A journalist uncovers the dark secrets of an abandoned boarding school in this chilling suspense novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The Sun Down Motel.Vermont, 1950. There’s a place for the girls whom no one wants—the troublemakers, the illegitimate, the ones too smart for their own good. It’s called Idlewild Hall, and local legend says the boarding school is haunted. Four … boarding school is haunted. Four roommates bond over their whispered fears, their friendship blossoming—until one of them mysteriously disappears….
Vermont, 2014. Twenty years ago, journalist Fiona Sheridan’s elder sister’s body was found in the overgrown fields near the ruins of Idlewild Hall. And although her sister’s boyfriend was tried and convicted of the murder, Fiona can’t stop revisiting the events, unable to shake the feeling that something was never right about the case.
When Fiona discovers that Idlewild Hall is being restored by an anonymous benefactor, she decides to write a story about it. But a shocking discovery during renovations links the loss of her sister to secrets that were meant to stay hidden in the past—and a voice that won’t be silenced….
more
I listened to THE BROKEN GIRLS and it’s fabulous – dark, sinister, haunted – and has rekindled my love of the boarding school mystery.
SO. GOOD. excellent ghost story, beautifully written!!!
Compelling page turner! Kept me up all night
Simone St. James wrote an intriguing paranormal mystery – “The Broken Girls.” In it, the strong-minded lead, Fiona, is obsessed with her sister’s murder. Under the guise of reporting the reopening of the historic girls’ boarding school Idelwild Hall (where her sister’s body was discovered), Fiona discovers some mysteries won’t – and shouldn’t – stay buried. Though told in two distinct times lines, the book reads like a dream with a lovely rhythm and attention to Gothic details. St. James fleshed out the cast of characters, including a ghost named Mary Hand. Although this is the first time I’ve read a book by Simone St. James, it will most definitely not be the last.
This was my first time reading Simone St. James, and will not be my last.
What a fantastic book. The Broken Girls was a murder mystery/ghost story surrounding two different murders, one in 1950, the other in 2014, both taking place on or near the ground of Idlewild, a girls home that closed its doors for good in 1979.
Someone is restoring the Idlewild school. Their intentions are unclear.
A young woman’s body was found on the grounds in 1994, it is her sister, Fiona, that can’t let it go twenty years later, and the restoration project causes her to start digging again.
Fiona, besides being the sister of one of the victims, is also the daughter of the town’s legendary reporter, her boyfriend, Jamie is a cop and the son of the former police chief. Both following in the footsteps of some very large shoes, they find comfort in one another. Their relationship is challenged when Fiona begins to uncover buried secrets regarding both her sister and the body found in the well on the Idlewild grounds.
This story goes back and forth from a set of girls at the school in 1950 to Fiona in 2014. I found myself glued to the pages throughout and finished the books inside a week. I love all the places this story went and cannot wait to see what St. James does next.
I give THE BROKEN GIRLS 5 stars!
I’m a big fan of Simone St. James and The Broken Girls was no excpetion. Her books are always entertaining and provide the chills of a great ghost story without veering into horror. Also, she includes a romantic thread that is satisfying.
From the very first chapter I was hooked. Sometimes when a book bounces between era’s it gets hard to follow. With the Broken Girls it was so easy to tell who was telling the story, where they were, and what was happening. The past to present alternating chapters were perfect.
Broken Girls has a ghost story aspect with a mystery to solve. Who is Mary Hand? I was thrilled with each hint, each clue, and each step that Fiona took towards solving the mystery of what happen at Idlewood Hall. There were many twists and turns that I didn’t see coming yet thrilled me to learn about. I knew that Fiona would find the truth but I had no clue how she would manage to do it.
This book is amazing. It will definitely make my favorites of 2018 list. If you are a Gothic mystery fan this is the book for you.
In a remote area of Vermont, outside the small town of Barrons, a girl, suitcase in hand, runs through the isolated, gloomy forest. She is running from someone or something. As the chapter continued, I could hear a Hitchcockesque soundtrack playing in my head. The prologue of The Broken Girls hooked me. I spent the rest of the book wondering who or what the girl was really running from, and worrying about the terrifying apparition.
Author Simone St. James latest novel is excellent. It is part ghost story and part mystery. Ms. St. James tells her tale in dual time periods as well as from multiple perspectives. There are a few story threads being woven together in The Broken Girls. One story is of the disappearance of Sonia, a student at Idlewild Hall in 1950. Another story is of the aftermath of the 1994 murder of Deb Sheridan, whose body was found at Idlewild long after the school had been closed. Lastly, there is the present-day story of Deb’s sister, Fiona, who is still haunted by her death.
From the first page to the last, this book was absolutely chilling! The constant sense of dread and foreboding had me on the edge of my seat. Ms. St. James’ historical research of events influencing a main character/storyline is apparent, and the resulting realism creates an eeriness to her tale. The book features the girls who roomed in Clayton 3C at Idlewild Hall. Sonia, CeCe, Roberta and Katie’s individual histories, which has landed them in the God-forsaken school, is tragic and heartbreaking. The author’s depiction of modern-day Fiona Sheridan, a journalist, is equally heart wrenching. The ghost of Mary Hand, whose death was no less tragic than these girls’ existence, traumatizes each of the girls. Whether the story of Idlewild’s Ghost, the students of the school, or Fiona, the girls were troubled by something and silenced by a situation or a person. Fiona is so broken by her sister’s death that she can’t form solid love relationships and she can’t find the motivation to propel her career forward.
Fiona’s relationship with local policeman, Jamie Creel, seemed to almost be a convenient afterthought in the story. At first their romance seems a bit serendipitous, but as the story progresses, I seriously questioned Jamie’s motives. This relatively casual relationship becomes the catalyst that catapults The Broken Girls from mournful ghost story to paging-turning mystery. Even further in the story I was longing for Jamie and Fiona’s relationship to be a predestined dramatic love story despite how history and life in a small town was dragging them down like a pair of cement shoes.
As the story tension rises to a crescendo that could only be likened to a banshee’s cry, all the “troubled” girls in this story are forced to reckon with their own ghosts and become stronger for it. If this isn’t a story featuring “girl power”, I don’t know what would be considered one.
This Gothic suspense novel is more mystery than horror. It is a perfect choice for book clubs, with at least one published set of suggested discussion questions. The Broken Girls will appeal to fans of The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield. I was intrigued by the description of The Broken Girls, but I didn’t anticipate how good it was going to be!
This was a fantastic mix between mystery and ghost story! I never quite knew what was going to happen next, and definitely didn’t guess the ending! It was a quick read that kept me turning pages, frantically trying to solve the mystery and find out what really happened.
This was a great book. I enjoyed the multiple points of view and two different timeline. Very interesting and kept interest. Wasn’t scary but creepy at times. In the end everything wrapped up nicely.
If you love gothic mysteries, then this is a novel you won’t want to miss. It’s a fast read centered on murders that have happened on the grounds of a bleak girl’s school that now stands abandoned.
The year is early, but The Broken Girls by Simone St. James is by far the best novel I’ve read in 2019 so far.
This is not your typical thriller, and I should point out that The Broken Girls has three elements that I enjoy in all novels, regardless of genre: a dual timeline, a creepy supernatural element, and journalists.
When authors like St. James do it correctly, the supernatural element does not impact the core plot events or explain a twist in the story, but rather adds to the tone and setting. And a story that features characters across two timelines who intersect in a thrilling, engaging climax and denouement, is right up my alley.
Both of these elements are masterfully inserted into this murder mystery whose main character, and her father, are journalists.
In the fall of 2014, Fiona Sheridan is a freelance magazine journalist in the small town of Barrons, Vermont, who is haunted by the murder of her sister, Deb, who was killed twenty years earlier. Deb’s murderer—her then-boyfriend and son of the town’s most prominent family—beat her and dumped her on the property of Idlewild, a shuttered girls-only boarding school.
Fiona is consumed by the murder, and oftentimes visits Idlewild and investigates around the edges of the case. After a night spent on the road leading to Idlewild, she learns someone has bought the property and intends to re-open the school.
After convincing the editor of a Vermont magazine for which she frequently freelances of the story’s importance—and her ability to be impartial—Fiona goes to Idlewild to interview the son of the buyer, Margaret Eden. While she’s there, the construction crew finds a body.
As the story unfolds in 2014, The Broken Girls regularly jumps back to 1950 to tell the story of four roommates at Idlewild—Katie, CeCe, Roberta, and Sonia, all of whom rely on each other to get through the harsh conditions at Idlewild—and of the ghost that haunts the school, Mary Hand. The girls all have reasons they were sent to Idlewild, and Mary, who is a well-known poltergeist at the school, seems Hell-bent on not letting them forget those reasons.
In 2014, authorities—which include Fiona’s cop boyfriend, who is the son of three generations of Barrons police chiefs—discover the body is that of Sonia. As the odd couple look into Sonia, they discover the investigation was almost non-existent, as is information on how Sonia, a French girl who emigrated to America just after the conclusion of World War II, got to Idlewild and ended up in the school’s water well.
But as they get smaller clues, Fiona realizes Sonia was held at a Nazi camp that was essentially women-only, including the guards.
Without giving away spoilers, the mystery is solved wonderfully, and all of the mysteries are explained, including where Mary Hand came from.
The only character I didn’t connect with was Fiona’s cop boyfriend, Jamie. He is needed to advance and deepen the plot, and I suppose I understand the awkward nature of their relationship. But the scenes with them were the least interesting to me, and I would have liked the story as much or more if she would have just been using him as a source in the PD and they ended up in bed with a potential relationship looming after the book is over.
Still, even with this minor complaint, it’s not enough to put much of a damper on this story for me. I highly recommend The Broken Girls to readers of any adult genre, and this may be a novel I re-read several more times over the years.
The Broken Girls is available on Amazon or wherever you buy your books online.
After going through a series of meh books, wow, this was refreshing. It’s a ghost story, murder mystery, love story and cautionary tale wrapped into one. The story follows a number of trajectories, beginning with the 1950s boarding school, Idlewood Hall, where girls who are troublemakers and misfits of all types are placed. Four girls become roommates and fast friends, and one disappears. The others cannot get anyone to take the disappearance seriously and are told that she ran away. Fast forward to today, and Fiona, a reporter whose sister is not a student at Idlewood, but was murdered and left on the field there. As we get deeper into these stories, linked by Fiona’s investigation of the restoration of the school and questions about her sister’s death, we also learn of a mysterious ghost roaming the grounds, the ghost of Mary Hand. Many of the students and Fiona have met her. What are her intentions? Is she the murderer? The story culminates in a suspenseful way, answering these questions and more. I highly recommend this book.
This book will keep you on the edge of your chair. Switching back and forth between present and past, you will become entranced with both stories as they wind forward and backward. You will grieve for the girls who were shunted aside by their families, the girls with no place to go, and then you will be angry at the evil that haunts both the past and the present. All the lovely twists pull the loose ends together and tie past with present and resolution is there for the story lines. It is an excellent book.
This book really gave me the creeps it was very good very well written about a reporter whose sister was killed going to a girls boarding school the boarding school was haunted and women from the early 1900’s all the way to present we’re dying the reporters father was a reporter reporters mother died of cancer and the reporters boyfriend was a cop whose dad and Grandpa were both Sheriff
Simply riveting. I could not put this book down. The characters are compelling, the plot complex, the ghost realistically drawn. Excellent. The writing is well done, with tight yet lyrical sentences. Chilling scenes, heartbreaking twists, and unforeseeable consequences–and a love story (though that’s not the focus and this is not a romance). The best boarding school Gothic I’ve read in quite a while.
Wow this story has lots of twist turns excellent mystery alot of ghost story too Once you Once you start you won’t put down who done it I think I will read more of her books new author to me this book would be a good book for book club
This book was creepy, a bit scary and intriguing. The story is really interesting and clever. The end dragged a little, but not too bad.
Loved this book and the characters. Part mystery, ghost story and historical fiction.
The Broken Girls by Simone St. James is a dual time-line novel (2014/1950). In Barrons, Vermont at 3 a.m. Fiona Sheridan is back on Old Barrons Road near Idlewild Hall where her sister’s body was found twenty years ago. Everyone tells her it is time to move on, but Fiona has unanswered questions. Tim Christopher, her sister’s boyfriend, was convicted of the murder and is in prison serving his sentence. When Fiona finds out that Idlewild Hall has been purchased and is being renovated to turn it back into a girl’s boarding school, she decides to write (freelance journalist) an article about it. While touring the school with Anthony Eden, son of the new owner, a body of a teenage girl is discovered in the old well. Who is she and how did she end up there? Fiona dives into the past to discover what happened to this poor girl. If she happens to turn up information in her sister’s case, all the better.
In 1950 Idlewild Hall is a girl’s boarding school for troubled girls (too independent, rebellious, illegitimate, traumatized, unwanted). CeCe, Sonia, Katie and Roberta room together and, as they get to know each other, become close friends. The lessons are boring, the teachers are rigid, and the luxuries are few. The school is rumored to be haunted by Mary Hand and one room seems to be more sinister than the others. Then one of the girls disappears-never seen again. What is going on at Idlewild Hall? Will Fiona get the answers she seeks?
I had trouble wading through The Broken Girls. I believe the author had too many ideas and, instead of picking, she put them all into this one story (murder, 1800s ghost, modern killer, a girl from a concentration camp and so much more). I found the pace to be very slow which made the book seem twice as long. I found the book disjointed with abrupt transitions. It jumps around faster than a Mexican jumping bean. Fiona Sheridan was not a likeable main character. She came across as obsessed and unsympathetic (I kept hoping the killer would make her the next victim). Much of her sections are devoted to her endless questions and speculation (it was repetitious). I found the story from the 1950s to be more fascinating than the Fiona’s. The author could have done a book just on the four girls story (and kept Fiona out of it). There are a couple of interesting moments in the book, but I mostly found the story to be predictable (mystery readers will have no problem predicting how the book will turn out). I wanted to feel the suspense and the scare factor, but I did not. I do want to warn readers that there is foul language in the book. I realize I am in the minority regarding my feelings on The Broken Girls. That is the beauty of books. Every reader has a different perspective. If you want to see if The Broken Girls is for you, download a sample from your favorite retailer.