I picked up Girl A because my aunt read it and said it seemed inspired by the true story of the Turpin family and their House of Horrors. I did a cursory read of the People magazine article (linked here) and decided I needed to read the fictional story as well.
About the book
Lex Gracie doesn’t want to think about her family. She doesn’t want to think about growing up in her parents’ House of Horrors. And she doesn’t want to think about her identity as Girl A: the girl who escaped, the eldest sister who freed her older brother and four younger siblings. It’s been easy enough to avoid her parents–her father never made it out of the House of Horrors he created, and her mother spent the rest of her life behind bars. But when her mother dies in prison and leaves Lex and her siblings the family home, she can’t run from her past any longer. Together with her sister, Evie, Lex intends to turn the House of Horrors into a force for good. But first, she must come to terms with her siblings – and with the childhood they shared.
~ Synopsis from GoodReads
Girl A: My Review
While this is a crime story, it’s more focused on the impact of the crimes on the survivors. There isn’t much suspense, and whatever little twists in the book are pretty easy to guess.
So, if you’re reading this book expecting any suspense, you will be disappointed. I was initially, but as the book progressed, I got engrossed in all the family dynamics. I really loved how the cult was depicted, and I also think this is one of the best books on abuse and trauma and recovery I’ve ever read.
The story is nonlinear, told in the present day with flashbacks to the past. The basic premise is that Alexandra (Girl A) has to deal with her mother’s estate after her death. Alexandra and her siblings were chained in their bedrooms by their religious zealot of a father, and Alexandra is the one who escaped and called the police.
As Alexandra meets each sibling individually in order to get their signature on the estate documents, she is forced to confront her past and the fact that she isn’t fully healed, and indeed trauma recovery is an ongoing process and not something you can really finish.
I found the recovery from the abuse to be quite interesting, as each sibling was coping in different ways, and they all have little quirks. The characters all feel human, and I sobbed at several points.
Really, I cannot recommend this book enough. It’s haunting and tense and also beautifully written. Just not for you, if child abuse or fundie cults trigger you. There is no sexual abuse, if that’s a concern, but there is physical abuse, although not graphically depicted.
