Abigail Dean - Girl A (would love a chat with spoilers!)

I recently read it and cried so hard when I found out about Evie (I had not twigged). A good, page turner of a read that has really stayed with me.

Just finished Girl A. I read avidly but found the ending of it disappointing and abrupt. I guessed I was Evie on the beach, and yes I questioned if Lex committed suicide.However I don't think she did , just that Evie was with her. I ðidnt think it was particularly well written, maybe that was my lack of concentration? I maybe should read it again? But I have no desire to . I found it implausible that so many children wouldn't be checked on by the authorities, particularly with Lex being so close to her teacher . Maybe if I read about the Turpin family case, which I hadn't heard of prior to searching for answers about the book , may help 🤔. Too much psychological damage, I think to make the successful career of Lex plausible. I'm glad I found this discussion on Girl A as I came to similar conclusions as most of you

I don't remember it mentioning the father had wood in his hand but if it did then what you said makes total sense. I definitely got the feeling especially with Gabriel that he sexually assaulted by his father, but it wasn't clear (at least not to me).

I only remember it saying he struck her in her stomach but again I think you are on the money and it was worse than just being hit.

I saw mentions of what "father" did to Gabriel and Lex...and why Lex can't have children. I don't think it was because she was hit in the stomach, it's because in both instances he was holding a small peice of wood, like off the cross in the kitchen. I believe he raped Lex with it and raped/sodomized Gabriel. Lex told Evie to turn around and not look, just like father told Delilah to turn around when he was "punishing" Gabriel.

I didn't think she committed suicide. She said she knew she would wait for her (assumed it was Evie), it was more she had a peace.

Twigged Evie hadn't survived but not straight away.

I found the book a bit hard to read. I'm an avid reader but I had to read several passages a few times and then still wasn't sure quite what was meant. I also think some things weren't clear what happened exactly (like with the abuse of Gabriel).

I assumed from what was written her Dad hit her in the stomach and somehow it affected her fertility.

Felt like some threads were not explained enough like Ethan's role in the abuse and in his later life towards Lex.

Overall was an interesting read but definitely think it could have been better if it had gone more in depth with certain parts. Found the chapters to be too long (obviously chapter per character) and disjointed going back and forth.

It's funny but as I was reading it I was thinking where is this book going? The problem was I don't think it went anywhere. Room for improvement I think.

I think, like the author, she wants to tell a story, to partially rewrite history. I suppose we all do that. Certainly each sibling had their own version which was not always consistent with the others. Her and Evie always dreamed of going to Greece, she wanted Evie to have a better ending than the real one of not regaining consciousness and so her last memory of Evie, she would prefer to be her in Greece. It both shows how much she still needs to work through but also her desire to be positive and possibly move beyond her past.

I’ve only just read this book. I worked out the Evie thing from the start. Wasn’t sure about the ending but veer towards thinking not suicide.

Was it implied that Lex was Noah’s mother? I couldn’t work it out. I felt that’s where it was heading, especially as the implication was that her dad sexually abused her as punishment after finding the book - I assumed she’d been raped by him because her mother couldn’t have any more children safely after Daniel, but it was never revealed in the way I assumed it would be.

Found it a really odd read - often had little clue what was going on. Found the first half a bit dull but more engrossed by the last quarter. Incredible writing but not a book that I enjoyed reading - I had to labour my way through it.

Lex and Evie always spoke of Greece and going there one day.
There's no suicide, Lex is far too much a survivor, but Evie will always remain a part of her in a way for Lex to remember her and move on herself.
No chance it's her mother at the end.
Ethan is way too up his own arse considering his early participation and lack of bravery.
His behaviour in later life also suggests he has more to answer for than he ever will!
Good book, left me sad! 😪

I have been looking for somewhere to discuss this book.

What a difficult read it was. I finished it weeks ago and can’t get it out of my head. I had no idea about Evie and was completely thrown by that. As well as poor Gabriel!

I found the writing made it hard at points to understand what exactly was going on, but if I read over a paragraph a couple of times I was able to make sense of it (when she ended up in hospital after learning about Evie is a prime example of this).

I found it interesting that Lex covered for Ethan after he choked her in the bedroom when she visited, I also found the sentence where Lex wonders what Ethan and his fiancé do sexually concerning as it made me question whether he had done anything like that to Lex.

I am also unsure about whether Lex committed suicide at the end of the book, I wondered whether I am unsure because I didn’t connect with the writing but now I see others are asking the same question.

carismatic jolly...aufkm??...more like misogynist, phoney, rapist rip off artist...quasi religious sanctimonius pig....

great points...

just finished girl A...does Lex kill herself??...seems so...the scene with her & evie..on the beach.."so much time to spend tigether..."

hated ethan...tbat prick was the the clone of psycho-bitch daddy...

go figure...eh..?

I am glad to find this thread, just finished it. I thought something was going to happen or be said by Ethan at the end, to uncover something else. Poor little Gabe is right

I ‘enjoyed’ this book also, and found it so sad. I thought it was well written, how the abuse slowly ramped up. You could really see how the father was influenced by the charismatic Jolly.

I didn’t think the house would be converted to a community centre. That would surely bring attention to the negative aspects of what happened. I think the house would be torn down, like the Wests house.

The way I interpreted the ending, which was ambiguous, was not that Alex was going to commit suicide, but that Evie would just be a part of her forever, no matter what stage of recovery she was in. Another ambiguous part of the book to me was what happened when the father found the book under the mattress. Yes, he hit Alex in the stomach--but did he also rape her as punishment?? And perhaps Gabriel as well, which could be the source of his Gabriel's "rages."

I listened to this on audiobook and didn’t know anything about it beforehand. I was utterly gripped and couldn’t stop listening. I had zero idea about Evie until it was obvious and also interpreted it that Lex committed suicide by walking into the water at the end

Puffincino How about the way Ethan was ‘successful’, by using selective bits of his past in the most effective way? Did you think it was plausible? For me it was.

The more I think of the ending, the surer I get that Lex drowned herself.

I was interested in how the father was a failure in life and he had no control over anything outside the family home. The scene where no one comes to his grand church opening, and the scene as they are leaving the Blackpool hotel both seemed so psychologically 'true' to me.

By contrast I didn't believe at all that a child removed from education and tortured would be working as an international corporate lawyer just a few years later. Not at all. Every time the book did a trappings of success scene it lost me.

I had it on audiobook and I don't know if it was Holliday Grainger's monotonous disinterested tone of voice but I couldn't empathise at all and didn't care what had happened to any of them.
If the premise was that Girl A was sooo badly psychologically damaged that she couldn't be bothered to engage in the world (hence monotonic moan) it might become interesting but there was no suggestion that this was the case and I gave up a third of the way through.

I thought it was Evie that Lex saw at the end. But my question was whether the ending meant Lex was going into the water (with imagined Evie) - effectively committing suicide. Did anyone else think this?

I too was confused by who was on the beach with Lex at the end.
I had presumed Evie but not really sure.

Who do you think it was?

And what was the point of it - was it that Lex was still deluded?
And all her psychologist's input over the years had failed after all?
I don't know...

Having recently seen the interview with the two survivors from the Turpin family case, I’ve realised that this has used quite a lot of detail from their story, which doesn’t feel quite right to me.

I had read great things about it beforehand but didn't find it remotely compelling. I'm wondering if I missing something.

I read it earlier this year. I thought it was quite implausible and a bit...silly?