By Kaylie Seed
Content warning: physical and emotional abuse of children, neglect of children, death of a child
Abigail Dean’s debut novel Girl A follows seven siblings who grew up in what is known as their parents’ “House of Horrors.” The seven siblings were discovered when Lex, also known as Girl A, escaped her captivity and was able to seek help. Fifteen years later, when their mother passes away while in prison, Lex is named executor and plans on turning the once horrid house into a community centre. Lex has to revisit the past in order to build the future, which means meeting with her siblings to get their approval to transform the house. A story about resilience, Girl A explores trauma and how differently it can affect people, even when they have gone through the same experiences.
Girl A is broken up into seven sections without smaller chapters, and some readers may find that the sections are too long, but having the book sectioned this way makes sense to the story and the siblings' lives. Girl A shows interactions between Lex and her siblings—both in the past and the present. Dean has done an excellent job of creating complex characters who can make the reader think about how their past traumatic experiences have shaped them into who they are today. Each of the siblings has notable strengths and flaws, which adds to the richness of the overall story.
Girl A is named a psychological thriller, however it reads more like literary fiction. Dean explores how these intensely traumatic events impacted each sibling and how they became the adults that they are. While there are elements of psychology throughout Girl A, it isn’t the main focus and the book is not very suspenseful. Dean’s prose is easy to follow even with the difficult topics brought up throughout Girl A, making this a quick read if the reader is in the right mindset. This novel touches on what happened in this awful home, but Dean doesn’t go into much detail because the story isn’t about the specifics of what has happened to these siblings, it’s about how they overcame and survived the traumas of their past, and how that has made them who they are today. Dean’s exploration of the impacts of trauma is fascinating, and if the second book she is currently writing is anything like Girl A, we won’t be disappointed.
Thank you, Penguin Random House Canada for the complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review!