The Broken Girls

The Broken Girls alternates between two timelines: Vermont in 1950 and Vermont in 2014. In 1950, four roommates attend Idlewild Hall, a boarding school for unwanted girls, until one of them vanishes without explanation. Journalist Fiona Sheridan investigates Idlewild Hall in 2014, twenty years after her sister's body was found on its abandoned grounds. When a developer begins renovating the property, Fiona's research into the school's past leads her to uncover connections between her sister's murder and the disappearance from 1950. The narrative combines elements of mystery, ghost story, and historical fiction as both timelines progress toward their conclusions. The presence of Mary Hand, a ghostly figure said to haunt Idlewild Hall's campus, adds supernatural tension to both past and present investigations. The book explores themes of justice, trauma, and the bonds between women who society has cast aside. Through its parallel stories, it examines how institutions and power structures can fail vulnerable people, particularly young women.

Readers describe The Broken Girls as an engaging blend of ghost story, mystery, and historical fiction that shifts between 1950 and 2014. Many note they finished it in one or two sittings. Readers appreciated: - The atmospheric boarding school setting - Well-researched historical elements - The dual timeline structure - Complex female characters - How the supernatural elements enhance rather than overshadow the mystery Common criticisms: - The present-day protagonist comes across as reckless - Some found the ending rushed - A few readers wanted more development of the ghost storyline Review Scores: Goodreads: 4.0/5 (121,000+ ratings) Amazon: 4.4/5 (5,800+ ratings) LibraryThing: 4.1/5 (600+ ratings) "Perfect balance of creepy and compelling" - Goodreads reviewer "The cold Vermont setting becomes a character itself" - Amazon reviewer "Strong start but loses steam in final third" - LibraryThing reviewer

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🏛️ The book's Idlewild Hall boarding school, while fictional, was inspired by real troubled-girls' schools that operated in Vermont during the 1950s. 👻 Author Simone St. James spent 15 years working in the television industry before becoming a full-time writer of gothic suspense novels. 📰 The journalism aspects of the novel draw from real cases where reporters' investigations helped solve cold cases or revealed institutional abuse. 🌿 The book's use of bog bodies as a plot element reflects actual archaeological discoveries - preserved human remains have been found in peat bogs throughout Northern Europe, some dating back thousands of years. ⌛ The dual timeline structure (1950s/2014) mirrors actual cold case investigations, where new forensic technology and modern investigative techniques help solve decades-old crimes.