The Last of the Moon Girls
Barbara Davis, 2020
Amazon Publishing
400 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781542006491
Summary
A novel of secrets, memory, family, and forgiveness by the bestselling author of When Never Comes.
Lizzy Moon never wanted Moon Girl Farm. Eight years ago, she left the land that nine generations of gifted healers had tended, determined to distance herself from the whispers about her family’s strange legacy.
But when her beloved grandmother Althea dies, Lizzy must return and face the tragedy still hanging over the farm’s withered lavender fields: the unsolved murders of two young girls, and the cruel accusations that followed Althea to her grave.
Lizzy wants nothing more than to sell the farm and return to her life in New York, until she discovers a journal Althea left for her—a Book of Remembrances meant to help Lizzy embrace her own special gifts.
When she reconnects with Andrew Greyson, one of the few in town who believed in Althea’s innocence, she resolves to clear her grandmother’s name.
But to do so, she’ll have to decide if she can accept her legacy and whether to follow in the footsteps of all the Moon women who came before her. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
Barbara Davis spent more than a decade as an executive in the jewelry business before leaving the corporate world to pursue her lifelong passion for writing. She is the author of When Never Comes, Summer at Hideaway Key, The Wishing Tide, The Secrets She Carried, and Love, Alice. Her most recent novel, The Last of the Moon Girls, came out in 2020 and reached #5 on Amazon's bestseller list.
A Jersey girl raised in the south, Barbara now lives in Rochester, New Hampshire, with her husband, Tom, and their beloved ginger cat, Simon. She’s currently working on her next book. (From the publisher.)
Book Reviews
Fans of Tana French, Alena Dillon, and Hannah Mary McKinnon will adore Davis’ multilayered tale of intrigue, romance, and long-held biases set straight.
Booklist
Discussion Questions
We'll add publisher questions if and when they're available; in the meantime, use our LitLovers talking points to help start a discussion for THE LAST OF THE MOON GIRLS … then take off on your own:
1. How would you describe Lizzy and her New York life when we first meet her?
2. Why is Lizzy so determined not to follow in the footsteps of her grandmother as a Moon woman? What in her past has turned her against accepting her role in the legacy?
3. How are the Moon women viewed by the residents of Salem Creek (a nice allusion, btw)? What has the historical relationship been, going all the way back to 1786 when Sabine Moon originally purchased the property for Moon Girl Farm?
4. What insights does Lizzy gain by reading the Books of Remembrance? What was some of the sage advice she found in the books? Do you have some favorites? Did you write any of the adages down—any in particular that resonate with you? What do you make of these three, for example:
- We all of us have a story—one we tell knowingly or not with our hours and our days.
- There are an infinite number of paths in this life. Some are well traveled, others must be forged. But none should be walked with a guilty or bitter heart.
- Bitterness is a subtle poison. It lulls with its righteous indignation and its false sense of power, then turns on you and burns your heart to ash. But forgiveness is balm to the wounded heart. And love. We must never forget love.
5. What do you make of Rhyanna? How does Lizzy feel about her return? Rhyanna tells Lizzy, "I came back to learn how to be your Mother." What does she mean, how does she intend to do so, and is she ultimately successful?
6. Andrew? Some reviewers say they find him adorable; others … not so much. A number of readers feel the romance detracts from the mystery and from the overall narrative of Lizzy's growth. Still others find it enriches the story.
7. What about the mystery of the Gilmore twins? Were you surprised by the ending … or see it coming?
8. What do you see for Lizzy in the future? Are you pleased with the way the novel ended?
(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online and off, with attribution. Thanks.)