Midnight Girls by Lulu Taylor
| Midnight Girls by Lulu Taylor | |
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| Category: Women's Fiction | |
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Reviewer: Katie Pullen
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| Summary: When Allegra, Imogen and Romily witness a tragic accident at their exclusive boarding school the three become bound together by an unbreakable pact. But as they grow up and life takes them in different directions their bond is tested to the limit. A hugely entertaining and readable novel, full of glamour, sex, money and power, all pulled together by the enduring theme of friendship. | |
| Buy? Yes | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 656 | Date: April 2010 |
| Publisher: Arrow Books Ltd | |
| ISBN: 978-0099524922 | |
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Best friends Allegra McCorquodale, Imogen Heath and Romily de Lisle, known as the Midnight Girls, spend their nights at the exclusive Westfield Boarding School for Girls up in the attic rooms smoking and bitching. But when the girls are witness to a tragic accident, they become bound together forever by what they have seen and vow never to tell.
As they finish school and head for university and the real world beyond, each girl must face new challenges and responsibilities, taking them away from their once close friendships with each other. As the novel takes them from Scotland, Oxford, London, New York, Paris and Italy, none of them forget their bond, and as they forge ahead in their privileged lives, building careers and falling in love, things that have long been buried and forgotten eventually catch up with them in an edge of seat climax.
Allegra, Imogen and Romily are all well-portrayed strong young women. Allegra, daughter to an earl and the leader of the midnight girls, is the least likeable. Out of the three she is the most spoilt, even though her family's wealth doesn't even come close to that of best friend Romily's. She is incredibly selfish and at times quite a foolish young woman who is not averse to walking all over people to get what she wants. A troubled relationship with her father pushes her to prove herself as she grows up and becomes involved in her uncle's nightclub business, but she remains haunted by the events at Westfield.
Romily is a little bit more likeable than Allegra. She has been born to a life of extreme privilege as the granddaughter of a famous painter, but is keen to embark on her own career and step away from the trappings of her family in France in favour of starting a business in New York. Both her and Allegra are incredibly beautiful, with amazing figures and hair that most of us can only dream of. Romily is naïve though and despite all her money she struggles to achieve her goals until she meets the right man.
Imogen though has to be my favourite character and is a refreshing tonic when added to the Allegra and Romily cocktail. She is the normal girl of the group from a relatively average background, with an average figure and beauty, and a fairly dull job as a trainee lawyer. Imogen's character shines through time and again though as she holds the midnight girls together with her kind, thoughtful and incredibly loyal ways. Like Romily she has a sweet naivety as she falls hopelessly in love with Allegra's reckless brother Xander.
As well as the fashion on almost every page is the prevalence of sex scenes from the very first chapter. These certainly ensure the novel has the deserving subtitle of bonkbuster, but are definitely not for the faint-hearted reader as they are pretty frank, and even made me cringe occasionally with Taylor's choice of vocabulary. However, they are fairly essential to the novel and certainly give it some extra colour.
At the centre of the novel is the enduring theme of the friendship which links Allegra, Imogen and Romily, and how their alliance made as teenagers grows and changes as they themselves grow up into young women. I was impressed that Taylor doesn't try and maintain the teenage bonds between the girls and instead lets their adult experiences and the harshness of the real world, albeit privileged, impact on them in a variety of ways, leading them to treat each other in ways they could never have imagined, at times both destructive and full of rivalry.
Midnight Girls is a sexy, dramatic and entertaining read depicting Taylor's world of modern high society in all its escapist glory. It is rich with passion, money, power, love, sex, drugs, glamour and fashion, and lacks the predictability of a lot of contemporary fiction. The only downside is that it's all just a little bit forgettable come the end, but the journey getting there is definitely worth it.
I'd like to thank the publishers for sending a copy to The Bookbag.
Further Reading Suggestion: If you like the sound of this book, you may also enjoy Vintage or Priceless by Olivia Darling.
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You can read more book reviews or buy Midnight Girls by Lulu Taylor at Amazon.co.uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free.
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