Author: Bella Osborne
The Girls is a book by Bella Osborne, an author of The Library: A Novel (see my blog here).
The Girls is a story of four women: one famous actress, now single and three times divorced; a divorced former solicitor; a widowed secretary, and a carer who never married. The four women were friends in their 20s when they were starting their lives and shared a flat in London. During their adult lifetimes, they lost touch, but they all remembered those days when living together as the time of their life. All of them ended up struggling, and now that they are in their 60s, 70s, and 80s, they also face loneliness and/or poor health. For example, Pauline is suicidal and lonely following the death of her abusive husband, which is a relief, but it also makes her realize he separated her from her friends, and she has nobody left. Val is a retired solicitor with a paid-off house and a decent pension who now has an issue with noisy neighbors whilst she has always craved quiet time. She also has a secret, which is revealed later in the book. Jackie is a carer who barely survives on her wage, so she does little errands for care home residents who give her tips, she sleeps with younger men and clearly makes wrong choices when choosing men to date, but she has a good heart and beautifully written working-class ways of communicating, which were entertaining throughout the book (and felt real). Zara is a famous actress who divorced three times and now has serious health issues. She is also a diva and a demanding person, but she still cherishes her friends from her youth and their time together. When an invitation comes to three women to attend Zara’s 80th birthday, they find themselves in a surprise and relive memories of their 20s.
At the party, Zara invites the girls to come and live with her again to revive their lives from their 20s and support each other. Pauline and Jackie are not financially well-off, and Pauline is facing eviction because Zara gave her a cat, Brian, whilst Jackie just got fired from the care home and has upcoming credit card bills to pay, as well as rent, neither of which she can afford. Thus, girls do not need a lot of convincing and despite reservations, they say yes. Val is the toughest of all because she is not in financial need and needs quiet time but FOMO kicks in and she says yes too, boosted by difficult neighbors who create too much noise.
As it turns out, girls come to Zara’s Belgravia residence only to find out they would be living with her in her house in France, in an idyllic village near Nice. I am not sure what’s up with all these books by British authors who write about France that I’ve accidentally come across lately, but it is as if something is poking me to finally make that move and learn some French. I already study fashion history (and most of it is linked to France) and use Bourdieu’s habitus in my research, so I really should do it. I am lazy with it, and these books are not helping, lol
The girls come to France and end up in awe of the village, food, local culture, proximity of Monaco to where they make short visits, as well as Zara’s lavish lifestyle that includes having a French chef cooking for her and plenty of house help. As girls try to get used to living together again and their duties in Zara’s household (Pauline is helping Zara write memoirs, Val is sorting out her finances and investments, and Jackie is helping manage her medicines), things change, and a tragedy hits, which instigates a police investigation and major media coverage …
The Girls was an interesting book with several unexpected twists that got me interested. In some ways, this book is better than The Library (aka twists), but then in some it is not as good (aka less focus on describing feelings; this does exist, but I did not always feel it). But, overall, it was an interesting book focusing on friendships, reviving and reliving youth, trying to negotiate identities, and rekindling old friendships. I also loved the positive portrayal of London, which I indeed love and have the best memories of sharing a house with the best housemates. These are the memories I remember fondly; mind you, all my housemates were blokes, and I was the only girl in the house, but they were outstanding friends and housemates I remember fondly. Cheers to all of them and our time together in Wood Green 😊
Thank you for reading!