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7 min read
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4.4
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The Girls Left Behind by Emily Gunnis Review: A Gripping Multi-Timeline Mystery Thriller
Emily Gunnis's The Girls Left Behind is a mystery thriller that weaves triple timelines — World War Two, the 1970s/80s, and the 2000s — around the disappearance of girls from a notorious children's home called Morgate House, anchored by the determined Superintendent Jo Hamilton as she races to uncover decades of buried wrongs before her retirement.
LuvemBooks Verdict
Best for
Readers who enjoy character-driven British crime fiction with a strong historical dimension — particularly those drawn to stories of institutional injustice, wronged women, and multi-generational mystery, and who already love Emily Gunnis's debut, The Girl in the Letter.
Worth it if
You're willing to invest in a structurally ambitious triple-timeline thriller where the complexity pays off in a genuinely surprising and emotionally satisfying ending.
Skip if
You prefer tightly focused, single-perspective narratives, or are sensitive to substantively dark subject matter including child abuse, institutional cover-up, and the deaths of children.
What readers & critics say
Readers on NetGalley consistently praised Gunnis's command of the triple-timeline structure and her three central female characters, with one calling the ending "brilliant" and genuinely unexpected. Reviewer Sandra Danby at sandradanby.com acknowledged the ambition of the approach while noting it is "a complicated mixture to handle" with "a lot of personalities and twists to hang on to," and goodbadandunread.com found the wartime strand less engaging than the more recent timelines, awarding the novel a Grade B overall.
Sources: NetGalley, sandradanby.com, goodbadandunread.com, mumcreviews.blogspot.com4.4from 7,844 Amazon ratings— reader ratings, not a LuvemBooks score
Look inside the book
Preview the actual pages, via Google BooksIn This Review
- What Works & What Doesn't
- What the Novel Contains and How It Is Structured
- The Author's Background and Place in the Genre
- Strengths: Plotting, Pacing, and Character
- Genuine Limitations and Readers to Consider
- Who This Book Is For
What Works & What Doesn't
What Works
- Triple-timeline structure — spanning World War Two, the 1970s/80s, and the 2000s — is praised by multiple readers as cleverly handled and effective at sustaining tension
- Three central female characters, including retiring Superintendent Jo Hamilton and sisters Holly and Daisy, are consistently described as strong and well-drawn
- The ending drew particular acclaim from readers, who found it genuinely surprising and satisfying
- Continues the tradition established by The Girl in the Letter, making it a natural next read for existing fans of Gunnis's historical crime fiction
- Available in multiple formats including Kindle and audiobook, with the audiobook narrated by Clare Corbett to strong reader response
What Doesn't
- The three-timeline structure and large cast of characters create significant complexity that some readers may find demanding, particularly early in the novel
- The subject matter — child abuse, institutional cover-up, and the deaths of children at Morgate House — is substantively dark and not suited to all readers
A layered and emotionally charged mystery thriller, The Girls Left Behind confirms Emily Gunnis as a storyteller with a firm command of suspense across time.
What the Novel Contains and How It Is Structured
The Girls Left Behind: A home for troubled children; a lifetime of hidden secrets. The gripping, moving novel from the bestselling author by Emily Gunnis front cover
The Girls Left Behind centres on Superintendent Jo Hamilton, who is days from retirement from Sussex Police when the discovery of a young woman's bones draws her back to a case she first worked as a WPC in the 1970s: the disappearance of a teenage girl from Morgate House, a notorious local children's home, where another young resident had died in suspicious circumstances not long before. Convinced that reopening the hushed-up wrongs of the past is the only path to truth, Jo sets out to find the missing girl's sister — a search the novel's publisher describes as leading "disturbingly close to home." The story moves across three distinct periods: World War Two, the 1970s and 1980s, and the early 2000s, tracking the fates of multiple characters whose lives intersect around Morgate House and the secrets it kept. One reviewer on NetGalley noted the novel touches on themes of sisterly love, friendship, deceit, child abuse, guilt, and determination — a broad emotional and moral canvas stretched across its multi-generational structure.
“masterfully wove together the stories of these three strong female characters”
The Author's Background and Place in the Genre
Gunnis — who previously worked in TV drama and lives in Brighton — is the daughter of the late bestselling novelist Penny Vincenzi, and has spoken openly about the influence her mother's storytelling had on her own path to writing. Her debut, The Girl in the Letter, established her reputation for weaving historical injustice into propulsive contemporary fiction; The Girls Left Behind continues in that tradition, again placing institutional wrongdoing and the suffering of vulnerable girls at the heart of its plot. Published by Headline Review, the novel is positioned squarely within the tradition of British women's detective and historical thriller fiction, a genre that rewards writers who can balance emotional authenticity with carefully timed revelations — both of which Gunnis demonstrates here.
Strengths: Plotting, Pacing, and Character
Reader responses gathered on NetGalley converge on several consistent strengths. Multiple reviewers single out Gunnis's command of the triple-timeline structure, with one noting that "the different timelines really worked to keep the tension alive" and another describing the storyline and timeline changes as "cleverly done." The three central female characters — Jo Hamilton, and the sisters Holly and Daisy, who ended up at Morgate House — are repeatedly described as strong and well-differentiated. One NetGalley reviewer observed that Gunnis "masterfully wove together the stories of these three strong female characters," and praised an ending described as "brilliant" and genuinely surprising. The audiobook edition, narrated by Clare Corbett, also drew praise on NetGalley, where one reviewer called the novel "well plotted, fast paced" with "several twists."
Genuine Limitations and Readers to Consider
The novel's ambition is also its primary challenge. Handling three separate timelines — World War Two, the 1970s/80s, and the 2000s — alongside a large cast of interconnected characters is, as one reviewer at sandradanby.com put it plainly, "a complicated mixture to handle" with "a lot of personalities and twists to hang on to." Readers who prefer a tightly focused single perspective or a more linear narrative may find the structural complexity demanding, particularly in the novel's earlier sections before the threads begin to converge. The subject matter — child abuse, institutional cover-up, and generational trauma — is substantively dark, and while those themes are central to the story's power, readers sensitive to depictions of the mistreatment of children should enter with that expectation clearly set.
Who This Book Is For
The Girls Left Behind is designed for readers who enjoy character-driven British crime fiction with a strong historical dimension — those who appreciate novels that use the past not merely as backdrop but as the engine of present-day reckoning. Fans of Gunnis's debut, The Girl in the Letter, will find familiar DNA here: institutional injustice, wronged women, and a structure that builds steadily toward a payoff that several reviewers found genuinely earned. For those new to Gunnis, this novel functions equally well as an entry point. One NetGalley reviewer, encountering her work for the first time, concluded simply: "It is the first book I have read by Emily Gunnis but it won't be my last."
Frequently Asked Questions
is The Girls Left Behind by Emily Gunnis worth reading
If you enjoy character-driven British crime fiction with a strong historical dimension, it's a strong pick — reviewers on NetGalley consistently praised Gunnis's command of the triple-timeline structure, with one calling it 'well plotted, fast paced' with 'several twists.' One first-time Gunnis reader summed it up simply: 'It is the first book I have read by Emily Gunnis but it won't be my last.' The main caveat is that the three timelines and large cast can feel demanding, especially early on before the threads start to converge.
What is this book actually about
It follows Superintendent Jo Hamilton, who is days from retirement from Sussex Police when the discovery of a young woman's bones pulls her back to a case she first worked as a WPC in the 1970s — the disappearance of a teenage girl from Morgate House, a notorious local children's home. The story moves across three distinct time periods — World War Two, the 1970s and 1980s, and the early 2000s — tracking multiple characters whose lives intersect around Morgate House and the secrets it kept, including themes of child abuse, institutional cover-up, and generational trauma.
Does this book have a good ending
Reviewers suggest the ending is one of the novel's real strengths — one NetGalley reviewer described it as 'brilliant' and genuinely surprising. The structure builds steadily toward a payoff that several reviewers found genuinely earned, so readers who stick with the complexity of the multiple timelines are rewarded by the finish.
Is this book hard to follow with all the timelines
It can be, particularly in the earlier sections — one reviewer at sandradanby.com described it plainly as 'a complicated mixture to handle' with 'a lot of personalities and twists to hang on to.' That said, many NetGalley reviewers found the timeline changes 'cleverly done' and noted that the structure ultimately keeps the tension alive rather than undermining it, so patience in the opening chapters pays off.
Is this book similar to The Girl in the Letter by Emily Gunnis
Yes, very much so — the review describes The Girls Left Behind as sharing 'familiar DNA' with Gunnis's debut, The Girl in the Letter, including institutional injustice, wronged women, and a structure that builds toward a hard-earned payoff. Both novels place the suffering of vulnerable girls and historical wrongdoing at the heart of the plot, so fans of the debut should feel right at home.
How dark is this book — is it too disturbing
It is substantively dark — child abuse, the deaths of children at Morgate House, and institutional cover-up are central to the story, and the novel is firmly intended for a mature adult readership. The review notes that while these themes are the engine of the story's emotional power, readers sensitive to depictions of the mistreatment of children should go in with that expectation clearly set.
Is the audiobook of this book any good
The audiobook edition, narrated by Clare Corbett, drew specific praise from NetGalley reviewers, with one calling the novel 'well plotted, fast paced' in that format and highlighting its several twists. If you prefer listening, it appears to be a format that suits the book's propulsive pacing well.
Sources & Further Reading
The key facts and claims in this review are grounded in the retrieved, verified sources listed below.
- Cited in this review
- 1
waterstones.com
- 2
- Further reading
- 3
bookoutlet.com
- 4
netgalley.com
- 5
karensbookbag.co.uk
- 6
goodbadandunread.com
- 7
- 8
cookiebiscuit.co.uk
- 9
echoesinanemptyroom.com
- 10
goodreadingmagazine.com.au
- 11
barnesandnoble.com
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