Published by Silver Wood Books on 14th July 2022
Format: Paperback
Source: Author
Amazon UK
They were beauties all right, them Roper girls - but sometimes even four aces don't make a winning hand.
In an unsettled household in the 1950s, how will the sisters come up from their shipwrecked childhood? Facing issues including domestic and sexual abuse, physical and mental illness, they struggle to offer their own children a better legacy. Follow them over sixty years to see if all the siblings make it safely to shore.
Angela: Whatever rumours you may have heard, I never knew Dad say my third sister Karen wasn't his.
Janet: She had promised that on her sixteenth birthday she would finally let him go all the way.
Lucy: I think Jan was away at a Guides' camp when I got run over.
Karen: Don't think I'll be rambling on like Ange ... I wouldn't want to leave you only her version, talk about unreliable memoirs.
Not sure how to review this one really, it’s a different type of book than I would normally read but it’s always good to step out of your comfort zones. I was intrigued by the blurb and wanted to check it out. There is a sad tale to be told by these girls, they didn’t have an easy upbringing or one where they were all together at times from what I could gather, and all I will say, baby Eric, it broke my heart reading that but also I learned something! I wanted to know what the girls were telling me. They had a story and they wanted to be told. I am not sure if I favoured any of the sisters over the other, but they were fierce about each other, even if they didn’t always admit it to us!
It was hard to get into this book, the only way I can describe it is when you have a conversation with someone and they go on a tangent halfway through telling you a story. I would be reading about Angela and she would be telling the reader one thing and then flip on to something else and then something else, to be honest, it made my head spin and I had to re-read a lot of paragraphs more than once to understand what was going on because it really wasn’t coherent.
I would say stick with this one, it is an interesting story, not always an easy read due to the subject matter but its one that you carry in your heart.
Until next time xxx
My thanks to Anne at Random Things Tours for the tour invite and to the author for a copy of the book in return for my honest and unbiased review
Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
annecater says
Thanks for the blog tour support x
David G Bailey says
Thank you Zoé @zooloosbookdiary for stepping outside your comfort zone as you say, to read Them Roper Girls. I appreciate your balanced reaction to it, and will take on board the less positive aspects you mention without becoming complacent over those parts you enjoyed. I certainly plan to quote from your review on my website http://www.davidgbailey.com. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and your readers, all the best David.
#BookReview of Them Roper Girls by David Bailey @davidgbailey @SilverWoodBooks @RandomTTours #ThemRoperGirls #ZooloosBookDiary