Girl A is a stunning and unforgettable debut from Abigail Dean

Girl A is the stunning and unforgettable debut of author Abigail Dean and easily has a place in the top 5 best books we have ever read. We fully appreciate this bold claim but we have been obsessed with this book since we first read it in April last year after very kindly being granted an ARC from the lovely team at Harper Collins via NetGalley.

Abigail Dean was born in Manchester and grew up in the Peak District. She graduated from Cambridge with a Double First in English. Formerly a Waterstones bookseller, she spent five years as a lawyer in London and took summer 2018 off to work on her debut novel, Girl A, ahead of her thirtieth birthday. She now works as a lawyer for Google and is currently writing her second novel, Day One, which we cannot wait to read.

Girl A,’ she said. ‘The girl who escaped. If anyone was going to make it, it was going to be you.’

Lex Gracie doesn’t want to think about her family. She doesn’t want to think about growing up in her parents’ House of Horrors. And she doesn’t want to think about her identity as Girl A: the girl who escaped. When her mother dies in prison and leaves Lex and her siblings the family home, she can’t run from her past any longer. Together with her sister, Evie, Lex intends to turn the House of Horrors into a force for good. But first she must come to terms with her six siblings – and with the childhood they shared.

Girl A is a gripping and excellently written novel that’s dark and edgy as you become absorbed in it from the first page. Lex Gracie is the perfect narrator, as she recounts her and her sibling’s childhood, in the house of horrors they grew up in with their parents.

It’s how they’ve all found their own ways to deal with what happened to them. And Lex finding the courage to confront their horrific past and learn the true power of forgiveness and moving on.

Girl A is a novel we read in one entire sitting. We didn’t stop until we had finished it. It’s a story that radiates power. It will change you. it’s heart-wrenching at times, the twist in it and the ending are heartbreaking but feel oddly right and satisfying. It’s truly the most powerful and unforgettable debut novel from an author we have ever read.

Abigail Dean has written a story that will be talked about for generations to come. It’s a book you will never forget reading.

You can get a copy of Girl A here, it’s released Thursday 21 January via Harper Collins.

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