Yes, My Darling Daughter

Brilliant. Poignant, gripping, and dark. The concept was new and fresh, and the writing style was so vivid as to be poetic, almost. The characters are exquisitely developed, and the dialogue is precise. I could not stop reading this book. An excellent Gothic fiction is hard to find, but I will happily add this to the list of my favorites. For those that need comparisons, think "Rebecca," by Du Maurier, "The Woman In White," by Collins, or "Sleep, Pale Sister," by J. Harris. I'm going to reread this to savor the nuances of Leroy's writing all the more.

Young single mum Grace struggles to make life work but her daughter Sylvie’s odd and volatile behavior isolates the pair. Could be just a little girl with behavior issues and an overwhelmed mum, as everyone around them seems to think. Feeling the world closing in, Grace snatches at one last straw—a psychologist who claims to elicit memories of past lives from troubled children.

Margaret Leroy keeps Grace and Sylvie’s world just a little off kilter. Yes, My Darling Daughter has been compared to Rebecca—Leroy invokes a very similar brooding vague unease. We’re not always sure things are what we think, or of what’s around any corner.

The serviceable murder mystery plot holds up its end well enough. There are some cliché show more elements and that inevitable point in the story where the reader wants to yell at the main characters, “Don’t walk right into the trap!” But these are not major flaws.

Throughout, Grace’s determination to do whatever it takes to help her cold and rather unlovable little girl kept this reader rooting for them both. Now I’m rooting for another book from Leroy soon. show less

I loved the atmosphere in this one. Grace's young daughter Sylvie is creepy, and as her behavior begins to alienate all of Grace's social contacts, Grace's situation gets more desperate. She turns to a psychologist who specializes in past life theories to try to help Sylvie. The book isn't perfect. For one, the relationship between Grace & Adam doesn't feel quite right. Also, Grace seems way older than 22. And there are a couple of very convenient coincidences in the plotting. Still, this is a thrilling, gothic-tinged ride.

Sylvie is an odd four-year-old girl. She seems to live in her own world. She says the strangest things. And she has a paralyzing fear of water. Her mother, Grace, a single woman struggling to make ends meet, begins to wonder what exactly is going on with her daughter. As Grace's carefully constructed life begins to unravel, it becomes imperative to find out who Sylvie really is.

Yes, My Darling Daughter is a beautifully written book. The language is evocative and carries you away to a melancholy place where every noise is creepy and every action has meaning. The beauty here is enough to keep you reading from beginning to end.

Which is lucky, because Grace was one of the most irritating protagonists I've encountered for quite a while. show more She's always second-guessing herself. She'll say something and a moment later wish she hadn't. She takes forever to make a decision and than immediately retreats from the chosen path. In short, she lacks a spine. She gets better as the book goes along, but, oh, was it aggravating.

I'm a sucker for a gothic tale woven from mists and shadows, and thankfully the writing is excellent, because I would've thrown this book across the room halfway through, if not for Leroy's lovely prose. It saved the book, but I won't recommend it to anyone unless they can handle an obnoxious main character. show less

This book started out well but just didn't deliver. The mother, Grace, does not deal well with a 4-year-old daughter, Sylvie, who seems to have psychic connections to a prior life. I was irritated with the character Sylvie, who seemed far too mature for her age and was obnoxious to boot, and with Grace, who tiptoed around the kid and never wanted to upset the applecart, so to speak, to try and figure out the situation. Although there was a nice sense of creepiness throughout, the ending was very unsatisfying. Still, I generally liked the way the author wrote and will check out her other books.

A very satisfying "gothic" type book that harkened back to my late childhood days of reading Mary Stewart and Victoria Holt! Only with a modern twist.
The first part of the book does an excellent job of having us experience the unraveling of Grace's happy,simple life all due to the sometimes outrageous things her 4 year old daughter,Sylvie says. Her actions,like biting her friend,Lennie further alienate both mother and child from the comfortable,middle class mom mafia Grace has been allowed into even though she is a single mom. More and more Grace suspects that Sylvie has lived another life.
In desperation she turns to college professor/para normal researcher,Adam. At his urging,the three of them set out to find the house Sylvie talks show more about in Coldharbour,Ireland.
Once in Ireland the mystery of just who Sylvie was is revealed and the danger sets in.
The ending was slightly less than completely satisfying but all in all this was a good in-between,beach type read that I finished in 3 days. show less

When I started this book, I didn't expect it to be a Stephen King-type story, but that's where it went. I have nothing against King, who is a fine writer; it's just that I read so many of his novels in the 1980s that I burned out on them. In the case of Yes, My Darling Daughter, Leroy gives us a single mom with a creepy kid. Little Sylvie goes into screaming fits if touched by water, she insists on calling her mother Grace, and she has a weird attachment to a dollhouse and a photo of an Irish coastal town ("That's where I lived, Grace"). So you can see where this is going--enough said about the plot and the mystery about to be unravelled.

Although I felt compelled to keep reading, at the same time I was irritated with myself for doing so show more (when I could have been reading something more substantial and enjoyable). I really disliked the character of Grace, who had a habit of melting and running for her "tightest jeans" and "highest heels" every time she saw a wealthy older man. (Sylvie's father was an older married man and father, and Grace can't seem to let go of her fantasies of being with him.) She's one of those women who never seems to learn from her experiences, and she is quite immature. She also drags the story out by repeatedly cutting off any questioning of Sylvie just when it seems to be heading towards some answers. For the last 100 pages, I often found myself wanting to scream, "For God's sake, just push a little and get it over with!"

I also found the writing a bit tedious, with some quirks. For example, Leroy seems to have discovered the word "judder"--she uses it ad nauseum. There's also a lot of repetition where an editor might have helped (e.g., "wet raincoat" used unnecessarily in two consecutive sentences).

In short, I think I've outgrown this genre. The book might appeal to someone who still enjoys the creepy kid/hints of past lives kind of thing. I'm giving it a little higher rating than it probably deserves, mainly because it did keep me reading--if frustrated--to the end. show less