In the 1970s a group of women start a female only community. Each woman gives up the external world but must bring a useful skill. In the present day, the women’s community is suspected to have been involved with a murder when one of their former members is killed…
33 Women is a murder mystery, psychological and crime thriller centred around a community in Arundel, UK.
Robyn left the 33 women to rekindle her relationship with her husband. But instead, she is found murdered. The displaying of the body is reminiscent of the death of another woman who left the commune. Celine and Pip were never satisfied with the police’s handling of their sister’s murder and now think that her killer has struck again. The sisters are supported by Una, a family friend who is a retired detective.
It took me a while to get into this book as it starts by showing different characters and different timelines. By a quarter of the way through it had settled down and focussed on the present day from the perspectives of Celine and Bramble. Bramble’s narrative is more personal and emotional as it is written in the first person. I think Celine’s narrative is in the third person to detach from and soften the emotion she feels about her mother and sisters.
The secretive community is an interesting angle and provides powerful messages about making assumptions, the strength of female sisterhood and fear of the unknown. The juxtaposition of Celine and Pip as actual sisters contrasted with the sisterhood at the commune, and also the theme of motherhood was important: Celine and Pip were rejected by their mother, Una acts as a substitute mother to them, Robyn was searching for her mother, the commune sisters give up their children when they join.
I enjoyed the mystery about Robyn’s murder and how this links to Vanessa’s death. There are some big twists and I guessed the massive one a couple of pages before the big reveal.
33 Women is an intriguing mystery with strong emotions.
Book blurb:
When sisters Celine and Pip get a call telling them their reclusive mother has died, the women are reunited at her riverside home in Arundel to pick up the pieces. But someone is missing – their middle sister, Vanessa, brutally murdered years ago and the victim of an unsolved case. As the sisters confront ghosts from the past, the discovery of another body in similar circumstances throws new light on Vanessa’s death. Could there be more to her case than the police first thought? And what do the mysterious residents of Two Cross Farm, the neighbouring women’s commune, have to do with it? What secrets are lurking behind their locked gates? And what is the significance of the number 33?
