Summer Reading: The Broken Girls

The next selection on my summer reading list was The Broken Girls by Simone St. James and, like the previous books on this list, I couldn't put it down! Journalist Fiona Sheridan's entire life has been overshadowed by the murder of her older sister twenty years ago. The murderer was caught and is serving a life sentence but she has always felt that there was something wrong with his conviction. She compulsively visits Idlewild Hall, the old abandoned boarding school where her sister's body was found, over and over again. When she discovers that the school is going to be restored, she thinks it would make a good article for the magazine she writes for and arranges a tour with the new owners. When the body of a former student is discovered during the excavation, Fiona is drawn into the history of the school. In the 1950s, four young girls were abandoned and forgotten by their families at Idlewild for one reason or another. They are united against the repressive atmosphere of the school and they bond over the ghost they believe haunts the grounds wearing a black dress and veil. After one of the girls goes missing, everyone assumes that she ran away but the other girls believe something far more sinister happened. Solving the mystery of the past might give Fiona the answers she seeks about her sister's murder. The narrative alternates between the events of the past and Fiona's investigation in the present and I found both timelines to be extremely compelling. I was impressed by the way in which St. James was able to weave the two seemingly disparate stories together in such a cohesive manner using the theme of injustice against powerless women. The characters are very well-developed and, because I wanted to discover all of their secrets, I kept reading well into the night. The school is as haunting and atmospheric as any of the settings in my favorite Gothic novels by the Bronte sisters and the supernatural aspect of the story is extremely well done. In fact, there were a few scenes that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end! The mystery kept me guessing until the last chapter and the resolution is quite satisfying. I highly recommend this suspenseful thriller!

Note:  Have you read The Broken Girls?  What did you think?