Little Darlings, Melanie Golding
Little Darlings, Melanie Golding
14 Rating(s)
List: $22.95 | Sale: $16.07
Club: $11.47

Little Darlings
A Novel

Author: Melanie Golding

Narrator: Melanie Golding, Stephanie Racine

Unabridged: 11 hr 51 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 04/30/2019

Synopsis

“Mother knows best” takes on a sinister new meaning in this unsettling thriller perfect for fans of Neil Gaiman, Grimms’ Fairy Tales, and Aimee Molloy’s The Perfect Mother.Everyone says Lauren Tranter is exhausted, that she needs rest. And they’re right; with newborn twins, Morgan and Riley, she’s never been more tired in her life. But she knows what she saw: that night, in her hospital room, a woman tried to take her babies and replace them with her own … creatures. Yet when the police arrived, they saw no one. Everyone, from her doctor to her husband, thinks she’s imagining things.A month passes. And one bright summer morning, the babies disappear from Lauren’s side in a park. But when they’re found, something is different about them. The infants look like Morgan and Riley—to everyone else—but to Lauren, something is off. As everyone around her celebrates their return, Lauren begins to scream, “These are not my babies!”Determined to bring her true infant sons home, Lauren will risk the unthinkable. But if she’s wrong about what she saw, she’ll be making the biggest mistake of her life.Compulsive, creepy, and inspired by some our darkest fairy tales, Little Darlings will have you checking—and rechecking—your own little ones. Just to be sure. Just to be safe.

About Melanie Golding

Melanie Golding is a graduate, with distinction, of Bath Spa University’s postgraduate creative writing program. She has been a farm hand, a factory worker, a child-minder, and a music teacher. Throughout all this—because and in spite of it—there was always the writing. In recent years she has won and been short-listed in several local and national story competitions. Little Darlings is her first novel.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Emily May on April 30, 2019

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......more

Goodreads review by Teodora on February 04, 2024

3.45/5 ⭐ Full review on my Blog: The Dacian She-Wolf 🐺 Thanks NetGalley and the publisher for a free, electronic ARC of this novel received in exchange for an honest review! me:*gets the blankie and stuffed lion* let the horror begin ...25% reading later... me: okay...what about a spook then? ...the f......more

Goodreads review by Nilufer on May 17, 2020

Okay, I need lots of cold water, not to drink of course! I need to splash it on my face to clean the stupid shocked expression my face! First of all: this book is not a thriller. Is it dark? Hell yes! Is it disturbing? Yeap! Is it creepy? Hell yeah! But it should be considered as a dark fiction, an adap......more

Goodreads review by Mary Beth on April 25, 2019

Five Creepy Stars Laura Tranter just had newborn twins. She named them Morgan and Riley. She is exhausted and needs a lot of rest. The night in the hospital room a woman tried to take her babies. and replace them with her own...creatures. Eek! When she tells everyone what happened, no one believes he......more

Goodreads review by Chelsea on March 22, 2019

Have you ever found yourself writing a review for a book that you didn't particularly enjoy, but found important and/or necessary? Little Darlings was just that read for me, and if you'll bear with me, I'll do my best in unpacking these complicated feelings I have below. "The child is not mine as the......more

Quotes

“Unforgettable." New York Times

“Atmospheric and very creepy indeed.” The Guardian (London)

“Lyrical and atmospheric.” Bustle

“It’ll make you question whether mother really does know best or if motherhood is truly the dream it’s made out to be.” Fangoria Magazine

“A gorgeous, creepy, modern fairy tale.” Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“A modern story of ghosts and fairy tales…exploring the harsh reality of twenty-first century motherhood.” Booklist (starred review)

“[Golding] skillfully maintains suspense concerning just how much of Lauren’s nightmare might be rooted in the darker recesses of her own mind.” Publishers Weekly

“Dark, compelling, and terrifyingly relatable…Takes every parent’s worst fear and deftly twists it into something even more horrific.” Megan Hart, New York Times bestselling author

Awards

  • LibraryReads Pick
  • Booklist Pick
  • Dragon Award
  • Ladies of Horror Fiction Award
  • Amazon Editors' Pick
  • New York Times Book Review pick
  • Guardian Pick
  • Refinery29 Pick
  • Bustle Pick
  • Amazon Best Book of the Month
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