Matilda and Nora Robb are sisters, daughters of the late artist Ingred Olssen.
Their childhood spent in Richmond England.
The book is told in part as information is gathered for a forthcoming book to be written about Ingred Olssen. The other parts of the book are present timescales and episodes from the past.
There are some very poignant moments, loved the choice of words and descriptive feelings.
A powerful and emotional read, some very sensitive issues are covered. A good book.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Publisher for an advanced e-book copy. Opinions about the book are entirely my own.

This book 👏

I was so excited to receive a copy of Girls by @kirstycapes.author via @netgalley having previously loved Careless and Love Me, Love Me Not.

Girls follows Mattie and Nora Robb, daughters of the renowned, some may say infamous, artist Ingrid Olssen. But, it’s unlikely the world will see her work again. On her death, Ingrid’s last request to her girls was to throw her ashes in a canyon and her paintings in to the sea. As Mattie, Nora and Mattie’s daughter Beanie embark on an epic trip to fulfill her wishes, they begin to unpick the painful scars of their past…

I loved this book 🤍 It had me completely hooked in the way I’ve come to expect from Kirsty’s writing.

This is such a vast, layered and intricate story, told through a cast of vivid and complex characters. It is a novel about the human experience, about navigating life’s challenges and learning to live with the burden of legacy. The world created is incredibly immersive and the characters seem so real - it feels like the girls could live down the road and be people I encounter in my everyday life.

While often tackling heavy topics - grief, mental health and generational trauma among them - there’s a warmth and humour that permeates the writing. Because as much as it is a novel about those topics, it’s also a novel about family, sisterhood and human connection.

This balance is one of the things I’ve come to expect from Capes’ writing and, for me, is something I love about her work. She doesn’t shy away from the more challenging aspects of the human experience, instead exploring them in a way that not only enhances the narrative, but also makes me as the reader relate to the characters more strongly. Although the situations may be very different, the universality of the emotions and the human experience jump from the pages.

I finished reading this one last night and it’s one of those where you feel sad to leave these characters behind.

Girls publishes on 16th May and I honestly think will be among my books of the year for 2024. I’d highly recommend it, and if you haven’t already discovered Kirsty’s writing, do pick up Careless and Love Me, Love Me Not!

Girls by Kirsty Capes is an enjoyable read about mother-daughter and sister relationships and about trauma and grief. I would read more from this author.

Directly after finishing Girls, I tweeted (xed? what is the verb now?) the author to say 'I have no words'. True, but unhelpful for a review so I will do my best to conjure some up. Girls is original, compulsive, heartbreaking and dazzingly written and deserves to be on every must-read and finalist list this year.

A new book about her now-dead mother forces Matilda, oldest daughter of celebrated and provocative artist and it girl Ingrid Olssen, to confront her past as she struggles to reconnect with her younger sister, Nora, parent her daughter into adulthood and come to terms with her own childhood, one in which she was neglected at best, abused at worst. A teen mother, Mattie is still in her early thirties, and on the surface doing well, working as an art therapist and in a new relationship, but under the surface she is filled with anger, guilt and denial, as well as protectiveness for her 17 year old daughter, Beanie, a protectiveness which has guided all her decisions since Beanie was born. Meanwhile Nora, still only in her twenties and making a name for herself as a performance artist, is fiercely independent yet severely struggling with her mental health.

When a retrospective of Ingrid Olssen's work is announced, a retrospective the artist herself would have hated, the three head off on a road trip through the Nevada desert to California with no clear goal except a knowledge that they have to do something. It's the most time Nora and Mattie have spent together since Mattie moved out in her teens, and with seventeen years of betrayal and unspoken truths and feelings between them, the ride is going to be bumpy in more ways than one.

There are so many truths in this book, about sisters, about loss, about childhood, about trauma, about parenting a new adult and watching them pull away, that I wanted to notate every word, save them to read again and again. I was utterly absorbed, unbearably moved and completely in awe of the author's skill and talent. It's only April but this might just be my book of the year. Highly recommended.

From the opening of this book I felt it had big promise to be like Daisy And The Six or books with that feel, hints that a epic journey was about to become sadly as the book went on the promise wasn't to be and while there was a journey it was no where epic.

Having the read the authors previous novel "careless" I wasn't sure what to expect when reading this while the premise of the book is very different a lot of the themes about childhood trauma, bad parenting, the relationships between mothers and daughters which are presented in a very different type is story this wasn't a bad thing and the writer makes some really clear important social points about mental health, the class divide and neglect.
The flashbacks to the girls childhood were heartbreaking. The author takes real care with these parts and writes them with tenderness and respect.
While on the face of the synopsis the book sounds like a complete shift from the authors previous work they are in face very alike, dark, depressing and harrowing.

Told in the first person POV via Matilda and with interview transcripts we are told the story Ingrid and her two daughters moving back and forth though the past and present. The story itself is harrowing I found the pace, tone and characters all lacked. It was very slow in parts and dragged on, in particular the present day parts. I felt though out I was waiting for a big revelation or something to happen but nothing ever did.

The book is quite depressing and leaves you feeling cheated, while I liked how the ending was a happily ever one I felt the full book lacked any nuance it was very slow and heavy going.

Am sure this will be a big success but for me there was something I couldn't connect with, be it the characters, the writing style or the plot it just didn't hit the spot for me, perhaps I was expecting a different kind of book going on the synopsis and that's why it didn't work for me

Girls is a touching story about two sisters, Matilda and Nora, and their difficult family life.. The book is full of ups and downs, making you laugh and cry along with the characters. It's a moving tale about love, loss, and the strength to overcome tough times. A heartfelt read

Overall I loved reading this book, especially discovering the family dynamics that brought the girls close but also apart and how these experiences can define or change us.

Girls in the first book I have read by Kirsty Capes and I enjoyed it so much I now need to go and read her previous novels!

Girls is a novel voiced by Matilda (the eldest daughter of artist Ingrid Olsen) who tells the story of her and her sister’s lives. Their mother, who was just as well known for falling out of bars and nightclubs as her art, left the girls to mostly fend for themselves as they grew up, Karolina, their aunt, was sometimes a presence in their lives, but their absent father was based in America with his new family, Whilst trying to look after herself and her sister, Matilda had a baby - Beanie - when she was seventeen with her childhood sweetheart, Gus, who is now a successful lawyer. The story starts around the anniversary of their mother’s death as a writer is writing a biography of Ingrid which coincides with their aunt’s plans to set up an exhibition of Ingrid’s work in America.

I found this to be propulsive and compelling reading, finishing it in a few sittings. The characters felt original and Matilda’s narration was a believable voice. The whole story felt authentic and unique and provides a great read. I recently read a book on Netgalley dealing with similar themes: sisters, family, death and grief, but this outshines it completely.

Utterly compelling reading. Girls reads like a deeper, more literary version of Daisy Jones and the Six, one that takes an unashamedly honest look at the impact of trauma on mental health and how truly dis functional families can be. At the same time there are hopeful, funny moments that lift the narrative and make this a must-read. Loved it

Kirsty Capes is an incredibly talented, versatile author. I have read her previous two novels… Careless and Love me, Love me not which in themselves had very distinct identities, and Girls is another change of direction. A joy to find an author that will keep you guessing what she’ll write next.
Girls tells the story of two sisters, Matilda and Nora, who are the daughters of a late celebrated, successful and notorious artist. A great artist, but not a great mother. After years of little contact, the sisters are brought back together in the aftermath of their mothers death, dealing with a biographer who seems to be getting far too close for comfort, and their Aunt who wants to bring together an exhibition of their mothers work. As childhood wounds are reopened, so the healing of their relationship could begin. But both are really scarred from their childhood where they were regularly abandoned by their parents, led to fend for themselves , and those scars might just be too deep.
I laughed and I cried. I adored this family. My heart soared and it crashed. It has all the emotions, and I loved it.