The New York Times bestselling author of The Monogram Murders and Woman with a Secret returns with a sharp, captivating, and expertly plotted tale of psychological suspense.All Beth has to do is drive her son to his soccer game, watch him play, and then return home. Just because she knows her ex-best friend lives near the field, that doesn’t mean she has to drive past her house and try to catch a … mean she has to drive past her house and try to catch a glimpse of her.
Why would Beth do that and risk dredging up painful memories? She hasn’t seen Flora for twelve years. She doesn’t want to see her today—or ever again. But she can’t resist. She parks outside the open gates of Newnham House, watches from across the road as Flora arrives and calls to her children Thomas and Emily to get out of the car.
Except . . . There’s something terribly wrong. Flora looks the same, only older. Twelve years ago, Thomas and Emily were five and three years old. Today, they look precisely as they did then. They are Thomas and Emily without a doubt, but they haven’t changed at all. They are no taller, no older. Why haven’t they grown? How is it possible that they haven’t grown up?
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More twists and turns than Lombard Street in San Francisco
Beth is driving her 14 year-old son to a football match (football in the UK not USA) when on a whim she detours by the last known address she has for her ex-best friend. Beth and her husband, Dom, used to be best friends with Flora and her husband, Lewis, but twelve years ago they stopped seeing each other and went their separate ways.
So today Beth stops in front of the house where Flora used to live – and Flora pulls up in front of the house. When her two children get out of the vehicle, they unexplainably look the same age they did twelve years ago.
Beth becomes OBSESSED with this mystery and tries to find out just what is going on in Flora and Lewis’s lives.
I’ve read a few of author Hannah’s books and enjoyed her writing style. This book was a bit much for me. When I write that Beth is obsessed, that is a mild description. She goes all out bonkers trying to figure out what is happening.
The book was alright but just had too many unbelievable twists for me to fully enjoy it.
I received this book from William Morrow Books through Edelweiss in the hopes that I would read it and leave an unbiased review.
This was a super good book. Even though it took me a while to read it, life happens, I probably could have read it in a day or two. I would definitely recommend this book.
I thought this whole story was a big stretch. Convoluted and the ending was predictable. Glad I got it cheap.
The blurb for this book grabbed me straight away. Unfortunately, the novel didn’t meet expectations.
One problem: Beth, our heroine. You won’t question Flora for abandoning their friendship twelve years earlier. Not only does Beth resemble a crazed stalker, she also doesn’t understand her own story. She is completely without self-knowledge. (You might find yourself wondering, as I frequently did, why her husband sticks with her and why her children–her daughter in particular–support her.)
When Beth believes she sees Flora and two children who closely resemble Flora’s kids from a dozen years earlier, it sends good old Beth into a frenzy. WHO ARE THOSE CHILDREN? WHY HAVEN’T THEY AGED? AND WHO IS THIS ‘CHIMPY’ PERSON BETH HEARS FLORA ASK ABOUT ON THE PHONE?
At one point, it looks like an elderly neighbor of Maybe Flora might come to our rescue and get Beth arrested, but our girl remains free to chat up school employees, track down estranged parents, and take a deep dive into LinkedIn, Instagram, and Facebook accounts.
Meanwhile, there is the mystery of Maybe Flora and Maybe Her Children. The explanation of the truths for those people feels flimsy, to say the least. And you have to buy it for the climax and denouement to make sense. I think if I had found Beth even slightly less batty, I might have accepted the hows and wherefores.
There are also long chunks where the book falls into a slumberous state. I had to push myself to keep going because I needed to know if Beth was right to pursue her suspicions. (Spoiler: it doesn’t matter. She’s nuttier than peanut brittle.) I would get irritated by the lulls, wishing Sophie Hannah had skipped some of those and gone straight to the details we need. And THEN I would get irritated that her editor didn’t make that happen.
Yet there was enough there to keep me going, albeit with an occasional skipping or five. Sophie Hannah deserves credit for that, doesn’t she?
Hit up the comments and let me know what you thought of this book.
I was very disappointed by the ending. I felt that it was unrealistic and confusing as compared to the beginning of the book.
I read the book because I kept hoping that the ending would be more interesting than the rest of the book….it wasn’t. The book was way too long and it was repetitive. I won’t read any other books by this author. The ending was very blah and anti-climatic.
Whew what a rollercoaster ride!
This book was a little far-fetched but very entertaining.
Entertaining mystery story about misunderstandings, deception and Friendships.
Dogged heroine
Such an unusual premise, it had me turning the pages to the end. I couldn’t have guessed the reveal.
This is the first book I’ve read by Sophie Hannah. It was not bad, some parts definitely unbelievable. Many years after her friendship with Flora has ended, Beth drives by the old house when Flora used to live, and sees her. It appears as if time has stopped: her two children look exactly the same as they did when the friendship ended, which is impossible: they should be teenagers. Thus begins Beth’s quest to learn the truth. What happened, and why do so many pieces not fit. Interesting, and kept me guessing until the end. Not sure I loved the characters or connected with them, but was curious enough about the outcome to continue to read on.
With so many reviews on this, I’m just going to get right into my thoughts. Beth’s husband Dom drove me insane. Two days into investigating what is going on with their former friends, and he’s acting like she’s destroying the family. It was dramatic and repetitive. You just *knew* the next time he popped into the scene, he would repeat his assertion that she needs to stop this, that it was in the best interest of the family. And I’m not one to tell others to calm down, because when has that ever worked? But here I was, screaming at him to calm down. (Spoiler: he didn’t.)
And sure, Beth had her maddening qualities too. Like flying off to Florida because she needed to know. I would get mad at that but I just finished watching Little Fires Everywhere, and Reese Witherspoon did the same thing. So meh, our obsessions can make us do things that probably aren’t a good decision in hindsight.
By the time I got to the reveal, I didn’t much care anymore because of the repetitiveness. I can see at least a quarter of that aspect being cut from the book and we would still know that Beth had grown obsessed. It’s not a horrible book, I’ve given it 3-stars. It’s just too much, which for me, ruins the premise of what could be a really good book.
I am struggling to rate HAVEN’T THEY GROWN, so I’ve decided to go straight down the middle with 2.5 out of 5 stars.
The blurb certainly caught my interest: How *do* you explain seeing young children that do not seem to have aged in 12 years? Wanting to discover the answer is what had me turning the pages.
If I take all the individual components that led to the conclusion, I could convince myself that most are probable, but putting it all together and believing it as a whole was a hard sell. I did not buy into it.
In general, I found the writing engaging, if a tad repetitive at the start. This was my first Sophie Hannah book, but I am interested enough to want to read more of her work.
“Perfect Little Children” by Sophie Hannah was a haunting and mysterious novel.
It took me a little bit to really get into it and then I was unable to put it down.
The relationships between all of the characters in the novel were intense and complex.
I was definitely not expecting the surprising and twisted ending, so it made the wait worth it.
I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for fair and honest review.
3.75 Stars
I was intrigued by the premise of ‘Haven’t They Grown’ and eager to find out the secret behind the apparent failure to age of the children who are the focus of the title. What unravels is a dark and complex plot, which kept me turning pages long into the night. Sophie Hannah weaves an intricate tale and draws the reader in with strong, believable characters. The story is told from the perspective of the main protagonist, the likeable Beth, who has lost touch with her once best friend, Flora Braid. When Beth’s son, Ben, is playing in a football match near Flora’s new address, Beth cannot resist taking a detour for the opportunity of catching a glimpse of her old friend in her new upmarket home. But when she does so, it opens up a whole can of worms. It has been twelve years since Beth has seen Flora, who looks a little older. But the woman’s young children, Thomas and Emily, look exactly the same as they did over a decade ago.
Beth overhears Flora’s mobile phone conversation and is concerned that the woman appears upset. She is convinced that all is not well with her old friend and, to the initial dismay of her easy-going husband, Dom, becomes obsessed with finding out what has happened to Flora – and her children.
Beth and Dom’s friendship with Flora Braid and her husband, Lewis, seemed to have fizzled out when an upturn in the Braids’ fortunes meant that they had moved up in the world and severed ties with their past. Unbeknown to Beth’s husband, however, there is something else underlying the breakdown of the relationship, which is alluded to fairly early in the book, but all is not revealed until much later. What subsequently unfolds is shocking and tragic, with a nail-biting climax.
There are moments of light relief throughout, largely provided by Beth’s feisty teenage daughter, Zannah, who supports her mother as she embarks on a mission to find out the truth. The characters are all wonderfully drawn and credible, and Beth’s concern for her friend’s, and the children’s, welfare is touching and admirable.
Highly recommended for anyone who enjoys twisty psychological thrillers.
I’d yet to read a Sophie Hannah book, even after they’d come highly recommended by fellow readers. I was therefore very excited to be given the opportunity to read her latest novel “Haven’t They Grown” (also under the title “Perfect Little Children”).
“All Beth has to do is drive her son to his Under-14s away match, watch him play, and bring him home. Just because she knows her ex-best friend Flora, lives near the football ground, that doesn’t mean she has to drive past her house and try to catch a glimpse of her. She hasn’t seen Flora for twelve years. She doesn’t want to see her today, or ever again. But she can’t resist. She parks outside the house and watches from across the road as Flora and her children Thomas and Emily step out of the car. Except… There’s something terribly wrong. Flora looks the same, only older. As would be expected. However, it’s the children. Twelve years ago, Thomas and Emily were five and three years old. Today, they look precisely as they did then. They are no taller, no older… Why haven’t they grown?”
I found the whole premise, once it got going, very far fetched and utterly unrealistic but it didn’t stop me becoming fully invested into finding out exactly why the children hadn’t seemed to age. Told in the first person by Beth Leeson, she can’t believe what she’s seen and is determined to discover the truth at all costs. She has an exceedingly supportive husband, a lot more supportive than I imagine most husbands would be and two very typical teenage kids who made up the very strong family. Zannah the oldest child (though much older than her years mentally) really got into being the detective and relished trying to solve the unexplainable mystery. Although she could be quite annoying, she was a very well developed character and I pictured her quite clearly rolling her eyes at times and sighing in frustration. I did feel the scene with the teacher and the racism an unnecessary filler but on the whole I thoroughly enjoyed the whole story no matter how impractical most of it was and I found myself happily engrossed. It was very cleverly plotted, if a little complicated but written well, with excellently created characters and a denouement that kept me fascinated.
Now that I’ve read my first Sophie Hannah book it certainly won’t be my last and I’d happily recommend “Haven’t They Grown”, it’s well worth a read, just keep in mind it’s entertaining fiction not a passable real life scenario.
4 stars