The Lost Girls by Heather Young

Happy Tuesday! Today I'm a stop on the Random Things tour for Heather Young's The Lost Girls. 

The Evans family have been residents of Williamsburg, Minnesota for decades. Their house was a primary residence for some time, then a summer home, and then primary residence once again. 

In 1935, sisters Lucy, Lilith, and Emily have returned with their parents for their annual summer trip. And almost everything is the same as it has been every summer. But this year, Lilith is older. And this year, Emily disappears. 

Decades later, Lucy is the only one left and she's decided it's finally time to tell her side of the story. One last thing before she dies and leaves the estate to her grandniece, Justine. 

Justine's life hasn't been easy. First, moving place to place with her wanderlust mother. Then, for a while, settled with the father of her children. But he left and her new boyfriend, supportive and loving, maybe isn't as safe as she'd thought. 

The house and estate she inherits from Lucy is a bit of a saving grace. But her inheritance is more than just a house and money. It's the story of a lost girl that has haunted the family for so very long. 

The Lost Girls alternates between Lucy's story and Justine's, so dual narrative and dual timelines. 

I really enjoyed the rich detail and emotion of this book. From the start, I had so much empathy for Justine and her situation. 

Here we have someone who longed for a chance to put down roots. And her life had so much upheaval that she swore she'd never do the same to her own children. And yet, when the story begins, she's faced with the decision to do just that or stay in a situation that's clearly untenable. That only becomes clearer to the reader, and the Justine, as she justifies her decision to herself in considering just what kind of life the three of them would face if they stayed where they were. 

And yet, the home in Minnesota that seemed like such a saving grace, taxes the little family in ways Justine couldn't have predicted. And that's without considering the mystery of Emily's disappearance, Justine's own mother, and Justine's ex, all of which are hurdles to be faced in their own right. 

Emily's story—told by Lucy—is truly tragic. And it's a shadow over the book as a whole. The reader is aware, from the beginning, that whatever the truth might be, it's an awful one. And it's weight has been a burden on the little hamlet as well as the family as a whole, even when Justine wasn't necessarily aware of it. 

But more than Emily's story and the mystery that surrounds her disappearance, this is a family drama. The relationships between women—Lucy and Lilith, Justine and her daughters, and Justine and her own mother—play a large part in the overall narrative. 

Having read The Distant Dead first, I was probably a bit more prepared for Young's overall style. While both books ostensibly seem like suspense/thrillers, they're the kinds of books that tug at your heartstrings with characters facing the dark reality of the world and ultimately trying to find hope in that reality. 

The Lost Girls is out now in the UK from Verve Books and in the US from William Morrow.