Little Darlings by Melanie Golding
Published by Crooked Lane Books, HarperAvenue on April 30, 2019
Genres: Psychological, Supernatural, Thrillers
Pages: 336
Format: ARC, eBook
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A new mother becomes convinced that her children are not her own…
Lauren, a new mother, is exhausted by the demands of her twin boys. Since coming home from the hospital, she rarely leaves the house. But it isn’t only new motherhood keeping her there. Lauren knows someone is watching them and someone wants her babies. It started with an incident at the hospital and an emergency call in the middle of the night. No one believes her — not her husband, not the police — until one day in the park when everything changes. Is Lauren mad or does she know something no one else does?
A gripping novel that gets to the heart of a mother’s worst fears, and how often they are ignored.
The cover of this book — Little Darlings by Melanie Golding — drew me in. I didn’t read the description either because I just figured it was a psychological thriller/mystery. However, this was not a psychological thriller in the traditional sense, but instead, it is a very disturbing story bordering on horror while also embracing supernatural elements from old folklore. Needless to say, not my cup of tea folks.
Little Darlings begins with distraught Lauren Tranter undergoes complications while trying to give birth to identical twin boys, Morgan and Riley. Following the delivery, Lauren is very sleep deprived trying to take care of twin newborns. No one is giving her assistance either – not the nursing staff or her husband. In the hospital, Lauren is approached by a woman who offers to swap one of her evil babies for one of Lauren’s newborn twins. Lauren grabs her twins, locks herself in the bathroom, and calls the police reporting an attempted abduction.
Lauren comes home and settles into a semi-normal routine, again with no help from her husband because of his job. She can’t get the hospital experience out of her mind and it consumes her every thought to the point that she doesn’t leave her house afraid that her boys will be swapped out with the evil twins.
I, myself have never experienced post partum depression (PPD) or post partum anxiety (PPA), having only one child and recovering quite welll, thankfully. The story in Little Darlings depicts that terrifying and lonely spiral into PPD/PPA quite well. Looking into those conditions further, I feel that the author’s writing and comparisons to be so spot on in this regard. That being said, I think it’s important to note that this may be a triggering read for anyone who has suffered with PPD or PPA and readers might want to assure themselves they are in the proper mental state before reading this story.
I found Little Darlings was well written, descriptive and absorbing and it was a great debut novel.
Melanie Golding is a graduate of the MA in creative writing program at Bath Spa University, with distinction. She has been employed in many occupations including farm hand, factory worker, childminder and music teacher. Throughout all this, because and in spite of it, there was always the writing. In recent years she has won and been shortlisted in several local and national short story competitions.
Little Darlings is her first novel, and has been optioned for screen by Free Range Films, the team behind the adaptation of My Cousin Rachel.
Connect with Ms. Golding on social media ~~
WEBSITE // FACEBOOK // TWITTER // INSTAGRAM // GOODREADS
Thanks to NetGalley, for the opportunity to read an advance copy this book. I was not required to write a positive review and the thoughts expressed here are my own.
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