Girl A By Abigail Dean

‘Girl A’ is the debut novel by Abigail Denton and highly anticipated book from Harper Collins.

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 the highly anticipated debut from Abigail Dean and it’s Harper Collins big book of 2021. During the week, Harper Collins had its fiction showcase and front and centre was ‘Girl A’ with Abigail Dean excitedly announcing that the book was being optioned for a series having caught the attention of the people behind the hit television series’Chernobyl’.

I spent last weekend absorbed in this dark and gripping story that made for unsettling reading at times.

The story is primarily seen through the narrative of Girl A who is Alex Gracie, the eldest daughter in the Gracie family, who was the first to escape her controlling and abusive parents. She then brought the rest of her siblings to safety. Now, 20 years later, after years in prison her mother has died leaving her estate to Gracie to sort. Now, Gracie has to make contact with her siblings who all sent to new homes when they were rescued and decide what to do with the old family homestead.

I loved this story and can truly understand the hype that comes along with it. Alex is a great protagonist telling the story of her siblings, both in past and present tense that makes for thrilling and disturbing reading as she recounts the physical, emotional and psychological that her deeply religious father inflicted upon the family, whilst her mother detached herself from the situation. Through starvation and chained to beds, this book detailed horrific manners of abuse that makes the book fascinating to read. The story reflects on the how the children have adapted their lives, some have never recovered from the trauma whilst others have used the situation to their advantage being from the ‘House of Horrors’ family, claiming celebrity status. Of the siblings Lex, Ethan, Delilah, Gabriel, Noah and Evie, Lex has maintained a strong relationship with her youngest sister Evie and its makes for tender reading their moments together, both in the past and present.

A fantastic piece of writing that really gets under the reader’s skin, ‘Girl A’ is haunting psychological thriller that pulls you in more with every page. With twists, shock and scenes of a sensitive nature, this book will be your next book obsession.

You can buy ‘Girl A’ from Amazon and is available to buy from good bookshops.