I am delighted to say I thoroughly enjoyed the story and I look forward to reading more books from the writer in the future!

I loved this book. It wasn’t quite what I was expecting from the description I saw, but it more than delivered in the storytelling and character building, and I just had to keep reading until I reached the end.

A joy to read, though sad. I'm going to read it again, like Juliann Whicker's Darkly Sweet, another superb story, one of many more to come I hope

My thanks to Pan Macmillan/Mantle for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘The Ophelia Girls’ by Jane Healey.

The early chapters of the book, builds the atmosphere and builds the characters story, preparing for the story ahead. I will say though it was difficult to navigate the past from the present at some points which did get confusing, and made the book hard to follow, not knowing who's story was being told.

There are two main characters of Ruth and her daughter Maeve, and they are so similar, they are both still searching for their place in the world. Ruth seems to feel uncomfortable back in her childhood home, where memories of the summer of 1973 seem to still consume her. Maeve on the other hand, is at the start of being able to make good memories, after being told that she’s in remission from leukaemia.

It was such a complex, atmospheric, captivating, unsettling and yearning read, the imagery Healey uses along with the imagery of the river and the crumbling Manor House, it was so detailed it helps build up the world in your mind that you feel like your there with the characters.

A coming of age story with forbidden relationships.

3.5*

This is a beautifully written and atmospheric read and the first I've read by the author. I was drawn to it by the synopsis and my love of the Pre Raphaelites. It is a dual timeline novel set in the 1970s and 1990s telling the story of Ruth and her daughter Maeve. The author explores the relationship between them and Ruth's childhood. Although the author writes beautifully for me this was too much of a slow paced novel that I struggled to immerse myself in.
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this digital ARC.

For me, The Ophelia Girls was a book of two halves. I enjoyed the earlier chapters and the atmosphere the author created but the predatory relationship in the second half of the book left me feeling uncomfortable and it became a chore to read. Not for me, unfortunately.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a free e-copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

There is no denying that The Ophelia Girls is a beautifully written, all-consuming novel. The main characters of Ruth and her daughter Maeve, are similar, in that they are both still searching for their place in the world. Ruth seems to feel uncomfortable back in her childhood home, where memories of the summer of 1973 seem to still consume her. Maeve on the other hand, is at the start of being able to make good memories, after being officially told that she’s in remission from leukaemia. But she still feels like a child - and she doesn’t want to be.

And then along comes Stuart: her mother’s childhood friend, and a friend of her fathers as well. Stuart makes Maeve feel seen. And this is where my internal klaxon went off. Stuart comes across as a predator. He notices Maeve’s infatuation and revels in it, finally taking advantage of her feelings. At least this is how I interpreted it.

Maeve is a girl who has led a sheltered life - a life mainly in hospital. She hasn’t had the opportunity to mix with other children, boys specifically, and has little life experience with the opposite sex. Regardless of that, Stuart’s character truly made me see red. I know, I know, it’s a book, but if I could have reached in, pulled him out and disposed of him (not thought that through properly, obviously), I would have. I will say that the sex scenes between Maeve and Stuart aren’t written in a titillating way. It’s seen through Maeve’s eyes, and she truly believes that he loves her. All the same, if this doesn’t appeal to you, you might want to steer clear.

In contrast to her mother, Maeve does follow her heart, and the reader is left to decide whether she was actually any better off.

Do I recommend it? Yes, of course. It’s written with gorgeous, lyrical prose, and really makes you empathise with the characters. I’m glad I read it.

Enthralling

I loved The Animals of Lockwood Manor so I was looking forward to the next book from Healey. The Ophelia Girls was a languid, captivating read that had similar parallel storylines weaved throughout. I loved the imagery that Healey uses, and how she delves into her characters. The house and the river felt real and as much a part of the story as Ruth and Maeve.

Recommended.

Thanks to Netgalley, Healey, and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review.

‘A perfect snapshot of girlhood…’
Such am enthralling coming of age story, both of Ruth and Maeve. Beautifully plotted and capturing all those unsettling, yearning, transformative feelings of being stuck between child and adult, ironically in no-man’s land. So many secrets hidden, yet histories shared. A real page-turner too, as I’m currently bleary eyed from staying up late to finish this. Loved it.

This ended up being a DNF for me sadly due to the grooming and child / adult relationship. It wasn't for me, but I can praise the amazingly dreamy writing style, and wish the author all the very best.

This book is full of parallels, symmetry and similarities of Maeve and her mum Ruth, as they both reflect on spending their summer in the old family house that belonged to Maeve’s grandfather and both partake in forbidden relationships. Ruth thinks back to the summer spent with her friends by the river, dressing up as various characters and taking pictures of each other while Maeve, who has just gone into remission from cancer treatment, is pursuing an affair with her mum’s old friend photographer Stuart, who has her pose similarly as a variety of characters, including Ophelia and Persephone.

With Maeve’s rebellious streak coming out and her becoming more daring and wild, Ruth starts getting flashbacks to her own youth and how that ended tragically for one of the five Ophelia Girls, as they called themselves. As the summer goes on, we learn more about the relationship between the girls and we see parallels of Ruth’s adolescence in Maeve. I think Healey did an excellent job describing the scene, I loved the imagery of the river and the crumbling Manor House, and the common miscommunications that Maeve and her parents came to as teenager and parents. This novel is a great coming of age story that also helps adults reminisce on their younger days and first loves.

I enjoyed this dual timeline mother-daughter story. It was well written with interesting characters and a good plot.
It's not completely original, but an entertaining read nevertheless. If you like dual timeline historical settings, it's a good option.

complex, atmospheric, and sensitive coming-of-age tale that evokes the languid days and nights of summer. It is beautifully written and rich in symbolism with references to art, literature and mythology. I found myself very caught up in the narrative and absolutely adored its ending.

The story of the Ophelia Girls follows Ruth, a mother who finds herself back at the country home she grew up in after her father’s death. We realise that her life has been difficult, as we learn very quickly her seventeen year old daughter Maeve has recently recovered from leukaemia. The relationship between the pair is at first presented as somewhat tense, despite us learning that Ruth has done her best to be a good mother.

The narrative confused me a little, as the structure went back in time to Ruth’s childhood, when she and her friends took pictures of one another in the river nearby - ‘The Ophelia Girls’.

Interestingly, an estranged friend, Stuart, is brought in as a plot device. From their first meeting, he takes a liking to seventeen year old Maeve, commenting on her likeness to the Pre Raphaelite paintings her mother and her friends had endeavoured to recreate in the past. This brought up questions about his relationship with Ruth or in the past (a loose end that was not tied).

Overall, I appreciated the portrayal of nature and references to Shakespeare, Maeve’s growth in the novel and the Pre Raphaelites, but was a little disappointed by the predatory nature of the outsider, Stuart and the fact that Ruth was used as first person narrator - it was difficult to navigate the past from the present.

I wanted to enjoy this book much more than I actually did - loved the cover and the premise, but it felt one dimensional, despite the dual timelines of 1973 & 1997 and the contrasting perspective of mother/daughter. Predictable and slow at times, this read like a mini-series rather than the dark, twisty thriller I was expecting.

From the first few pages of The Ophelia Girls I had an ominous feeling; the story is told from Ruth and her daughter Maeve's point of view. We are given glimpses of Ruth's past and her teen obsession with pre-Raphelite images/Ophelia and recreating the scenes with her friends. Obviously there are complicated relationships between them all. When a male friend from the past visits the family in the present Ruth's daughter Maeve becomes besotted and he is soon recreating the same images with her.

I found it disturbing at times and was just waiting for everything to fall apart. The obvious manipulation and infatuation of Maeve was frustrating as a parent of similar aged daughters and the idea that your parents will NEVER understand what you are going through.

My thanks to Pan Macmillan/Mantle for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘The Ophelia Girls’ by Jane Healey in exchange for an honest review.

I had enjoyed Healey’s debut novel, ‘The Animals at Lockwood Manor’, so was very excited to read her second one. It proved to be a haunting, lyrical novel that explores various themes including the nature of illicit desire and the complex relationship between mothers and daughters.

In the summer of 1973 Ruth and her four friends become obsessed with the art of the Pre-Raphaelites and spend their days by the river close to Ruth’s grand family home recreating tableaus, such as the drowning Ophelia and other tragic heroines. Yet by the end of the summer, real tragedy enters the lives of the Ophelia girls.

Twenty-four years later, Ruth is now married to her university sweetheart, Alex, and is the mother of three children. Following the death of her father she has moved her family into the still-grand, though rather crumbling, family home. Maeve, her seventeen-year-old daughter, has recently been discharged from hospital, now officially in remission from leukaemia. She is looking forward to finally being able to be a normal teenager.

Then Stuart, a friend of Ruth’s since childhood, comes to stay in a cottage on the grounds. He had been a celebrated war photographer though now works for glossy magazines. Maeve finds herself drawn to Stuart and vice versa. It’s not long before long-held secrets begin to surface…

The story is divided between the perspectives of Ruth and Maeve. It is through Ruth’s memories that the events of the summer of ‘73 are slowly revealed.

The relationship between Stuart and Maeve, even though she was of age, at times made for unsettling reading. Given her illness Maeve has had to confront issues such as her mortality and comes across as both older than her years and an innocent. At one point she is aptly described as ‘Persephone waiting for her Hades’. While the relationship didn’t warrant a call to Olivia Benson, clearly if revealed it was bound to cause problems between Maeve and her parents.

Jane Healey explores in both generations the often confusing transition to womanhood and the powerful bonds that can form. As someone who loves the art of the Pre-Raphaelites, I could appreciate the fascination that gripped the Ophelia Girls and would happily have gone searching for flowers and appropriate outfits alongside them.

Overall, I found this a complex, atmospheric, and sensitive coming-of-age tale that evokes the languid days and nights of summer. It is beautifully written and rich in symbolism with references to art, literature and mythology. I found myself very caught up in the narrative and absolutely adored its ending.

4.5 stars rounded up to 5.

The Ophelia Girls is a beautiful story of young women and their desires, a generation apart

In the summer of 1973, Ruth and her three teenage friends are staying in her country home obsessing about the Pre-Raphaelites which results in a tragedy when they pretend to be the drowning girl of Shakespeare's Ophelia.

Fast forward to 1979 when Ruth returns to the house after her father's death, together with her young twins and 17-year-old daughter, Maeve, who is in remission from cancer. Stuart, a photographer friend, joins them and asks auburn-haired Maeve to secretly model for him. Maeve is thrilled with the attention Stuart pays her and develops feelings for him.

The prose is intoxicating with its symbolic decadence, teenage desire, and description of the somewhat gothic home. Highly recommended. Many thanks to NetGalley and Mantle/Pan Macmillan for the opportunity to read and review The Ophelia Girls.