The Ice Cream Girls

A teenager gets involved with a teacher, only to find that he's not all he seems. Despite having a loving family they have sex and he then starts to beat her up for the smallest indiscretion. When she is submissive and keeping secrets from her family her lover starts a relationship with another girl. 20 years later one of the girls has been released from prison after being convicted of the murder of the teacher. The other girl has a family and desperately wants the past to remain in the past! Together these two girls were known by the papers as "The Ice Cream Girls".

I have tried very hard not to give too much of the plot away, but there is a lot to this story. It's very well told both in the present and the recollection of the incidents in the past. This vividly paints a picture of the relationships that these girls found themselves in due to niavety and a desperation to be loved by this bloke. This whole story feels very real as it develops.

This book isn't exactly light reading, but there are times when you can laugh with the characters. It's easy to get me to laugh along with a character, but it takes some real skill to get me to identify with a character enough to be moved to tears. Here though the author had me crying at times about some of the things that happened.

Poppy is now hard and sharp after the many years in prison and she is convinced that the other girl killed the teacher. On leaving prison things are very different, she has spent 20 years for a crime she claims she never did. She is convinced that Serena killed him. Serena has suffered too, not as much as Poppy, but her once stable family unit is not as close as it was. She has a husband and children, but has never told him the truth about herself.

This is so wonderfully written! Dorothy Koomson has really expressed these characters well. Although the story is dark and heartbreaking at times it is a rewarding read with a twist and a reveal right at the end. I couldn't put this book down and I am very glad that it was divided into sections rather than just chapters because it was a good place to put the book down when reading it. However I have to admit that this book did keep me up until early in the morning a couple of days!