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37th out of 103 books
—
151 voters
Yes, My Darling Daughter
Every once in a blue moon, a masterful writer dives into gothic waters and emerges with a novel that—like Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca, Minette Walters’s The Breaker, and Donna Tartt’s The Little Friend—simultaneously celebrates and transcends the tradition. Welcome Margaret Leroy to the clan.What’s the matter with Sylvie? Such a pretty girl. Four years old; well loved by h...more
Hardcover, 352 pages
Published
April 14th 2009
by Sarah Crichton Books
(first published January 1st 2009)
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I must admit, this is certainly not a book I would have picked up on my own. I won this book through Goodreads. I don't typically enjoy books about the paranormal, but I was immediately drawn into the plot of Yes, My Darling Daughter. The short chapters and intriguing plot line make it a quick read. Parts of it were frustrating and predictable, but overall, I'm happy to have discovered this book. I will certainly pick up books written by Leroy in the future.
I copied this from the book's description....it's a fast read and I liked it. What’s the matter with Sylvie? Such a pretty girl. Four years old; well loved by her young mother, Grace. But there’s something . . . “off ” about the child. Her deathly fear of water; her night terrors; most of all, her fixation with a photo of an Irish seaside town called Coldharbour.“Sylvie, tell me about your picture. Why’s it so special, sweetheart?” My heart is racing, but I try to make my voice quite calm.“That’...more
When I saw “The Drowning Girl” by Margaret Leroy in my local Oxfam bookshop, I snapped it up. The question on the cover caught my attention - ”What if there was something deeply wrong with your child, and nobody believed you?”
Single mum Grace has a little daughter, Sylvie. As Sylvie grows up, Grace realises that she is “different” – she has emotional outbursts that leave them both utterly drained, she says odd things and she is completely terrified of water.
Professionals examine Sylvie and concl...more
Single mum Grace has a little daughter, Sylvie. As Sylvie grows up, Grace realises that she is “different” – she has emotional outbursts that leave them both utterly drained, she says odd things and she is completely terrified of water.
Professionals examine Sylvie and concl...more
Set in London and Ireland, Yes, My Darling Daughter has all those elements, which can hold the reader's interest till the end. Grace, a single mother of four-year-old Sylvie, works in flower shop in London. Her daughter is not like any other child. She acts beyond her age and seems to know something which is the beyond the understanding of Grace.
When Sylvie starts to get mean with her playmates and also has frequent tantrums, along with sporadic panic attacks, Grace doesn't know how to deal with...more
Grace is a single mom, who works in a flower shop full time, and spends her free time with Sylvie, her sweet little four year old daughter. The two live a simple life, in a not so great part of London, but their life seems happy enough. All seems perfectly normal with Sylvie until she begins having problems in preschool. She has outbursts, exhibits an extreme fear of water, and says odd things to her playmates. She also refuses to call her mother “mum”, and always called her “Grace” instead. She...more
This is the second novel I have read by Margaret Leroy and I must say I like her writing style. The story flows smoothly. Leroy does a wonderful job bringing her characters to life. In this novel, Leroy did a fabulous job depicting Grace as a woman who loves her daughter but also has needs of love and companionship. This story of a mother who tries to understand her daughter's odd behavior, behavior and words that seem to indicate memories of a past life is intriguing. The book did indeed captur...more
Having loved "The Collaborator", I had high hopes for this novel-especially in view of the very positive reviews available. But how disappointed I was. Although Leroy writes beautifully crafted prose, and has some interesting ideas for her themes and characters, my second foray into her work left me feeling empty and dissatisfied.
Firstly the underlying theme-reincarnation. This could be a good vehicle for a facinating examination of inexplicable events and emotions. However, it fell far short of...more
Firstly the underlying theme-reincarnation. This could be a good vehicle for a facinating examination of inexplicable events and emotions. However, it fell far short of...more
Light, pleasant, easy-read. Although I believe the idea for the novel quite curious ... a child who believes that she doesn't quite belong in her present life and thus believes she has lived in another time ... the story is quite disappointing and weak in its narration. A little too obvious and predictable. Grace, the mother of four year old Sylvie; single parent and very much isolated, yearns for the perfect family and a "normal" life; but Sylvie is different in that she is inconsistent in her...more
A mildly entertaining tale of reincarnation and an unsolved murder. Sylvie is a little girl with problems. She's afraid of water, calls her mother by her first name and speaks of her "real home". Her mother, Grace, is a single parent who isn't quite sure what to do to solve Sylvie's problems. Until she sees an article in the local paper about children who have past lives. This begins an exploration into Sylvie's psyche with the help of an attractive university professor, Adam. Was Sylvie murdere...more
The description sounded like a great concept for a book, however, the writer just doesn't manage to pull it off.
Very, very slow book. As there was too much focus on the mother, you never really feel attached to the the "drowning girl" so you don't really care if the mother figures out her problems or not. Many of the characters are dull. It does get a bit more interesting at the end, but it was too little, too late to make me care, I reached the point where I was only reading the book to finish...more
Very, very slow book. As there was too much focus on the mother, you never really feel attached to the the "drowning girl" so you don't really care if the mother figures out her problems or not. Many of the characters are dull. It does get a bit more interesting at the end, but it was too little, too late to make me care, I reached the point where I was only reading the book to finish...more
The rest of my book group were rather sniffy about this chick-lit novel about young single mum Grace struggling to cope with her daughter Sylvie's mysterious tantrums and fixations (she has an extreme aversion to water and won't call Grace mum), but I enjoyed it - despite being rather predictable I wanted to keep reading to find out exactly what had happened to Sylvie, and to see if Grace gets a new man.
The plot is reminiscent of a Daphne Du Maurier short story, a supernatural-tinged whodunnit w...more
The plot is reminiscent of a Daphne Du Maurier short story, a supernatural-tinged whodunnit w...more
Grace is a single mother trying to raise Sylvie, who suffers from what her mother comes to believe are, past-life memories, which cause behavior problems for young daughter. The book takes on a journey of trying to capture these memories to heal Sylvie.
This started out for me pretty good. About halfway through I started to lose interest not enough to make me quit, it just started to get a bogged down feeling. There was a feeling of get on with it all ready...and once it did I became interested...more
This started out for me pretty good. About halfway through I started to lose interest not enough to make me quit, it just started to get a bogged down feeling. There was a feeling of get on with it all ready...and once it did I became interested...more
Beautifully written. Though the main character is making some crazy choices to move the story along and it sometimes feels a bit forced.
Favorite passage:
We sit there quietly for a moment. The sun is coming out through the cloud, and the sea holds every color you can think of - turquoise in the shallows, giving back the sky color, and farther out a richer cobalt shade. There's a line of deeper blue where the sea meets the sky. A sense of the strangeness of what we are doing here surges through m...more
I read a good review of this book in some magazine and once I found out it took place in Ireland I knew had to read it. Interesting story line; can a child remember her past life? Sylvie the girl in the story is very strange w/odd behaviors and memories. Some people think she could be autistic but her mother knows something else is going on. They end up learning about a professor who investigates past lives in children and he takes on the case. They end up traveling to Ireland to "solve" the mys...more
For more than half of the book, I was very intrigued by the mystery. But it got a little too convenient and obvious and I was starting to wonder if Grace was naive or stupid. Adam too. I felt like ANYONE would spot the twins thing and who the bad guy was from a mile away. Sylvie's acceptance of everything was also really abrupt. And why wasn't Grace more curious about what happens from here? Or why Sylvie was the one who was affected and if it happens to everyone or just a select few? I felt lik...more
This book had a wonderful premise; right up my alley. The writing style is wonderful. Short chapters, describes a scene very well. Sometimes a little repetitive. Words that are'nt the norm like inchoate. Might
have been the author's new favorite word as it was repeated. The
child, Sylvie, had one too many tantrums for me. That would have been
fine if there was something interesting at the end of each tantrum.
But enough already! I guessed who the murderer was but it didn't ruin the book. In fact, th...more
have been the author's new favorite word as it was repeated. The
child, Sylvie, had one too many tantrums for me. That would have been
fine if there was something interesting at the end of each tantrum.
But enough already! I guessed who the murderer was but it didn't ruin the book. In fact, th...more
I have to admit, this book isn't one that I would have picked up independent of book club. However, I'm glad, as I always am, that it was chosen for me.
Yes, My Darling Daughter started off slow...okay, it was slow until about 3/4 of the way through. However, once things got started, I really enjoyed the book. It has paranormal, mystery, murder, suspense, and enough plot twists to keep me guessing until near the end.
If you're the kind of reader who needs loose ends tied up and can't take things...more
Yes, My Darling Daughter started off slow...okay, it was slow until about 3/4 of the way through. However, once things got started, I really enjoyed the book. It has paranormal, mystery, murder, suspense, and enough plot twists to keep me guessing until near the end.
If you're the kind of reader who needs loose ends tied up and can't take things...more
A little 4 year old girl puzzles her single mom when she only calls her by her first name and frequently says that this is not her life. Her mom, Grace starts to think that her daughter is remembering a past life and finds a professor that agrees with her theory. They travel to a coast where the little girl is drawn and find a case of an unsolved murder of a mother and daughter. You are lead to believe that the little girl is the re-incarnate of the girl that died and she miraclously lets go of...more
I really enjoyed reading this book, I was really into it. Leroy really set an excellent mood. I liked the character of Grace very much. I'm sorry that I can't really give this more than three stars, but I just can't. There were too many unanswered questions at the end of the book (and one really BIG unanswered question). Once things started unfolding (about half-way through or so), the story became very predictable. I would definately read more by Margaret Leroy; I loved her writing style. One r...more
It's been a long time since I finished a book in two sittings, but that's what happened with Yes, My Darling Daughter. The story sucked me in almost immediately. The characters are realistic and well-drawn, and the breadcrumbs of the story's mystery are laid out with precision. I especially liked that the story ended without everything being tied up in pretty little bows. The solution to the mystery didn't solve Grace's problems or "cure" Sylvie. It simply meant that, as in real life, they moved...more
Grace knows that there is something wrong with her three-year-old daughter Sylvie. She is terrified of water, has violent tantrums, will never call Grace 'Mum' or 'Mummy' and talks about her 'other house' and her 'other family'. But everybody that Grace talks to puts the blame on Grace herself or her single parent status ... until she tracks down a young academic who is researching reincarnation memories. Together they take Sylvie from London to Ireland to try to discover whether Sylvie's memori...more
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I will say that I really enjoyed this book. I never would’ve picked it up had it not have been for my book club (as my friend Erin mentions in her blog: book club = awesome.) It really does set you up with books you’d never find otherwise.
Okay, back to the book. I found this story to be really intriguing and it really captured my attention. Some of my friends felt that the beginning moved slow but I actually preferred the beginning to the last 1/4 of the story. I felt that Leroy really built up...more
Okay, back to the book. I found this story to be really intriguing and it really captured my attention. Some of my friends felt that the beginning moved slow but I actually preferred the beginning to the last 1/4 of the story. I felt that Leroy really built up...more
This was a suprisingly enjoyable book for me and I found myself not wanting to put it down. I am an anglophile and love Ireland,too, and having this story set in both venues was great. The little 3 year old -Sylvie - was easy to have feelings for and her name was perfect for what I pictured as a waif of a pale, blonde child with a very serious demeanor. Her poor mother - who was not called Mum by Sylvie's choice -worked tirelessly to free her daughter of the memories in her mind that weren't her...more
Apr 30, 2010
Lauren M
rated it
2 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
sweet-grass-readers
This is a pretty light weight book with a nice little move along plot. It reminds me of an old fashioned sort of mystery, with English/Irish villages, the sea, and ghosts. Not the type of book I would normally select for a book club - but I have identified a couple of topics for discussion at our upcoming meeting; the claustrophobic relationship between mother and child, and the appearance of the supernatural. Should be fun!
When I picked this book up from the library I didn't do a 'proper look' and thought it was probably something to do with autism or similar. When it started turning down the paranormal laneway I was slightly perturbed as that's not my usual area of interest. However, this is a real page turner if you're looking for a relaxed weekend read. Nothing too taxing, zips along and sews everything up at the end.
Mom and I are having bonding tonight with Dad and Gary in Wyoming. Sleepover at Mom's includes reading till all hours--I finished this novel at 12:30 a.m.; Mom's still going with _The Cardturner_ by Louis Sachar. LAME COVER on the book (though it a bit evokes _Rebecca_, and the book has a similar tone), but good writing and suspense and descriptions within. Not great, but good. I love a good novel.
I dont usually enjoy para-normal books, but this book kept me gripped from the start. The author was fantastic at building a feeling of un-ease in you as you learnt more about Sylvie's behaviour. I was slightly disappointed in the predictability of the ending and how rapidly it seemed to reach its conclusion ... this part felt out of pace with the rest of the book. However i did enjoy the book and would recommend to others.
I won this book in a Goodreads' giveaway.
As a "thriller" this book is pretty tame. Although it held my interest I didn't find it at all suspenseful. The pacing is off. It plods along until the last 30 pages only to fizzle out before reaching a satisfying conclusion. Daughter also suffers from weak, cliched characters. The villain, for example, was laughably obvious.
As a "thriller" this book is pretty tame. Although it held my interest I didn't find it at all suspenseful. The pacing is off. It plods along until the last 30 pages only to fizzle out before reaching a satisfying conclusion. Daughter also suffers from weak, cliched characters. The villain, for example, was laughably obvious.
The Drowning Girl is an absorbing tale-so much so that I stayed up to 3am to finish it. The child Sylvie is very believable and the change in calling her Mum Grace to Mom is satisfying and reassuring when it comes towards the end of the book. The dealing with reincarnation is handled sensitvely and leaves the reader wanting more. However the end game is a bit too predictable with the revealing of Marcus as the villian. His resemblance to Dominic , THE CHILD'S FATHER AND HER MOTHER'S OLDER MARRIE...more
Hmmm, half the book is bloody awful with the main character a pitiful, pathetic creature with no backbone. Things start to pick up plot wise, two-thirds of the way through, but we are still left with this dim witted main character driving the storyline. It could have been a good mystery, but who can enjoy a book when the main character is no one you would ever want to be or know?
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I grew up in the New Forest. As a child I wrote elaborate fantasy stories that I never showed to anyone. But around age 12 I stopped writing, and didn't start again till my mid-twenties.
(from the Biography page of her website)
I went to Oxford to study music, at St. Hilda's College. In my twenties I tried all sorts of things - music therapy, play-leading with children with disabilities, work in a...more
More about Margaret Leroy...
(from the Biography page of her website)
I went to Oxford to study music, at St. Hilda's College. In my twenties I tried all sorts of things - music therapy, play-leading with children with disabilities, work in a...more
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