A review by emleemay
Little Darlings by Melanie Golding

4.0

How could her brain conjure something that seemed so real, something laden with so much horrifying detail, and yet there be nothing at all?

This book is seriously creepy, creative and sad. I think it's a bit misleading that it has found its way to the mystery/thriller section when it is mostly a contemporary with elements (or suggestions) of magical realism. But either way, it's a moving, frightening, psychological portrait of new motherhood, set in the Peak District.

[b:Little Darlings|41806986|Little Darlings|Melanie Golding|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1537554545s/41806986.jpg|61722329] is inspired by the Welsh fairy tale A Brewery of Eggshells, about a woman with newborn twins who are swapped with changelings. Lauren Tranter has just given birth to two beautiful twin boys who quickly become her whole world. When a disheveled woman appears on the maternity ward and threatens to swap them with her own sons, she is rightfully terrified and will do anything to protect her babies.

Lauren is tired and stressed like all new mothers, but she knows the woman is real. Even though the doctors and the police and her husband keep telling her that she is seeing things, that she needs help, she knows the truth. When her babies go missing one day, a frantic search begins and they are quickly found, seemingly unharmed. But Lauren knows the truth about that, too - these babies are not the children she lost.

Everyone wants to dismiss her as mentally ill except Detective Sergeant Joanna Harper, who has her own reasons for believing Lauren. Against the wishes of her superiors, Harper opens her own investigation into what really happened.

I think the police procedural aspects are the weakest part of the novel. [b:Little Darlings|41806986|Little Darlings|Melanie Golding|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1537554545s/41806986.jpg|61722329] is at its strongest when hovering somewhere between a portrait of postpartum depression and a dark, sinister fairy tale. I can speak from experience when I say depression can be terrifying. And just like in this novel, you can never quite be sure what is a legitimate feeling and what is an exaggerated response brought on by your mental state; these two often overlap.

After the birth of my first child, I found myself crying uncontrollably. I was exhausted, confused and afraid of absolutely everything. On top of the hormonal crash that comes after giving birth, for most people there's also the pure terror of being wholly responsible for someone else's wellbeing for the first time in your life. Unless you were previously a carer, the emotional shift that comes with knowing the responsibility falls entirely on you changes you beyond belief.

I think this book captures all that. Maybe the woman is real and this is a dark fairy tale, and maybe she is not and this is just a book about a woman struggling with mental illness. But it actually doesn't matter that much. The fear - of getting it wrong, messing up, of losing your baby, of not being a good mother - all of that is very real either way. I found it highly effective.

CW: Depression.

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