The Girls

Emma Cline

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

A hot dry summer, set in the 1960’s. Emma Cline introduces us to Evie and what it is like to be a teenager again. Frustrated at home and bored with her lonely summer, a group of girls around town catches her eye. The girls are free, careless and wild. They steal food, walk around barefoot and drive a school bus. Evie wants nothing more than to be one of them. 

She finds a way to start a conversation with the enthralling Suzanne, one of the older girls. They connect and Suzanne wants to introduce her to Russell, the man who ‘takes care’ of them all. Living the hippie life on a ranch, life seems almost ideal. But little does Evie know that their polyamorous communal living situation will quickly turn violent. 

This book is inspired by the Manson cult. The focus is not on the monster Charles/Russell, but on the women that mostly formed the group. We experience together with Evie how painful unanswered love is and the length she will go through to get it. This book is an all time favourite of mine, but it does get raunchy and progressively darker.

Trigger warning: Manipulation, rape and drugs