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The Beloved Girls cover art

The Beloved Girls

By: Harriet Evans
Narrated by: Siobhan Redmond
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Summary

The outstanding new novel from the Sunday Times Top 10 best-selling author of The Garden of Lost and Found.

'It's a funny old house. They have this ceremony every summer.... There's an old chapel, in the grounds of the house. Half-derelict. The Hunters keep bees in there. Every year, on the same day, the family processes to the chapel. They open the combs, taste the honey. Take it back to the house. 'Half for them' - my father winced, as though he had bitten down on a sore tooth. 'And half for us.'

Catherine, a successful barrister, vanishes from a train station on the eve of her anniversary. Is it because she saw a figure - someone she believed long dead? Or was it a shadow cast by her troubled, fractured mind?

The answer lies buried in the past. It lies in the events of the hot seismic summer of 1989, at Vanes - a mysterious West Country manor house - where a young girl, Jane Lestrange, arrives to stay with the gilded, grand Hunter family, and where a devastating tragedy will unfold. Over the summer, as an ancient family ritual looms closer, Janey falls for each member of the family in turn. She and Kitty, the eldest daughter of the house, will forge a bond that decades later is still shaping the present....

'We need the bees to survive, and they need us to survive. Once you understand that, you understand the history of Vanes, you understand our family.' 

©2021 Venetia Books Limited (P)2021 Headline Publishing Group Ltd

What listeners say about The Beloved Girls

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

A quite different Harriet Evans

I've just finished this with a smile on my face but to be honest it was a long time coming. I definitely think this will be a marmite book if you, like me, are a fan of this author. It was almost like she'd been told to 'uplevel' her writing style and this did distract from the story a little, lots of descriptive language and needless sub plots. All that said I did enjoy it, but for me not one of her best.

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3 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Deeply moving, utterly gripping

I got this as fluffy convalescent reading but was blown away. Harriet Evans has upped her game hugely - this is a world away from her other novels and really quite outstanding. I don’t suppose she will get the full recognition she deserves, now she has been pigeonholed (and of course she is a woman writer!) - but I salute her and am humbled by my own assumptions. It resonated with me particularly as a 50 year old professional woman who experienced some of the traumas and experiences described in the book. So thank you, Harriet Evans, and thanks also to Siobhan Redmond for such a vivid rendering of this surprising, ambitious, passionate and compassionate book.

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3 people found this helpful

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    1 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Too long

I found the story repetitive and predictable. The song was so annoying! The reader was excellent but the story meandered round in circles without any unforeseen twists

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1 person found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Rather disappointing.

The story started for me with such promise and was of great interest as the story was based in the area which I live. Unfortunately my interest waned as I found the tale terribly slow and I struggled to listen to the whole story.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Struggled to get to the end

Very slow story, managed to get to the end but wished I had given up when I got there.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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  • V
  • 29-11-23

Suspense and intrigue

I found this book totally gripping from the beginning until the very last moments. I was never sure what was going to happen next. A great read.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Haunting and thought provoking

Took me a few chapters to completely get into this book but once I did I was hooked! A gripping tale slowly unfolding as the story comes into focus. Really enjoyable listen

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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Mind wanderer

Didn’t enjoy this at all! Mind kept wandering and in the end I stopped listening !

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Special and I couldn’t stop listening

If there is a grand old house somewhere called Vanes I think the owners should quickly rename it…
Couldn’t put it down, wanted to know how things developed and so do enjoyed this.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Confusing….

Found it hard to follow and not overly engaging. I do like to try different genres and it may be that this isn’t one for me

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