Headline Review The Girl in the Letter: The most gripping, heartwrenching page-turner of the year

It is a good book, well written with a clever plot, but very dark and quite depressing. There are a number of deaths, with fairly graphic descriptions of the victims last moments, and many other tear-jerking traumatic incidents. Whilst I applaud the author for bringing the true horror of what happened in some mother & baby homes to light, I personally wish I had not read this book while we are in the grips of a global pandemic! I will stick to 'light and fluffy' authors for the time being.

An absolutely stunning piece of historical crime fiction (my favourite genre), well-researched, well-written, excellent characterisation, a brilliant premise, fast-paced, and well-executed. I even enjoyed reading the author's notes at the end, detailing what gave her the idea for the book. I would have loved for Ivy to have been discovered in an asylum and saved at the end, though I understand why the author could not do this. I've already pre-ordered The Lost Child (Gunnis' next title) and I'm really looking forward to reading it.

I enjoyed this story for quite a while, but at times it got a bit silly and unrealistic.I also found it very confusing as it dodged back and forth from one period to another.Nothing more irritating than having to check previous chapters to grasp where we were in the story.Overall though I did enjoy it and did reach the end, but I am sure it could have been written better if the time periods had not been so erratic. This does not alter the fact that the author is clearly a good writer and I have purchased another of hers, The Lost Child, so it has not put me off by any means. However, time will tell, because if I were to find the Lost Child to be as confusing and hard work, I may then call it a day on this particular author. Fingers crossed!

I bought this for my mum for her birthday and she is really enjoying it. Emily Gunnis is not an author she has read before but thinks it's a great story and never wants to put it down. I read last year this book had won a few awards so I thought i'd give it a go and buy it for her - very good decision. Would recommend.

A good read.