The Roanoke Girls – Amy Engel
EVERYONE WANTS TO BE A ROANOKE GIRL. BUT YOU WON’T WHEN YOU KNOW THE TRUTH.
The girls of the Roanoke family – beautiful, rich, mysterious – seem to have it all. But there’s a dark truth about them that’s never spoken. Either the girls run away… or they die.
Lane is one of the lucky ones. When she was fifteen, over one long, hot summer at her grandparents’ estate in rural Kansas, she found out what it really means to be a Roanoke girl. Lane ran, far and fast. Until eleven years later, when her cousin Allegra goes missing – and Lane has no choice but to go back.
She is a Roanoke girl.
Is she strong enough to escape a second time?
I had received a review copy from the publisher through Netgalley but I also bought a copy of the book and it was the paperback I actually read.
I went looking for my review of The Roanoke Girls and discovered I hadn’t written one. But I clearly remember writing a review as I loved this book and I wanted to shout about it – so where’s my review? How very odd. But if that’s odd then brace for The Roanoke Girls, there’s something very, very odd going on in this story and it’s down to Lane to take the reader through her family history and unpick what’s happening at her childhood home.
The Roanoke’s are a rich and highly influential family (old blood) and the daughers of the family conduct themselves with a regal air over the other local kids. Lane’s mother was a Roanoke Girl but she didn’t want to continue to live the life – she left home and raised Lane away from her family, just the two of them. However, at the start of the book we find Lane at a real low point, her mother has died. Lane is still at school and she can’t carry on alone. So the only real option is to return to Roanoke and live with her grandparents. It’s not too bad as her cousin Allegra is there too and the two girls form a strong bond. Sort of.
I say “sort of” as the relationship between Allegra, very much queen of the town, and the unknown quantity of the new-girl being welcomed to the fold does create some tensions between the two. Allegra appears jealous of Lane and yet at the same time acts out like she is much more mature and knowledgable than her cousin. It creates an interesting dynamic which keeps the story bubbling along nicely. Which Allegra will Lane encounter, what secrets is she hiding and what was happening in their large house before Lane arrived to shake up the Roanoke lifestyle?
The Roanoke Girls is very much a story you need to read. The dynamic of the family. The flashbacks to other family members, long since gone, who help flesh out the readers understanding of what happens in this quite wee town. It’s not a story you want to read too much about as the impact of events can only best be enjoyed when you have taken the journey that Amy Engel wants you to take – no shortcuts and no clues, just hear Lane’s story.
This was, quite simply, a terrific read. One where I was barely aware of turning the pages and when I did finally uncover the secret of The Roanoke Girls I wished I hadn’t – that way I could have the joy of reading this all over again without knowing the fate of the characters. It’s not a book I will forget any time soon.
The Roanoke Girls is available in paperback, digital and audiobook format. You can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01INGSY0A/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0