Darling Girls (spoilers and ending explained) | Sally Hepworth

This review contains spoilers for the ending of Darling Girls by Sally Hepworth. If you are looking for a spoiler-free review, head to the main page. Stay here if you want to see the ending explained and what I thought about that final chapter.

A dark suspense novel, Sally Hepworth’s Darling Girls is not one to miss. Hepworth brings rich character development, surprising humor, and her signature delicious little twists that somehow pack the punch of much larger twists. Hepworth proves again and again that the reader doesn’t need to be blindsided to have that delightful feeling that a good twist brings. Let’s get into some spoilers and that ending!

What is Darling Girls about?

Jessica, Norah, and Alicia have spent their life being told that they were fortunate to meet at Wild Meadows, a foster home owned and run by a single woman named Miss Fairchild. The three girls were saved from tragic losses by the benevolent Miss Fairchild, and it brought them together. They have remained as close as sisters ever since their two shared years at Wild Meadows.

Unfortunately, everything others thought about their idyllic childhood was a lie. Miss Fairchild was an emotionally abusive, malicious, and cruel foster mother. Cold and calculating, Miss Fairchild was good at knowing exactly what each girl wanted most, and how to take it from them. After two years with Miss Fairchild, the three managed to break away and flee Wild Meadows.

It’s been twenty-five years since they thought they freed themselves from Miss Fairchild. But when they learn that a body was discovered buried underneath the house at Wild Meadows, the sisters find themselves at the center of the investigation. But are they witnesses or suspects? The secrets held for twenty-five years may finally come to light, but will anyone believe them?

Who are the foster children from Wild Meadows?

Jessica was the first to arrive at Miss Fairchild’s home when she was four, and her early time there when it was just the two of them was…strange. Jessica desperately wanted a mother, and Miss Fairchild was willing to be that person. But Miss Fairchild treated Jessica like a child much younger than her age, babying her and creating an unhealthy dependency.

When Norah arrives at the age of eleven (about the same age as Jessica), everything changes. Miss Fairchild is cold and cruel, emotionally abusing and isolating both girls. Jessica responds by trying to be perfect. Norah is much feistier, having grown up in the care of an addict who was rarely sober to care for her. Norah learned early in life to use everything at her disposal to survive. Usually that meant her beauty and physical violence.

Alicia arrives third at the age of twelve. Initially Miss Fairchild doesn’t want to take in Alicia because unlike Jessica and Norah, Alicia had a happy childhood. When her grandmother fell ill, Alicia was temporarily placed in foster care. Until it becomes permanent. Miss Fairchild despises Alicia the most—she sees her as spoiled, and heavily restricts her access to food and comfort. Alicia learns to doubt her own worth.

Several other foster children who stayed at Wild Meadows are discussed. Rhiannon was only at Wild Meadows for a few weeks as an infant before she was sent back to her parents (she was taken away by mistake. Zara was another foster child who spent time at Wild Meadows. Her adoptive parents don’t know anything about her backstory prior to adopting her, but they knew she was staying at a foster home in Port Agatha. Bianca was moved between dozens of foster homes, including Wild Meadows

Whose remains were found buried at Wild Meadows?

The police reveal to the sisters that the remains are those of a young child. I can’t speak for every reader, but this certainly shocked me! In my head I assumed the remains belonged to an adult. So, who is the child? The sisters are convinced the remains belong to another child who stayed at Miss Fairchild’s around when they were there—Amy. This storyline is revealed to us after the reveal that the remains are a toddler, so I was on the same page that it must be Amy, and I was waiting to found out how she died.

After arriving at Wild Meadows, Amy grew attached to the three girls. If you’ve learned anything about Miss Fairchild, I’m sure you can guess that this infuriated her! When the girls came home to find Miss Fairchild holding Amy under water in the pool, they go to the police to report everything. But the police went to the house to check and report back—there isn’t a child anywhere to be found. In fact, there is no record of a child called Amy ever being at Wild Meadows. The sisters are even more convinced that the remains must belong to Amy, and that was why the police didn’t find her at the house.

Later, it is revealed that the remains do belong to Amy. But there is more to that story that will be revealed…

So…who is Amy?

Throughout the book, there’s a story being told to a psychiatrist called Dr. Warren, and that was another interesting piece of the puzzle. That story chronicled abuse that happened to the woman as a child. She had a stepfather called John who sexually abused her. Eventually, she got pregnant. When she told her mother and John, she thought they would kick her out, but they didn’t—they lock her in the basement to keep her from reporting the abuse. When the child is born, she names it Amy.

Who is the mystery narrator?

The chapters showing the mystery woman talking to Dr. Warren are disturbing and unclear in terms of how and when they connect to the other events of the book. After the reveal that the woman had a baby and named it Amy, it seems that this story must have been in the past and aligned with the arrival of Amy at Wild Meadows. The woman was forced to flee her abusive home when Amy was quite young, and it’s not a stretch that the stepfather wouldn’t want to keep the child. Then we learn an even more compelling twist… The woman visiting Dr. Warren is none other than Miss Fairchild (Holly).

So, if the woman talking to Dr. Warren is Miss Fairchild, how could Amy be her child? The timelines don’t add up…

Which Amy is the one buried under the house?

Miss Fairchild’s Amy is clearly not the Amy who lived at the house when the sisters were fostered there. That Amy had six toes on one foot, but the police reveal that the remains under the house do not have an extra toe. Further, the remains were there much longer than twenty-five years. The body belonged to the first Amy—the one Miss Fairchild had as a teenager.

Holly (Miss Fairchild) tried to flee with Amy the moment she found the basement unlocked, but her stepfather and mother caught up with her and took the baby back. The second Amy—the one Miss Fairchild “adopted” to replace the first Amy—wasn’t dead. She is actually Zara, one of the other foster kids who came back after the remains were found. She had no idea her name used to be Amy. The day the girls went to the police, Miss Fairchild passed Amy to their social worker who adopted her out to a new family.

How does it end?

Zara is connected with her birth parents, who moved back to Russia after she was taken from their home. Alicia and Meera finally admit they are in love and they adopt one of the kids that Alicia grew to love during his time working with her as his social workers. Jessica went to rehab after her overdose and came home. She and her husband Phil are expecting their first child. Norah is dating the pub owner in Port Agatha, Ishir.

In the final scene, Holly (Miss Fairchild) reveals that she had been meeting with Dr. Warren as an effort to get off from her charges by reason of mental health. But Holly wasn’t telling him the truth. Her stepfather never assaulted her. His only crime was loving her mother and making Holly jealous. Amy was her mother’s child with John, not Holly’s. Holly never had a child, and she resented Amy because her mother loved Amy more than Holly. Amy was born at home and no one in town knew about her. One night Holly was left home to babysit Amy and threw her against the wall. Her mother buried Amy under the house to protect Holly. That allowed Holly to convince Dr. Warren that she was traumatized from her teen years and avoid criminal charges.

What did I think of Darling Girls?

I’ll give the TLDR first—I loved it!!! Sally Hepworth has become one of my favorite authors. She crafts compelling plots, writes authentic characters, and is a master storyteller. She spins together stories that I don’t want to leave at the end. Darling Girls is another example of Hepworth’s incredible talent and knack for an expertly spun twist.

Though readers may suspect that the woman talking to Dr. Warren is Miss Fairchild, there is so much more to that story than that reveal. Initially I thought that story was told by Amy’s mother—the Amy the sisters met at Wild Meadows. After it was revealed that there was no Amy, I wondered if the sisters were lying or misremembering what happened. Can we trust their version of events? Add to that Miss Fairchild’s sad backstory, and I almost believed that she wasn’t the bad guy after all (almost, but not quite).

That reveal at the end that Holly (Miss Fairchild) made up the story she told to Dr. Warren was such a satisfying twist. I can’t speak for other readers, but I didn’t guess that at all. Miss Fairchild ended up being even more twisted than we imagined! With her abuse of the foster kids, Miss Fairchild demonstrated a keen ability to go right up to the line, but not cross it. Not the line of abuse—she’s obviously an abuser. But the line where—when the girls repeat what they’ve been experiencing to police—things can seem to be exaggerated. She engages in psychological abuse, and that can be hard for police to prosecute because the evidence tends to be he-said-she-said.

Despite the dark themes in this book, the dynamic between the sisters and Norah in particular adds levity and humor throughout the story. Norah is a star—she has a wonderful dry sense of humor that you won’t be able to resist. At it’s core, this is a book about sisterhood, found family, mental health, abuse, and healing. There’s a feeling of women’s empowerment by the end that I liked. Don’t expect Hepworth to let these women off the hook just because we love them and grieve the childhood they never got—Hepworth is unafraid to give her characters authentic storylines, and she does this boldly and without apology. 

Final Thoughts

The final chapter chilled me to the bones. Miss Fairchild lacks any emotion when she confesses to the reader that she made it up. She never had a baby, she was never assaulted, and she knew all along that Amy was dead because she is the one who killed her. Seriously twisted!

One of the best books of the year for me, and it may be my favorite of Hepworth’s yet!

See all of my book reviews with spoilers over on the book spoilers hub!

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press for my copy. Opinions are my own.