The Broken Girls – Book Review

Hey all!!! Yesterday I finished The Broken Girls by Simone St James so here is my review of the book!!!

1950 – At the crumbling Idlewild Hall school for unwanted girls, four room-mates begin to bond over dark secrets and whispered fears – until one of them mysteriously disappears . . .

2014 – Journalist Fiona Sheridan can’t get over the murder of her sister twenty years ago, near the ruins of Idlewild. And when another body is found during renovations of the school, she begins to uncover horrors that were meant to remain hidden – and a voice that won’t be silenced.

No. of pages:- 354 pages

Date published:- March 20 2018

Genre:- Ghost Thriller

Simone St. James is the award-winning author of The Haunting of Maddy Clare, which won two prestigious RITA® awards from Romance Writers of America and an Arthur Ellis Award from Crime Writers of Canada. She writes gothic historical ghost stories set in 1920s England, books that are known for their mystery, gripping suspense, and romance.

Simone wrote her first ghost story, about a haunted library, when she was in high school. She worked behind the scenes in the television business for twenty years before leaving to write full-time. She lives just outside Toronto, Canada with her husband and a spoiled cat.

I have always wanted to read this book in a long time and was finally glad I got the book!!!

So in a nutshell–the story is divided into 1950 and the present day, 2014. In 1950, four girls, Katie, Cece, Roberta and Sonia are sharing a room together at the boarding school Idlewild in Barrons, Vermont, the boarding school that the girls despise. Then one day, one of the girls goes missing. The police and the headmistress think that the girl had runaway with a boy but the girls suspect foul play…

Fast forward to present day, Fiona, a freelance journalist visits Idlewild, as on the grounds of the abandoned now boarding school, her sister’s body was found, brutally murdered. Though the murderer is safe behind the bars, Fiona couldn’t still get over with her sister’s murder even after many years have passed. Then the abandoned place was bought by a wealthy family and while digging, they find the body of a girl in the well…

My first question:- is any of you all are a fan of horror stories? Have you watched horror movies? Well, my personal favorite horror movies are the Asian horror movies…

Anyway my point is this book is also like a horror story with a hint of thriller in the background. I was hooked into the story that I simply couldn’t put this book down–in other words, I can understand why there is so much hype about this book–the book is simply unputdownable. I really felt as if I am in some part of the horror movie. The book is well written, author actually did a good job of keeping the reader at the edge of the seat. The main character of the book is Fiona Sheridan, a journalist who is dating a police officer Jamie whose father Garett was the one in charge of her sister’s murder case at the time. The story was told from Fiona’s perspective and the 1950’s version was told by the four girls–Katie, Cece, Roberta and Sonia. Those four girls are all head stronged girl with different varying personalities, all having a reason of being in Idlewild, popular boarding school for girls who are “uncontrollable” i.e. the immigrant girls, the daughters that deemed shame and embarrassed by the parents. As such, all those characters to me are likable in my opinion as I feel sorry for them. I particularly felt sorry for Sonia as I realized that she was actually a Holocaust survivor and had come to America on the hopes of better life.

Last but not least, amid the thriller going around in the story, with the discovery of one of the girl’s remains and Deb’s murder, I like the ghost part of the story particularly the legend that is connected with the Idlewild school and the story about a girl named Mary Hand. In fact, reading parts about Mary Hand, especially when Katie and the others girls and Fiona witnessed her brought a chill into my spine!

Overall, I really enjoyed reading this book–was so hooked into the story, really loved it! For anyone who likes to read a good horror thriller story, this book is for you!

Worth five stars!