Darling Girl
Darling Girl
By Liz Michalski
Second star to the right and straight on till morning… welcome to the world of the women of Peter Pan. This book is about the granddaughter of Wendy Darling and the aftermath of the book written by Sir James Barrie. While we do not get whisked away to Neverland, this book is about those left behind, and not just from a grand adventure, but when life deals a very rotten hand, and we are stuck picking up the pieces.
This book does have a few trigger warnings. There is sexual assault and some rather questionable medical experimentation decisions made by Holly Darling which made some folks on Goodreads rather angry. So be warned before diving into this one there is some harsh subject matter.
Also, though I promised no spoilers, this review is a bit of one. While I do not give away any key details of the story itself, there are some plotline spoilers as well as characters.
One of the key threads of this book is what is at its core and that is grief. Grief that becomes so consuming it gets pushed aside to fester and turn to fear so much so Holly Darling is no longer living life, nor is she letting her son. Parents are willing to do so much for their children, but when does it become too much? And as the story goes on it is not hard to see Holly as the villain of her story in the way she sees Peter as the villain of his.
It is not often when the protagonist is actually the villain rather than the hero, and whether intentional or not, this is the case with Holly. And I think it happens to us sometimes in the real world. We can make horrible mistakes when thinking we are doing what is best and feeling the weight of these decisions tearing us down and making us into a monster. Ethically, our main character makes some rather rotten choices, but she believes what she is doing is for the greater good of her son. The difference between what makes a person a hero or a villain are what they are willing to sacrifice to reach their goal, no matter their intention.
Overall, I enjoyed the book, it gave me a lot to think about and it tugged at that place inside of me that tries to convince myself that I have healed from my own grief and try to move on and not think about things that make me sad, when it is fact those memories that keep those we have lost alive. There was a lot of potential in this book and a few missed opportunities, but I was not dissatisfied with it. It is more for those who enjoy a good plot. However, I would not recommend this book for everyone.
