The story is told in 2 timelines, Then, which is set in the summer of 1976 and Now ,which is the present day. The 1976 storyline is based around the Corvino family, focussing heavily on two sisters, Loo and Bee. Having moved to Iron Sike Farm during the summer of ’76, Joe and Cathy Corvino and their 5 children struggle to settle into their new life in the country. As the summer progresses strange things start happening around the house. Walls start knocking, bedrooms are trashed and mysterious bruises appear on the girl’s arms and legs.
Who or what is causing it?
In the present day, Loo is now all grown up and calls herself Lucy. When a team reopens the investigation into what happened at Iron Sike Farm all those years ago she finds herself unwillingly returning to the farm and reliving her past.
The book opens a lot of questions. What’s happening to the girls, is the house haunted or is someone playing tricks on them? Where does Joe Corvino disappear to? What really happened in 1976? It was the need to find the answers to these questions that kept me gripped up until the end of the book.
Out of the two timelines, I enjoyed the 1976 setting more but found the present day to be a bit creepier. There were a few hair raising moments that made me feel glad I had left the light on to read it. I enjoyed the family dynamic in the Then sections. The sibling relationship between Loo and Bee is quite complicated and poor Cathy seems like she is drowning in housework with at least one child constantly clung to her.
There are quite a large amount of characters to keep track of in this book. It seemed like a new one was joining every 5 minutes at first and I did find it a little hard to keep track of, especially since it is not told from anyone persons point of view.
Although this book errs on the side of spooky it doesn’t actually get too scary at any point so if you are fans of the horror genre this book will probably be a little bit tame for you, however as someone fairly new to this type of book I found it to be quite creepy in places.
As much as I enjoyed The Wayward Girls I half guessed what was going to happen near the end, something which I was hoping it wouldn’t turn out to be. I also found the ending to be a little rushed and unrealistic. I do feel like Amanda made sure most questions were answered whilst also leaving things slightly open to interpretation, which I liked.
This is one of the first paranormal, ghostly stories I have read and I think it was a good introduction to the genre for someone who is a bit of a scaredy-cat like myself. I would love to read more books like this in the future so if you have any recommendations then throw them my way, just nothing too gory please!
Who or what is causing it?
In the present day, Loo is now all grown up and calls herself Lucy. When a team reopens the investigation into what happened at Iron Sike Farm all those years ago she finds herself unwillingly returning to the farm and reliving her past.
The book opens a lot of questions. What’s happening to the girls, is the house haunted or is someone playing tricks on them? Where does Joe Corvino disappear to? What really happened in 1976? It was the need to find the answers to these questions that kept me gripped up until the end of the book.
Out of the two timelines, I enjoyed the 1976 setting more but found the present day to be a bit creepier. There were a few hair raising moments that made me feel glad I had left the light on to read it. I enjoyed the family dynamic in the Then sections. The sibling relationship between Loo and Bee is quite complicated and poor Cathy seems like she is drowning in housework with at least one child constantly clung to her.
There are quite a large amount of characters to keep track of in this book. It seemed like a new one was joining every 5 minutes at first and I did find it a little hard to keep track of, especially since it is not told from anyone persons point of view.
Although this book errs on the side of spooky it doesn’t actually get too scary at any point so if you are fans of the horror genre this book will probably be a little bit tame for you, however as someone fairly new to this type of book I found it to be quite creepy in places.
As much as I enjoyed The Wayward Girls I half guessed what was going to happen near the end, something which I was hoping it wouldn’t turn out to be. I also found the ending to be a little rushed and unrealistic. I do feel like Amanda made sure most questions were answered whilst also leaving things slightly open to interpretation, which I liked.
This is one of the first paranormal, ghostly stories I have read and I think it was a good introduction to the genre for someone who is a bit of a scaredy-cat like myself. I would love to read more books like this in the future so if you have any recommendations then throw them my way, just nothing too gory please!