Dear Daughter by Elizabeth Little

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Ten years ago Janie Jackson was a seventeen year old spoilt socialite and heiress. A good time party girl more interested in adventurous fashion and men than anything else and a regular in the gossip columns. Now she is a convicted murderer and hated by most of the nation. Convicted of murdering her own mother Janie now finds herself released on a technicality and is determined to find out if she did kill her own mother and if not, who did.
Narrated by Janie herself we follow her story as she is released from prison, as she forces a new identity for herself and sets about trying to piece together the puzzle of her mother’s death and how she came to be where she is today, Janie must avoid detection by the press and public alike.
At first glance Janie is not a likeable character; full of sass and sarcasm and appearing to care for little beyond herself; her past story is revealed through newspaper reports of her past life and quotes from people claiming to be her friends and by Janie’s own memories but we also come to know the real Janie as she heads out on her crusade and shows herself to actually care about some things, to actually have some feelings and as she starts to uncover past secrets she also discovers she has some allies.
This is an unusual crime novel but one which kept my interest because the character of Janie is unique. Not only could she be a murderer – and you’re never quite sure about that until the end – but she is trying to solve her mother’s death alone and she seems to have had a pretty unloving life, despite the privilege, money and gallivanting about, which has made her put up a facade of a hard-faced bitch. Peel that away and you find a nicer, more vulnerable woman which makes her an interesting character whom you cannot help but be curious about. It is this that kept me reading, wanting to know the real Janie. The newspaper articles and her own reminisces piqued my interest in the beginning and then as she starts to unravel the truth the mystery itself held my attention.
I really enjoyed it, the characterisation was good and the plot was clever. Despite all the hate about Janie drip fed to us throughout the book, I liked that in the end you could make up your own mind about her and that through different eyes you saw different facets of this quite complicated character. I also loved the ending; I wasn’t expecting it so it finished, for me, on quite an unexpected note. I wonder if we shall be hearing more of Janie.....

Thanks to Netgalley and Random House for the ARC of this book.