From the TBR Pile: Blog Tour: Review of The Daisy Children by Sofia Grant

Tuesday, August 21, 2018

Blog Tour: Review of The Daisy Children by Sofia Grant

Author: Sofia Grant

Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks

Date of publication: August 2018

Inspired by true events, in Sofia Grant’s powerfully moving new novel a young woman peels back the layers of her family’s history, discovering a tragedy in the past that explains so much of the present. This unforgettable story is one of hope, healing, and the discovery of truth.

Sometimes the untold stories of the past are the ones we need to hear…

When Katie Garrett gets the unexpected news that she’s received an inheritance from the grandmother she hardly knew, it couldn’t have come at a better time. She flees Boston—and her increasingly estranged husband—and travels to rural Texas.

There, she’s greeted by her distant cousin Scarlett. Friendly, flamboyant, eternally optimistic, Scarlett couldn’t be more different from sensible Katie. And as they begin the task of sorting through their grandmother’s possessions, they discover letters and photographs that uncover the hidden truths about their shared history, and the long-forgotten tragedy of the New London school explosion of 1937 that binds them.

So, I will admit, I ended up liking The Daisy Children more than I thought I would. It was a bit slow in the beginning, but I ended up finding myself 3 hours later almost done with the book. I had a couple of issues with the story, but overall, it's a bitter sweet tale about mother/daughter relationships and how tragedy can affect a family for generations.

The book goes between the present, where Katie finds out she inherited part of her estranged grandmother's estate and the past, where we find out what happened to Caroline, Margaret and Georgina in the years following the tragic school explosion. Of all four women, I felt the most bad for Margaret. While all four women were definitely results of their upbringing, her story was the most heart breaking for me. The twist in the end just confirmed that she got the rawest deal in the entire situation. I did like the ending and loved where Katie and Scarlett ended up.

There were just a couple of things I didn't like about the book. I know it's a small thing, but honestly, if you were mugged on the way to the airport, wouldn't you put off the trip for a day or two to get your affairs in order? I found that entire scenario with Katie and Liam weird and not very realistic. I also wasn't happy with the decision she made regarding Jam. I know she was kind of at a crossroads with Liam, but I was disappointed the author chose to go the route she did with that story-line.

Anyway, I wouldn't say this was really a historical fiction. The explosion plays a smaller part in the book than I though it would. I do recommend this one. It's one I will be thinking about for a long time.