The Good Daughter by Laure Van Rensburg

 

The Good Daughter by Laure Van Rensberg.

Published 3rd August 2023 by Michael Joseph.

From the cover of the book:

Abigail is a proud member of the New America Baptist Church. Living miles away from the nearest town in South Carolina, she is safe from the depraved modern world.

She is a good daughter. A valued member of the community.

So when she is the sole survivor of a fire that burns her family's home to the ground, it seems like a tragic accident.

Until a surprising discovery is made: before the fire, Abigail let a stranger in.

Who was the stranger? What started the fire? And was the outside world always the threat - or did danger lurk within the community's walls?

***********

Seventeen-year-old Abigail Heywood is a member of the ultra-orthodox New America Baptist Church. She is proud to be living her life as God intended in the community of Newhaven, South Carolina, away from the sinners of the outside world. But then she meets Summer, a pod-cast host who seems very interested in the way the New America Baptist Church runs its operation out on the old Newhaven Plantation estate. Abigail is convinced that her way of life is pure and worthy, and she is excited to be given the chance to persuade Summer to see the advantages it offers, but events do not go quite as she anticipates.

When a fire rips through her home in Newhaven, killing her parents, Abigail cannot remember the events of the days leading up to the tragedy. As she struggles to make sense of flashes that come back to her, she begins to realise that being a good daughter is not as easy as she thought and life here might not be the haven it pretends to be.

The Good Daughter is Laure Van Rensburg's follow up to her brilliant debut Nobody But Us. Van Rensburg chooses a very different setting and story for her second novel, but it is every bit as compelling at the first, and in some ways it explores many of the same themes.

The story follows two tense timelines which intertwine - one lays out the events of the days that lead up to the fire that kills Abigail's mother and preacher father, and the second follows the fall-out after the apparent tragedy. As the action moves back and forth from past to present, the flow is also broken up by transcripts of incomplete interviews about aspects of the Newhaven community (with host and subjects only identified as male or female), and disturbing letters that pass back and forth between the New America Baptist Church elders about Abigail. 

With perfectly pitched pace, tension, and glorious sense of menace Van Rensburg tells the story of the darkness that lies at the heart of the Newhaven community, and how the arrival of Summer on the scene is the catalyst for Abigail to not only question her beliefs, but rebel against the strictures placed on her as a young woman - with violent results. The story twists and turns, keeping you guessing about the true nature of many of the characters, before the parallel timelines collide in a beautifully conceived double climax of breath-taking proportions. 

As in Van Rensburg's debut, this is very much a story about control, abuse of power, submission, gaslighting, and dark intent hidden beneath a benign exterior. She delves deep into the concepts of blind faith, strict religious beliefs, and traditional gender roles, channelling the consequences of hatred and injustice into a story that fills you with a real sense of fear. My heart was in my mouth for almost all of this book, as Abigail's fate lays in the balance, and the way Van Rensburg threads more than one mystery to be solved amongst the drama is an absolute masterclass in story telling. There is another side to this tale which explores themes of family, protection, and the lengths people go to to shield those they love too. And if all this was not impressive enough, she also asks some very timely, and discomfiting, questions about the relationship between the rise in extremist churches in the US and the alarming spread of incel culture amongst disaffected males. Thought-provoking and scary stuff indeed.

I absolutely consumed this book. It is one of the best thrillers I have read all year, with real power and complexity in a story that holds you fast from beginning to end. I cannot wait for book three.

The Good Daughter is available to buy now in hardcover, ebook and audio book formats.

Thank you to Michael Joseph for sending me a copy of this book in return for an honest review.

About the author:

Laure Van Rensburg is a French writer living in the UK and an Ink Academy alumna. Her stories have appeared in online magazines and anthologies such as Litro Magazine, Storgy Magazine, The Real Jazz Baby (2020 Best Anthology, Saboteur Awards 2020), and FIVE:2:ONE. She has also placed in competitions including 2018 & 2019 Bath Short Story Award. Her debut novel Nobody But Us was released in 2022.