Little Darlings by Melanie Golding – Blogtour

Firstly I need to thank Lucy Richardson of HQ Stories for inviting me to read and review Little Darlings for this blog tour – I thoroughly enjoyed the book and of course Melanie Golding for writing it.

THE TWINS ARE CRYING.

THE TWINS ARE HUNGRY.

LAUREN IS CRYING.

LAUREN IS EXHAUSTED.

Behind the hospital curtain, someone is waiting . . .

After a traumatic birth, Lauren is alone on the maternity ward with her newborn twins. Her husband has gone home. The nurses are doing their rounds. She can’t stop thinking about every danger her babies now face. But all new mothers think like that.

Don’t they?

A terrifying encounter in the middle of the night leaves Lauren convinced someone or something is trying to steal her children. But with every step she takes to keep her babies safe, Lauren sinks deeper and deeper into paranoia and fear.

From the stark loneliness of returning home after birth, to the confines of a psychiatric unit, Lauren’s desperation increases as no one will listen to her.

But here’s the question: is she mad, or does she know something we don’t?

Loosely inspired by the ghostly folktale The Brewery of Eggshells, where a mother becomes convinced her twins are in danger, Little Darlings offers a fresh perspective on modern motherhood, postnatal psychosis and the roles women play.

It has always been thus: folk tales do not spring from whimsy; they warn us and teach us.

And speak to the fear in us all.

Praise for Little Darlings:

“Chilling story, beautiful prose. Little Darlings is stunning”— Clare Mackintosh, author of I Let You Go

“Riveting, terrifying and at times heart-breaking, Little Darlings had me tip-toeing through my dark house at night to…” — Annie Ward, author of Beautiful Bad

MY REVIEW:

Page 1 introduces us to DS Joanna Harper, she’s standing by a river, watching a young woman edge her way in, in her arms her 5 week old twins.

Then we jump to Lauren, giving birth to the twins in hospital, the story takes us through the birth and a traumatic hospital stay, during which someone tries to swap her own twins for Lauren’s – yet no intruders are found on the ward and CCTV is grainy and doesn’t yield any further information for DS Jo Harper. But she’s willing to trust her ‘Mothers instinct’ and Lauren’s case intrigues Harper enough for her to get caught up in it to only have the investigation halted when her boss insists that Police budgets must be considered.

Not before Lauren and her husband, Patrick head home with the twins, Morgan and Riley as a new family of four. For any new mum, this is an intense and time, but for Lauren with two new babies to care for its doubly worrying. Its not long before Patrick decides he can’t cope with the lack of sleep because the twins want feeding and heads to the spare room for solace and a peaceful nights sleep, which isn’t a lot of help to Lauren, she’s struggling too and now doesn’t feel supported at a time she most needs it.

Lauren finds it even harder when Patrick goes back to work and she’s left alone with the twins, she considers going out, but she’s so tired and the house is a mess, she stays at home. Then as she opens the door one day, the woman who tried to steal the twins is watching Lauren from the other side of the road, hidden in the bushes, then at the back door. Shes long gone by the time Jo Harper can get there. She calls Patrick and he goes home to help calm Lauren. This prompts heightened security measures at home and means Lauren retreats further into the safety of staying at home.

Lauren’s state of mind is vulnerable, she’s just had twins, she’s exhausted and everything is new to her, shes got no-one to fall back on and really support her when she could do with it and after Patrick puts the pressure on and a visit from another Mum in the baby group Lauren was part of, she decides to head out, much preparation is required and she nearly gives in, but makes it out. She used to love walking down by the river and a quick meet up and chat with the other new mums – fresh air, a coffee, some light exercise – it would do her good, wouldn’t it?

Joanna Harper’s history and present life are an underlying tone during the book, which also adds to the storyline and creates a reason to want to help Lauren. Theres also a great fairytale theme that features througout and this backplot creates some of the many chilling details during reading. Saying more about this would give too much away, so I can only mention it.

Is Lauren imagining it all? is it real? Is someone after the twins? Is someone following her?

I am a mum, and I can understand all of Laurens worries and fears, I can totally identify with the feeling of it all ‘getting on top of you’ and being tired. But still needing to do the washing, feed everyone, tidy up and look after a new baby too. So many times I thought, ‘yes, I remember doing that’ and reaching the to the six-week mark, when it all kind of clicked into place, but before then – it was so new and daunting and overwhelming. After reading Little Darlings, in bed one night, I went to sleep and woke up in a blind panic at 3 am and I honestly haven’t done that since I had a newborn in the house, but I remembered the feeling of sheer panic and thinking ‘the baby’ only to realise, I don’t have a baby (not anymore, shes 6 now!) so not only did the book disturb me, I found it so compelling and enjoyable that I needed to know how the twins were and how Lauren was feeling that day. Brilliantly written, the characters are so believable, the storyline is haunting and dark and this is such a great debut, its like Melanie Golding is a previously published author, the book flows so well, watch this space I say.

If you would like to buy Little Darlings click the link: https://www.hive.co.uk/Product/Melanie-Golding/Little-Darlings/22627817

@mk_golding @bookbellereads @HQstories #LittleDarlingsBook