Girlhood

By Author / Illustrator

Cat Clarke

Genre

Adventure

Age range(s)

11+

Publisher

Hachette Children's Group

ISBN

9781784292737

Format

Paperback / softback

Published

04-05-2017

Synopsis

Real, compulsive and intense: Cat Clarke is the queen of emotional suspense. For fans of Jandy Nelson, Paula Hawkins, and Megan Abbott.

'Emotive, creepy AND funny. A quality page-turner' SARAH CROSSAN

'A new Cat Clarke novel is always something to celebrate and Girlhood could be her best yet' JUNO DAWSON

Harper has tried to forget the past and fit in at expensive boarding school Duncraggan Academy. Her new group of friends are tight; the kind of girls who Harper knows have her back. But Harper can't escape the guilt of her twin sister's Jenna's death, and her own part in it - and she knows noone else will ever really understand.

But new girl Kirsty seems to get Harper in ways she never expected. 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 Jenna 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 lost sister? Soon, Harper's closeness with Kirsty begins to threaten her other relationships, and her own sense of identity.

How can Harper get back to the person she wants to be, and to the girls who mean the most to her?

A darkly compulsive story about love, death, and growing up under the shadow of grief.

Reviews

Fans will be thrilled to see a new Cat Clarke novel and her latest is set at an isolated girls' boarding school - the perfect setting to capture the intensity and angst of teenaged girl friendships. When Harper joins the school's sixth form, she is still grieving the death of her twin sister to anorexia and the guilt that she carries for what she sees as her part in her sister's illness. She is taken under the wing of a group of friends who prove to be funny, warm and tremendously loyal but the arrival of new girl Kirsty tests that friendship to its limits and gives the plot an eeriness and tension that drives the suspense and definitely keeps you turning the pages. Clarke's writing is easy to read and entertaining but she also covers some big issues including bereavement, bullying and entitlement (this is a very rich girls' boarding school while Harper comes from a 'normal' family) as well as exploring the very intense friendships that can develop at this age. The story also touches on the girls' sexuality and we quickly learn if they are straight, bi or gay - and there is some swearing and drinking, which puts it into the older category even if the story itself could be enjoyed by 12/13+ readers. I think that teenaged girl readers would be intrigued by the plot and there is lots to enjoy in the friendships and pranks, as well as being carried along by the sometimes creepy plot. 384 pages / Ages 14+ / Reviewed by Emma Green.