Review: The Glorious Guinness Girls

The Glorious Guinness Girls by Emily Hourican
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

I love historical fiction, especially when it deals with real people from the past. This novel sounded like it was going to be right up my alley. You have the heiresses to the Guinness stout fortune, a perfect time in history-the roaring twenties, and an abundance of tragic circumstances since this was about Ireland and in the early 20th century. This should have been an exciting or at least informative book about the Guinnesses, right? But, no, it was not.

The debutantes are seen through a fictitious person's eyes, and she (Felicity or Fliss as they nicknamed her) was the most boring of narrators. The only interesting thing going is what happens between Fliss and her brother Hughie, which seems to be a bit on the incestuous side but without the sex (at least that we know of).

This bok was filled with enough ennui, rants about poor over-privileged me, words that were just filler, drugs, alcohol, and stupid parties. The girl's mother was sick through this entire book- did the author deign to tell us what the problem was? No. Did the author flood this book with enough florid prose to make you want to tear your hair out? Yes.

I'm sorry, but no, just no. I do admit to having enough interest to finish this ARC, though.


*ARC supplied by the publisher.

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SYNOPSIS: "From London to Ireland during the 1920s, this glorious, gripping, and richly textured story takes us to the heart of the remarkable real-life story of the Guinness Girls—perfect for fans of Downton Abbey and Julian Fellowes' Belgravia.

Descendants of the founder of the Guinness beer empire, they were the toast of 1920s high society, darlings of the press, with not a care in the world. But Felicity knows better. Sent to live with them as a child because her mother could no longer care for her, she grows up as the sisters’ companion. Both an outsider and a part of the family, she witnesses the complex lives upstairs and downstairs, sees the compromises and sacrifices beneath the glamorous surface. Then, at a party one summer’s evening, something happens that sends shock waves through the entire household.

Inspired by a remarkable true story and fascinating real events, The Glorious Guinness Girls  is an unforgettable novel about the haves and have-nots, one that will make you ask if where you find yourself is where you truly belong.