About The Book
Nancy, Eleanor and Mary met at college and have been friends ever since, through marriages, children and love affairs.
Nancy married her college sweetheart and is now missing that excitement of her youth.
Eleanor put her career above all else and hasn’t looked back, despite her soft spot for Nancy’s husband.
Mary fell pregnant far too young and is now coping with three children and a mentally unwell husband.
But when Nancy is killed, Eleanor and Mary must align themselves to uncover her killer. And as each of their stories unfold, they realise that there are many different truths to find, and many different ways to bring justice for those we love…
Everyone wants a perfect life. But there is no such thing…
My Thoughts
I read and loved Araminta Hall’s previous novel Our Kind of Cruelty so when I spotted her forthcoming audiobook on NetGalley I couldn’t download it fast enough!
Imperfect Women is about three women: Eleanor, Nancy and Mary who have all been friends since University. The novel opens with Eleanor getting a late night phone call from Nancy’s husband Robert to say she hasn’t come home. It turns out that Nancy has been murdered. The novel is told in three parts: First we get Eleanor’s story, then it goes back in time and we get Nancy’s perspective right up until her murder, and then we end with Mary’s point of view.
I love novels that explore female friendships, I find them endlessly fascinating. There are so many complexities and perceived slights, jealousies and drama that has happened between these three women over the years. Two are married with children, one has remained single and childless. Two each have an affair, and one has a husband who has had multiple affairs over the years. This leads to insecurities, and sometimes a lack of understanding and compassion between the women. Also, three is so often a crowd and even though Eleanor, Nancy and Mary are all adults in their 40s there is still a sense of jealousy whenever two meet without the other. It felt really believable to me.
This is a thriller and the mystery running through the novel about who Nancy was meeting the night she was killed, and who might have killed her does keep you gripped. I worked out one of these things but not the other so was on the edge of my seat as the reveals start to come.
The narrator of this audio book, Helen Keeley, is excellent! She really captures the emotion and the tension within each of the three women in the novel. There’s a definite difference between each of the character’s voices which meant I always knew whose perspective I was listening to. I’ll definitely be looking out for more books read by Helen Keeley in the future!
I really enjoyed this novel, it really grabs you from the opening chapter and it keeps you hooked right until the very end. I recommend this one!
Imperfect Women is due to be published on 4th August and is available to pre-order on audiobook here, and in hardback and ebook here.
RatherTooFondofBooks 
Good spotting, great when a subsequent book lives up to expectations after a previously enjoyable one, and yes, female friendships are always interesting to explore and excavate.
Thank you. It was a different read to the previous one but still so good. I’m always fascinated by female friendships, especially fictional ones where things go awry.
Fantastic review Hayley! I spotted this on NetGalley as well but hadn’t read her first book so haven’t bothered with it. Maybe I should?
Thank you 🙂 I really enjoyed it – if you like unlikeable characters and complicated female friendships then I think you’d enjoy this one. I listened to it in just two or three sittings as I found it so gripping. I hope you enjoy it if you do decide to get it. x
Now that’s a fascinating setup for a novel, Hayley. I have some dear friends from my own university days, and I know how strong those bonds can be. What a great idea to explore it that way. I’m glad you enjoyed this one.
It was such a good read. I love reading about female friendships, I think it can make for a fascinating novel too.
Great review! I just added this one to my list yesterday…serendipitous to find your review today. Thanks for sharing, and I also love books about friendships between women going back several years.
Thank you 🙂 I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. There’s something so fascinating about female friendships.
Ooh, you’ve been able to get the audio books on NetGalley – exciting! This sounds like a good one and I have a set of friends of my own going back to the first day of university, and we’ve all had different paths, too, so that’s obviously a lovely thing to explore.
Yes, I downloaded the app as soon as I saw it was available. It’s got a few gremlins but on the whole I love listening to audio books on it.
It was a really good read, the women are flawed but still believable and I enjoyed reading about them.
I find stories about female friendships fascinating too. Thanks for such a wonderful review and steering me to this one, Hayley.
I also love stories dealing with female friendships. Wonderful review Hayley. I am heading over to see if this one is still available.
Thank you 🙂 I really enjoyed this one, I hope it’s still available and that you can get a copy.
It was already archived, but will go on my wishlist.
That’s a shame, I hope you can find a copy elsewhere.
I got it, I logged in again and it was available. I think I might have been on the UK site.
I’m so pleased you managed to get it – I hope you enjoy the book. 🙂
I remember reading Our Kind of Cruelty when it first came out and thinking “holy shit this is wild.” I’ll definitely have to check this one out, too.
I loved Our Kind of Cruelty! Imperfect Women is different to that but still so good. I hope you enjoy it if you decide to read it. 🙂
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What a lovely dynamic – I think female friendships are endlessly interesting. There are so many stresses that can cause friction, even when the parties are wanting to be there for each other…
It was such a good read – I love reading about female friendships. I found this one hard to put down.
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