Now, raising her daughter and struggling to make ends meet in Manhattan, Julie still can’t forget the ghost of a girl with golden hair and a dangerous secret.
Consumed by guilt, she left the small town of Lawrence Mill, Mississippi, and swore nothing would ever drag her back.
Ten years ago, Julie Portland accidentally killed her best friend, Reba. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.The Secret of Southern Girls by Haley Harrigan Rating : 2.5/5 Goodreads Summary: Foreword Reviews only recommends books that we love. No fee was paid by the publisher for this review. The publisher of this book provided free copies of the book to have their book reviewed by a professional reviewer. Its intricacy was maddening and stifling … all disturbingly beautiful.”ĭisclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. Harrigan’s world is, in Reba’s own words, “like being immersed in a fairy tale.
As the story shifts between Julie and August’s search and entries from Reba’s missing diary, past and present are bridged, and the shadow side of friendship, family, and memory emerges. Her writing is evocative and atmospheric, whether the action takes place under the bright lights of Manhattan or in Mississippi’s weedy heat. Harrigan is a great prose stylist who knows how to sustain the tension and tone required of a Southern Gothic novel. As Julie gets closer to the truth, she must confront her long-held assumptions about who Reba really was and who she needed Reba to be. Julie’s movement toward the truth is mirrored by a steady progression through Reba’s journal entries. Already haunted by Reba’s death, when Reba’s old high-school boyfriend, August Elliott, tracks Julie down and insists she help him find Reba’s missing diary, she relents-despite the fact that finding the diary requires them to return to the scene of the crime: home.Īugust’s insistence might be driven by his need for closure, but, first, it breaks everything open. It’s also been ten years since she buried her best friend, Reba McLeod, but Reba won’t rest easy.
It’s been ten years since Julie Portland graduated high school and left Lawrence Mills, Mississippi, for New York City. But it’s a lie, and she knows it.” From that point on, Julie Portland’s story falls apart as she finally faces a death that might not be the murder it seems. It’s the same thing Julie has told herself, over and over, for ten years. Haley Harrigan’s Secrets of Southern Girls opens with a confession: “It’s not your fault she’s dead.
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