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Title: Girlhood
Author: Cat Clarke
Narrator: Caitlin Ward
Format: Unabridged
Length: 7 hrs and 49 mins
Language: English
Release date: 05-04-17
Publisher: Hachette Childrens Books
Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 1 votes
Genres: Teens, Fiction & Literature
Publisher's Summary:
Harper has tried to forget the past and fit in at expensive boarding school Brodick Academy. But she can't escape the guilt of her twin sister Izzy's death and her own part in it. But new girl Kirsty seems to understand Harper. She has lost a sister, too. Harper finally feels secure. She finally feels...loved. As if she can grow beyond the person she was when Izzy died.
Then Kirsty's behaviour becomes more erratic. Why is her life a perfect mirror of Harper's? And why is she so obsessed with Harper's dead sister?
A darkly compulsive story about love, death, and growing up under the shadow of grief.
Then Kirsty's behaviour becomes more erratic. Why is her life a perfect mirror of Harper's? And why is she so obsessed with Harper's dead sister?
A darkly compulsive story about love, death, and growing up under the shadow of grief.
Members Reviews:
Unputdownable!
This story was so entirely gripping that I couldn't stop reading. That's a rare quality in a book, so I would absolutely recommend it to anyone!
I absolutely loved it. It's described as a queer boarding school ...
This was the first Cat Clarke I read, which is shocking as she's a mainstay of UKYA. I absolutely loved it. It's described as a queer boarding school book, which is the perfect description. It's about toxic friendships in a very enclosed, inter-dependant environment, where your peer relationships are quite literally a matter of life or death.
The characters are grieving in different ways, and that emotion muddies the water with every interaction. I particularly loved the friendship between Rowan (lesbian) and Harper (bisexual). Both queer roommates, this seemed the inevitable friendship-to-romance dynamic, but things were both more complex, realistic and enjoyable than that. I would love to read a sequel set in their first year at university, when they are at different schools and struggling to maintain a friendship long distance.
The passionate-turned-mysterious Kirsty is an excellent character, who I have a lot of sympathy for. I didn't find her as interesting as Rowan, who I would have liked to see more of, but I guess that wouldn't have made the book as exciting! Kirsty's scenes were incredible dramatic - there's a moment with a shotgun which made my heart race, and all the priest hole hiding scenes were brilliant.
The boarding school is an expensive, Hogwarts-style Scottish castle, and I really enjoyed that element of the book. Harper's family won the lottery (the day after her twin sister died, in the most bittersweet twist of fate imaginable) so she comes from a very average background, compared to her friends, who have grown up in wealth. The experiences she went through felt very realistic. There's also a student-teacher relationship handled with a very expert touch.
Cat Clarke is a huge talent in YA, and I can't wait to make my way through her extensive backlist.
2.5 stars - A mixed read for me.
*I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Thanks to Hachette Children's Group and NetGalley*
2.5 stars
Harper goes to the Duncraggan Academy, a boarding school in Scotland where she has made several close friends during her time there. But she has never told them the guilt she feels over the death of her twin sister, Jenna, from an eating disorder.
Then a new girl, Kirsty, starts at the school.
