📖 Blog Tour ~ The Good Daughter by J A Baker

Boldwood Books 
5 April 2025

My thanks to the publishers 
And Rachel’s Random Resources for the book and invitation to the blog tour

 

As a teenager, Penny Collins always tried to be a good daughter. Until the night she was brutally attacked as she lay in her bed. The assault, from a man she knew all too well, traumatised Penny. Worse still, after her family refused to believe her initial fears about being watched, Penny told nobody, afraid her family would be convinced she was making the whole thing up...

Now, twenty years later, Penny cares for her elderly mother whose memory is fading daily. Still a good daughter, Penny tries not to think about the past, but her mother seems more insistent to talk about what happened that night...to drag up painful memories.

So when Penny comes face to face with her attacker again, she knows it’s time for her to take action and get answers for them all. This time he's in the dock where he belongs, accused of the same terrible crime. And Penny, a good daughter and now a good citizen, sits on the jury - his fate finally in her hands...

If only she can convince the others of his guilt..

📖 My Review..

When we first meet Penny she is a young teenager living in a remote farmhouse, a house which is filled with shadows and discontent. When Penny is brutally assaulted in her home by someone she recognises she is too scared to share this experience and carries it locked deep within her. Twenty years later and Penny has the opportunity to seek her own form of revenge but that in itself will have far reaching consequences. 

Told in two distinct timeframes, we start to build up a picture of who Penny is, the memories she carries, and also the effect that living in this remote and quite austere house has had on her elderly mother who is now widowed and in the early stages of dementia. There’s a definite sense of the past being unpicked and with each revelation we begin to understand the overwhelming power of secrets. The two narratives merge quite seamlessly and I enjoyed the sympathetic depiction of Connie, Penny’s mother, who had her own demons to face.

Well written, with a dramatic and intriguing storyline The Good Daughter made for uncomfortable reading at times however, there was more than enough drama to keep me turning the pages of this intriguing psychological suspense story.

About the Author

Twice longlisted for The Guardian's Not the Booker Prize, J.A. BAKER was born and brought up in North East England and has had a love of language for as long as she can remember.

When she isn't writing, she enjoys reading many genres of books but especially enjoys psychological thrillers.

She has four grown-up children, five grandchildren, and lives in a village near Darlington with her husband and Border Collie, Theo, who is quite possibly the naughtiest dog in the world.

Social Media 

Facebook: @thewriterjude

Twitter: @thewriterjude

Instagram: @jabakerauthor

Newsletter Sign Up: https://bit.ly/JABakerNews

Bookbub profile: @JABaker