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    The Drowning Girl
    The Drowning Girl
    The Drowning Girl
    Ebook402 pages5 hours

    The Drowning Girl

    By Margaret Leroy

    3.5/5

    ()

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    About this ebook


    What if there was something deeply wrong with your child and nobody believed you?

    Young single mum Grace is drowning. Her little girl Sylvie is distant, troubled and prone to violent tantrums which the child psychiatrists blame on Grace. But Grace knows there's something more to what's happening to Sylvie.

    There has to be.

    Travelling from the London suburbs to the west coast of Ireland, Grace and Sylvie embark on a journey of shocking discovery, forcing Grace to question everything she believes in and changing both their lives forever.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins Publishers Australia
    Release dateJun 1, 2013
    ISBN9781743640784
    The Drowning Girl
    Author

    Margaret Leroy

    Margaret Leroy read music at Oxford and subsequently became a social worker and social work researcher involved in counselling couples and sex therapy programmes, and in work with abused children and teenagers. Since taking her MA at Leicester University she has published numerous articles and two books. She is married and has two daughters.

    Read more from Margaret Leroy

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    Reviews for The Drowning Girl

    3.5/5

    16 ratings16 reviews

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    • 3/5
      When I started this book, I didn't expect it to be a Stephen King-type story, but that's where it went. I have nothing against King, who is a fine writer; it's just that I read so many of his novels in the 1980s that I burned out on them. In the case of Yes, My Darling Daughter, Leroy gives us a single mom with a creepy kid. Little Sylvie goes into screaming fits if touched by water, she insists on calling her mother Grace, and she has a weird attachment to a dollhouse and a photo of an Irish coastal town ("That's where I lived, Grace"). So you can see where this is going--enough said about the plot and the mystery about to be unravelled.Although I felt compelled to keep reading, at the same time I was irritated with myself for doing so (when I could have been reading something more substantial and enjoyable). I really disliked the character of Grace, who had a habit of melting and running for her "tightest jeans" and "highest heels" every time she saw a wealthy older man. (Sylvie's father was an older married man and father, and Grace can't seem to let go of her fantasies of being with him.) She's one of those women who never seems to learn from her experiences, and she is quite immature. She also drags the story out by repeatedly cutting off any questioning of Sylvie just when it seems to be heading towards some answers. For the last 100 pages, I often found myself wanting to scream, "For God's sake, just push a little and get it over with!" I also found the writing a bit tedious, with some quirks. For example, Leroy seems to have discovered the word "judder"--she uses it ad nauseum. There's also a lot of repetition where an editor might have helped (e.g., "wet raincoat" used unnecessarily in two consecutive sentences).In short, I think I've outgrown this genre. The book might appeal to someone who still enjoys the creepy kid/hints of past lives kind of thing. I'm giving it a little higher rating than it probably deserves, mainly because it did keep me reading--if frustrated--to the end.
    • 4/5
      Really enjoyed this book it was easy to read although at times would randomly veer away in all sorts of directions..it didnt spoil the storyline would definitely recommend.
    • 5/5
      Yes, My Darling Daughter is a wonderfully emotive and expressive novel. Easy to read and hard to put down, this book impressed me more than I thought it was. The various themes--a murder mystery, a supernatural element, a romance, a friendship, dealing with a difficult child--all combine into one solid story. Grace is the young, single mother of 4-year old Sylvie. She is having difficulty dealing with Sylvie's unpredictable behavior, both at school and at birthday parties. With virtually no support system, she struggles to help her daughter while trying to keep a roof over their heads. After meeting a psychiatrist she reads about, the story heads to the Irish seaside, where the beautiful descriptions are enough to want to get you to book the next flight over. While I could see where the story was going and in that sense it was a bit predictable, I still enjoyed the story and the characters.
    • 3/5
      Pretty disappointing since it was pretty easy to figure out the ending, but the author gave no plausible explanation for the bad guy's sicko actions. The only good thing was that it was a quick read.
    • 4/5
      I loved the atmosphere in this one. Grace's young daughter Sylvie is creepy, and as her behavior begins to alienate all of Grace's social contacts, Grace's situation gets more desperate. She turns to a psychologist who specializes in past life theories to try to help Sylvie. The book isn't perfect. For one, the relationship between Grace & Adam doesn't feel quite right. Also, Grace seems way older than 22. And there are a couple of very convenient coincidences in the plotting. Still, this is a thrilling, gothic-tinged ride.
    • 4/5
      A well written story. What a loving mother Grace is - patient, caring and protective of her precious Sylvie. The lengths she went to in pursuit of explanations and solutions for her daughter were evident throughout the book. As Grace and Adam got closer to the truth concerning Sylvie's past life, the story moved along quickly and I couldn't put the book down.
    • 3/5
      I thought this book started off kind of slow and was a bit repeatative. I also felt that Sylvie as a young four year old, would not have said some of the things she said. I thought even with the situation she should have had more of an attachment to Grace.I enjoyed the ending it was exciting and fun.
    • 4/5
      A very satisfying "gothic" type book that harkened back to my late childhood days of reading Mary Stewart and Victoria Holt! Only with a modern twist.The first part of the book does an excellent job of having us experience the unraveling of Grace's happy,simple life all due to the sometimes outrageous things her 4 year old daughter,Sylvie says. Her actions,like biting her friend,Lennie further alienate both mother and child from the comfortable,middle class mom mafia Grace has been allowed into even though she is a single mom. More and more Grace suspects that Sylvie has lived another life.In desperation she turns to college professor/para normal researcher,Adam. At his urging,the three of them set out to find the house Sylvie talks about in Coldharbour,Ireland.Once in Ireland the mystery of just who Sylvie was is revealed and the danger sets in.The ending was slightly less than completely satisfying but all in all this was a good in-between,beach type read that I finished in 3 days.
    • 4/5
      Young single mum Grace struggles to make life work but her daughter Sylvie?s odd and volatile behavior isolates the pair. Could be just a little girl with behavior issues and an overwhelmed mum, as everyone around them seems to think. Feeling the world closing in, Grace snatches at one last straw?a psychologist who claims to elicit memories of past lives from troubled children. Margaret Leroy keeps Grace and Sylvie?s world just a little off kilter. Yes, My Darling Daughter has been compared to Rebecca?Leroy invokes a very similar brooding vague unease. We?re not always sure things are what we think, or of what?s around any corner. The serviceable murder mystery plot holds up its end well enough. There are some clich? elements and that inevitable point in the story where the reader wants to yell at the main characters, ?Don?t walk right into the trap!? But these are not major flaws. Throughout, Grace?s determination to do whatever it takes to help her cold and rather unlovable little girl kept this reader rooting for them both. Now I?m rooting for another book from Leroy soon.
    • 3/5
      Grace is a single mother trying to raise Sylvie who suffers from what her mother comes to believe, past life memories which cause behavior problems for young Sylvie. The book takes on a journey of trying to capture these memories to heal Sylvie. This started out for me pretty good. About halfway through I started to lose interest not enough to make me quit, it just started to get a bogged down feeling. There was a feeling of get on with it all ready..and once it did I became interested again. Was an okay book but I think the author would have served this novel better by cutting some of what I felt was filler out. There just seem to be the same thing over and over alot of lettuce on the sandwich and I wanted more meat. I wouldn't read it again, but it was a good book.
    • 5/5
      I loved this book and devoured it quickly from cover to cover. It was just a bit predictable in places, but I never would have guessed who "Lennie" was. I would have liked to have read more about Lennie and Sylvie once this was revealed, including more about a connection between them. If this was real, Sylvie would have been labeled as "emotionally disturbed," but I'm glad the mother in this book was open to exploring the reasons for Sylvie's behaviors. I can't say everything that I'd like to say about this book because I don't want to spoil it for anyone, but I would definitely read more books by this author. Please note that this is the same book as "The Drowning Girl," the title it was published under in the U.K. Though this was supposedly the U.S. version, I wonder if it's exactly the same because a lot of the language was what would be used in the U.K.
    • 3/5
      Sylvie's mother thinks something is realy wrong with Sylvie...Sylvie calls her mother 'Grace' rather than Mom(Mommy, Mama. etc),she has horrific tantrums and nightmares,is terrified of water, and insists that she used to live in a little white house by the sea...Sylvie is only 4 years old...Sylvie's mother, Grace, is trying to raise Sylvie alone and seems to be at her wit's end about how to help her child. She gets no real help from the father who is not involved at all in their life. Grace is scared.I'm only about half way through this book and will finish this review later...so far, this has been a good read...
    • 4/5
      Brilliant. Poignant, gripping, and dark. The concept was new and fresh, and the writing style was so vivid as to be poetic, almost. The characters are exquisitely developed, and the dialogue is precise. I could not stop reading this book. An excellent Gothic fiction is hard to find, but I will happily add this to the list of my favorites. For those that need comparisons, think "Rebecca," by Du Maurier, "The Woman In White," by Collins, or "Sleep, Pale Sister," by J. Harris. I'm going to reread this to savor the nuances of Leroy's writing all the more.
    • 3/5
      Sylvie is a child with behavior problems, and a single mom who has no idea how to deal with them, or her. The child's father is out of the picture more or less, and is certainly not part of raising the girl. He has a family of his own, and has had for years. Grace has made it a habit not to interfere with his life, when he made it clear that she was not welcome to do so. Eventually,Grace loses her job due to difficulties finding child care due to Sylvies often bizarre behavior. Lavinia, her employer has done as much as possible to help, but has reached the end of patience and ability to help. Grace realizes that something has to be done, in order for them to survive. When Sylvie tells grace that one she had a house, a nicer house than the one they currently occupied, Grace began considering past life memories being part of the problem with Sylvie. She did research, and found a researcher by the name of Adam Winters. This was to be a turning point in all of their lives. With Adams help, his understanding, and eventually much more, they are abe to solve the mystery, and find a way for Sylvie to find peace.
    • 3/5
      Grace, a single mom, begins to suspect that her four-year-old daughter Sylvie, has lived a previous life. She sets off to discover the truth along with a professor who researches past life experiences. They travel to a small fishing town in Scotland that Sylvie has seen pictures of and responded strongly. The story focuses very much on Grace and her worries about Sylvie, whose behavior is very unpredictable and disruptive. It kept me reading and awake--the eeriness of the village and what happened there in the past is very well drawn.
    • 3/5
      A fairly good English mystery. Lots of atmosphere with a supernatural element. Main characters well developed. Really captures the young mother's worries about her troubled daughter.

    Book preview

    The Drowning Girl - Margaret Leroy

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