A review by afictionalescapist
They Drown Our Daughters by Katrina Monroe

challenging dark mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

 

They Drown our Daughters – Katrina Monroe – Book Review

“If you can hear the call of the water, it’s already far too late.” 

It was a curse that went awry in the 19th century, a curse that now plagues multiple generations of women as they are called time and time again to Cape Disappointment. 

They say the Cape is haunted, they told the girls to get out stay away; but something keeps drawing them in to the coastal town, where one family is never safe. 

They Drown our Daughters centres around Judith, her daughter Meredith and granddaughter Alice in a multi-generational saga of atmospheric, gothic/suspense horror.  Meredith feels that she must head back to the cape following marital problems; almost immediately odd things start to call to both her and her daughter from the depths of the sea. 

Judith is terrified, overbearing and seemingly a little unhinged as she strives to keep the girls out of the water, away from the “mermaid”, and the curse that has plagued her family for over 100 years. 

 

They Drown our Daughters has been my favourite Netgalley arc to date. The atmospheric build-up of this book coupled with a dark oceanic setting worked well to build tension. Although the plot was fairly simple, the author has done an excellent job of layering the stories across multiple generations of this one family to build knowledge, characters and heartrates as we work up to the climax. 

The pacing is deliberately slow, allowing the reader time to sit in the setting, to feel the fear of the ocean build across generations yet not be able to stop the desire, the need to feel the water. To heed the call of the woman waiting below its depths; ready to feed the curse yet again.