A Ruined Girl by Kate Simants, at 370 pages, for someone who is used to reading that length, would take them a short period of time. However, for me, someone who doesn’t read hardbacks a lot because I’m dyslexic, it took me five days, instead of my standard three to four, as it has been read to me by four people. This meant that the story was absorbed in a completely different way to how I normally do things, as it was not read in a vacuum. This is why I was aware of the twists, as you naturally discuss it with the people who are reading it to you.
This was a really complex book with lots of twists and turns. Although I enjoyed it, there’s probably one too many twist, but the complexity of the story was also good, too. The story was split into two distinct narratives. Before a crime and after told from the points of view of a young lad in care, Luke, and the probation officer, Wren. She is tasked with ensuring that her offender faces the impact of his crime by talking to the victims and those people that were impacted by it. Luke’s part, though, is a more crucial one, as you get to see the build up to the crime and why Wren is so determined to investigate it in the present.
Probation officers have become a popular premise for a novel and this was done really well by Helen Fitzgerald in her Theakstons nominated Worst Case Scenario, so I was naturally comparing it to that. What made Kate’s book unique was her look into the care system. This system, although sometimes covered in plotlines, isn’t covered as often as you’d expect it to be, given how many victims and perpetrators of crime come from care.
Wren, as a character, was a complex one, with lots of supporting characters with slight clichés, but it was done well enough to be able to ignore those. The book as a whole was entertaining and really interesting when you look at it in relation to the subject matter.
Thanks so much Kate, for providing me with one of your very few personal copies for this review, particularly as the publishers weren’t open at the time due to lockdown.
For anyone looking for a really unique look into the care system, this book may well be for you. On the 4th of March you’ll finally be able to get it in paperback and that’ll be easier to read instead of the heavy hardback. I’ll be chatting to Kate on UK Crime Book Club on the 19th of April.
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