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Book Summary and Reviews of The French Girl by Lexie Elliott

The French Girl by Lexie Elliott

The French Girl

by Lexie Elliott

  • Critics' Consensus (0):
  • Readers' Rating (35):
  • Published:
  • Feb 2018, 304 pages
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About this book

Book Summary

One woman becomes trapped in the tangled bonds of friendship in an exhilarating debut novel of psychological suspense for fans of Fiona Barton, Clare Mackintosh, and Ruth Ware.

We all have our secrets...

They were six university students from Oxford - friends and sometimes more than friends - spending an idyllic week together in a French farmhouse. It was supposed to be the perfect summer getaway...until they met Severine, the girl next door.

For Kate Channing, Severine was an unwelcome presence, her inscrutable beauty undermining the close-knit group's loyalties amid the already simmering tensions. And after a huge altercation on the last night of the holiday, Kate knew nothing would ever be the same. There are some things you can't forgive. And there are some people you can't forget...like Severine, who was never seen again.

Now, a decade later, the case is reopened when Severine's body is found in the well behind the farmhouse. Questioned along with her friends, Kate stands to lose everything she's worked so hard to achieve as suspicion mounts around her. Desperate to resolve her own shifting memories and fearful she will be forever bound to the woman whose presence still haunts her, Kate finds herself buried under layers of deception with no one to set her free...

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Reviews

Media Reviews

"Starred Review. First novelist Elliott has done a phenomenal job of combining a whodunit with a Big Chill vibe." - Library Journal

"Elliott has come up with a promising premise and intriguing, if somewhat stereotypical characters, but ultimately doesn't seem to know quite what to do with them." - Publishers Weekly

"Scottish debut novelist Elliott, who holds a doctorate in theoretical physics from Oxford, launches a fiction-writing career with a smart, suspenseful thriller." - Booklist

"A gripping mystery that delves into the past and the darker side of friendships, this book will have you questioning everything you think you know. The French Girl is a fantastic debut about tangled relationships, shifting perceptions, and the memories - and people - that haunt us. I was completely captivated from beginning to end." - Megan Miranda, New York Times bestselling author of The Perfect Stranger

"A maelstrom of complicated friendships and shifting alliances. This addictive debut will keep you up late into the night!" - Karen Dionne, author of The Marsh King's Daughter

This information about The French Girl was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

Reader Reviews

Write your own reviewwrite your own review

SabotageHun

The French Girl
The book was really good! But the end kinda threw me off a bit, but I'm still really hooked on the book and I hope she will write a second book.

Carole C. (Frisco, TX)

The French Girl
The French Girl hooked me right from the start! I wasn't sure the direction it would take the whole time. You kept trying to pick which friend might have committed the crime, but then you weren't sure if it was even one of the 6 friends. The narrator was likable. This was a fast read and lots of fun! I'll definitely pick up the next book from this author.

Diane P. (Deer Park, WA)

A simple review
The French Girl is one of those books that immerses you. A well written tale of six English students who spend a week in the French countryside only to have a French girl who was staying across the way go missing. Fast forward ten years and five of the six students are now settled into their lives in London when they are notified that the remains of the French girl have been found in an old well on the property where they were staying.

Thus begins the cat and mouse game between the old friends, who knows what, each person carefully searching to see what the others know. This is not a sit on the edge of your seat thriller but a nuanced study of how friends react to news that most likely one of the is a murderer. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would highly recommend it.

Sue P. (ALBUQUERQUE, NM)

The French Girl
Wow! What a debut! I've been in the process of moving to NM from Texas, so I didn't get to this as quickly as I wanted to. But when I did start reading, I finished it in one sitting. It is well crafted and the characters are definitely 3-dimensional. The suspense and the feeling of dread builds wonderfully. I hope she writes more (and more!). So glad I requested this book.

Shirley Thomas (Comfort, TX)

The French Girl by Lexie Elliott
This is a really good murder mystery novel discussing friendship and the bonds that have continued over ten years. The author hooks the reader right from the beginning but then introduces intriguing doubts as secrets and betrayals are revealed and as memories change. The ghost of the murder victim plagues the heroine as she struggles with the reopened case.

Who can she trust and who has betrayed her?

Jane Lee (Diamondhead MS)

First sentence
First sentences can assure that I will keep reading. The debut psychological novel The French Girl begins: "Looking back,the most striking thing is that she knew I didn't like her and she didn't care." Ten years after six university friends spend a week at a French farmhouse the bones of the girl next door was discovered in the well on the property.

Narrated by Kate Channing who is a suspect the book explores friendships, long buried secrets,and betrayals on the way to a satisfying conclusion as to what happened to Severine...the French girl. An awesome first mystery.

...29 more reader reviews

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Author Information

Lexie Elliott

Lexie Elliott has been writing for as long as she can remember, but she began to focus on it more seriously after she lost her banking job in 2009 due to the Global Financial Crisis. After some success in short story competitions, she began planning a novel. With two kids and a (new) job, it took some time for that novel to move from her head to the page, but the result was The French Girl, which will be published by Berkley in February 2018 - available to pre-order on Amazon now!

When she's not writing, Lexie can be found running, swimming or cycling whilst thinking about writing. In 2007 she swam the English Channel solo. She won't be doing that again. In 2015 she ran 100km, raising money for Alzheimer Scotland. She won't be doing that again either. But the odd triathlon or marathon isn't out of the question. Visit her at lexieelliott.com and at facebook.com/lexieelliottwrites

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More Recommendations

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