Blog tour: Them Girls by Eva Verde

This post is part of a blog tour organised by Random Things Blog Tours. I received a free copy of the book in return for an honest review.

‘Two sisters, a lifetime of secrets, and the chance to set the record straight…

‘Meet Goldie and Vee: sisters, dreamers, grafters. In their forties, both appear to have it all…

‘Until Goldie finds the courage to leave Benedict. Once upon a time their faux marriage worked, but when the magnetic Wolfie comes on the scene, her world of pretending falls apart.

‘Vee’s neat world is spiralling, too. Since her ex-husband Jamie started dating Julia – her cruel school bully – Vee’s long-buried insecurities are out of control. She needs to get away, and fast.

‘So when Goldie suggests a holiday in France, Vee leaps at the idea. A curiously well-timed invitation – just as speculations around Goldie’s brilliantly brief pop career back in the 90s are beginning to resurface.

‘Escaping’s one thing, but nothing stays secret forever, and as Vee and Goldie’s unresolved pasts make surprise returns, the stories them girls once told themselves begin to look very different…’

Them Girls, by Eva Verde, catches middle-aged London/Essex sisters Goldie and Valeria (Vee) at a pivotal point in both their lives.

One-time pop star Goldie has spent the past 15 years or so as a kept woman in a sham marriage with upper-class Benedict (Ben). This arrangement suits both sides until – on the same night – Goldie is unexpectedly reunited with attactive former classmate Wolfgang (Wolfie), and realises she can’t ignore Ben’s unpleasant side any longer.

Meanwhile, a high-profile court case against a notorious male singer has brought to light other stories of abuse at Goldie’s former record label, forcing her to reckon with her own experiences as a 16-year-old wannabe, and threatening to pull her back into the limelight.

Freelance publishing researcher and copyeditor Vee’s marriage has also come to an end, but in very different circumstances. She and Jamie split amicably, and are even still living in the same house until they can sell it without negative equity. This works – until Jamie starts dating Julia, who bullied Vee so badly in school, she had a breakdown and was sectioned.

Vee is thrown by Julia’s reappearance, which brings up painful memories and leads her to reflect on how she’s always played it safe and hidden her light as a result of Julia’s cruelties. What’s more, she doesn’t believe for a second that Julia’s changed. Can the positive feedback and potential love interest Vee’s found at her new writing group take her down a more positive road?

Them Girls was a joy to read! The author’s lively, witty style brings the characters and scenes to vivid, sparkling life, making me feel carried along by the various threads of the story. While I loved both sisters and found it really satisfying to watch them emerge from their respective ruts and start to bloom over the course of the book, Vee especially won my heart.

I could relate so hard to her remembering and feeling long-ago hurts as if they just happened yesterday; keeping her head down because, in her experience, drawing attention to herself has negative consequences; being a keen documentarian of her own life; and benefitting from being part of a writing group. And hey, if she can belatedly find success with her writing, maybe there’s hope for me as well.

Writing about fictional pop artists and record labels can be hit-and-miss, but Goldie’s story of whirlwind fame in the early 90s, and the way the renewed interest in her played out, all felt very authentic. I also appreciated the use of song names as chapter titles! Goldie’s experiences of being exploited by a much older manager-boyfriend, being made to sign NDAs, and being cast out of the fold when she called people out on their behaviour are (sadly) very topical right now.

Of course, Them Girls also features one of my favourite themes: sibling relationships. While the book sees Goldie and Vee grow close again after a period of atrophy, we learn that they were very close as children, as there were only nine months between them, and they quickly learned to rely on one another as their single mother never wanted them. Their interactions as adults are often entertaining and tell us a lot about their characters, and it’s also interesting to see how they’re still thrown when other people’s parents are kind to them.

This brings us to a couple of other important themes that run through the book: race and class. Goldie, for example, has a lot more time for her posh husband Ben’s parents than she does for him, but even so, she’s aware that they categorise her as “different” and “exotic”, and that she helps them appear modern and open-minded. Also, having grown up poor, she’s understandably terrified of being left with nothing after leaving Ben.

Vee’s former bully Julia, meanwhile, comes from a privileged background, and racism was very much an element of her abuse towards Vee. Julia is fascinating in a love-to-hate-her way: she doesn’t have an honest or empathetic bone in her body, and you can’t wait to see her downfall.

While Goldie and Vee are central to the story, now and again there’s a chapter written from the point of view of one of the secondary characters such as Julia, demonstrating the author’s skill with different voices, as well as showing how other characters perceive the sisters, whether they love or feel threatened by them.

Them Girls is an entertaining, gratifying, and timely novel that sparkles.