The Ophelia Girls

An intoxicating novel about art, illicit desire and the perils and power of being a young woman ¿ perfect for fans of My Dark Vanessa, The Virgin Suicides and The Doll Factory.

About the author

Jane Healey studied English Literature at Warwick University. She has been shortlisted for the Bristol Short Story Prize 2013, the Costa Short Story Award 2014, the Commonwealth Short Story Prize 2016 and the Penguin Random House WriteNow mentoring programme 2017. The Animals at Lockwood Manor is her first novel. She lives in Edinburgh.

Summary

Set between two fateful summers, Jane Healey's The Ophelia Girls is a heady exploration of illicit desire, infatuation and the perils and power of being a young woman.

'An immersive, intoxicating summer read with the long-lasting feel of a classic' - Molly Aitken, author of The Island Child

Summer, 1973. Teenage Ruth and her four friends spend the scorching summer days in the river, recreating tableaus of the drowning Ophelia and other tragic heroines. But as autumn draws nearer, real tragedy has found them.

Summer, 1997. Ruth returns to her childhood home with her husband and three children, including her eldest daughter seventeen-year-old Maeve. However when Stuart, an old family friend comes to stay, the uneasy relationship between mother and daughter is pushed to its limit. For Stuart's arrival is a reminder of a death in Ruth's past, while Maeve is feeling more alive than ever . . .

As the heat of the summer burns, how long can the family go before long-held secrets threaten to burst their banks and drown them all?

'A vivid, sensuous novel . . . I can't recommend it enough' - Anna Bailey, bestselling author of Tall Bones

Foreword

An intoxicating novel about art, illicit desire and the perils and power of being a young woman – perfect for fans of My Dark Vanessa, The Virgin Suicides and The Doll Factory.

Additional text

Sensual and lush, The Ophelia Girls captures the dangerous power of approaching the world with an artist's eye, of seeing others and being truly seen in turn. Jane Healey's prose holds the haunting beauty of pre-Raphaelite paintings, paired with a page-turning exploration of girlhood, secrets, desire, and art

Product details

• Authors: Jane Healey, Healey Jane
• Publisher: Pan Books
• Languages: English
• Age Recommendation: from age 18
• Product format: Paperback
• Released: 31.03.2022
• EAN: 9781529014877
• ISBN: 978-1-5290-1487-7
• No. of pages: 361
• Dimensions: 130 mm x 197 mm x 21 mm
• Subjects: Fiction > Narrative literature; FICTION / Coming of Age, FICTION / Historical / General, Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945), FICTION / Family Life / General, FICTION / Literary, FICTION / Friendship, FICTION / Family Life / Marriage & Divorce, Of specific Lesbian interest, Family life fiction, Narrative theme: Death, grief, loss, Pre-Raphaelite, Narrative theme: Coming of age, Relating to lesbians, Modern and contemporary fiction, Narrative theme: Love and relationships, c 1970 to c 1979, c 1970 to c 1980, c 1990 to c 2000, c 1990 to c 1999, FICTION / LGBTQ+ / Lesbian, FICTION / Romance / LGBTQ+ / Lesbian