A review by amothersmusings1
33 Women by Isabel Ashdown

5.0

Isabel Ashdown is well known for her dark, family thrillers and “33 Women” is a superb example of this. Written with a psychological edge, unsolved murders and with a predominantly matriarch feel to it, this highly intriguing and entertaining story, made it unputdownable for me. 

 

Based around a cult/commune/woman’s community - whichever term you feel fits once you’ve read the book - it was interesting to see the dynamics between the women, all of differing ages, backgrounds, past traumas and personality traits.  Very rarely can these communities survive without some sort of internal conflict and ‘Two Cross Farm’ was no exception especially when emotions came into play.  

 

The conclusion/s could well be described as far fetched and I agree some suspension of disbelief is required but I personally thought the whole story was excellently crafted and even though I did start putting together some of the pieces, the way the whole story came together was both emotional and endearing. 

 

Told in alternating chapters of the past and present, we hear from ‘Bramble’, one of the original founding sisters of ‘Two Cross Farm’, learning of the dynamics between the women, and in the present from Celine, as she tries to understand what happened to her sister when she died fifteen years ago. These blended seamlessly and although cult style stories are either loved or hated, I loved it and devoured every page with fervour. 

 

(A word of warning, there are scenes of domestic violence which may upset some readers) 

 

#33Women - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️