Darling Girl

A Novel of Peter Pan

By: Liz Michalski

Narrated by: Elizabeth Knowelden

A Book of The Month Club pick

In this beautiful dive into the world of J. M. Barrie’s classic, one woman must take on the infamous Peter Pan—who is not the innocent adventurer the fairy tales make him out to be—to save her daughter’s life. . . .

Life is looking up for Holly Darling, granddaughter of Wendy—yes, that Wendy. That is, until she gets a call that her daughter, Eden, who has been in a coma for nearly a decade, has gone missing from the estate where she’s been long tucked away. And, worst of all, Holly knows who must be responsible: Peter Pan, who is not only very real, but very dangerous.

Holly is desperate to find Eden and protect her son, Jack, from a terrible web of family secrets before she loses both her children. And yet she has no one to turn to—her mother, Jane, is the only other person in the world who knows that Peter is more than a story, but she refuses to accept that he is not the hero she’s always imagined.

Darling Girl brings all the magic of the classic Peter Pan story to the present, while also exploring the dark underpinnings of fairy tales, grief, aging, sacrifice, motherhood, and just how far we will go to protect those we love.

©2022 Liz Michalski (P)2022 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

“A compelling and richly imagined twist on an old story, Liz Michalski’s Darling Girl captured me on page one and hasn’t released me yet. An emotionally gripping demonstration that a mother’s love, when tested, can become a force of nature. I will never look at Neverland and its inhabitants the same way again.” (Brunonia Barry, New York Times best-selling author of The Lace Reader)

"A dark and elegant look at a story we all know well. Liz Michalski takes Peter Pan where all the old stories go, where magic is never without a cost, and pixie dust might be more powerful than you imagine. Fantastic!" (Barbara O’Neal, When We Believed in Mermaids)

"A captivating question quivers at the center of the engrossing novel, Darling Girl: What if Peter Pan isn't just a story? While meeting the Peter Pan you never knew, reading Darling Girl is like falling under the enchanting spell of Liz Michalski prose. As with all true magic, there must be both the seductive darkness and the illuminating light: Michalski masterfully gives us both. Darling Girl introduces us to the Darling family decades away from Wendy and Peter, descendants who are grappling with secrets that protect a family mythology and a boy who will never grow up. With a young girl and her fiercely protective mother at the center of a spellbinding story, Darling Girl is powerful and captivating. Neverland and the reader will never be the same again." (Patti Callahan, New York Times best-selling author)

Excellent book!!!

Best book I’ve read or listened to in a long time!! The kind of book you wish you could forget so that you can go back and enjoy it new again! The story, dialogue, and characters are deep, engaging and authentic. The story draws you deep into its world and grabs you. I loved this book!

Hits you right in the feels

The exploration of a mother/child relationship and the many layers it has to it was done very very well.
I'm not a mother, but I ended up tearing up so many time at Holly's despair and the chaos of her fight in trying to save her children (though she did infuriate me with her lies).
Saw the end coming, and I didn't mind it. The book was a joy to listen to. I find the idea original, it kept you "hooked" (easy pun), and I sobbed at the end.
Beautiful. What more can you ask for.

A good story, but false advertisement

I don’t think I’m the only one who expected something much different based on the videos and blurbs about the story. It was very well written and the narrator chosen had a very elegant soothing voice perfect for the character.
However Don’t go into this expecting lots of adventure and thrilling romance with a dark twist. It was imaginative, and very practical based on the Childress classic. It’s worth listening to and I’ll give other works by the Author a try.

Great Premise

I loved the idea of this story. The narration is great. I just found myself so annoyed with Holly and waiting for her to blossom into a hero or at least something more than the simpering victim she seems to be. One reviewer said everything “happens” to Holly vs Holly making them happen. Fully agree.

Fascinating story of Peter Pan

This was not what I expected. The story became dark and somewhat sad. The ending was a surprise. I felt like there should be a sequel to complete the story. The narrator was great.

Disappointed

The story was unnecessarily long and you’re left with more questions than answers. The history of Peter being the villain in Neverland is vague.

Anticlimactic end and unanswered questions

The story was building, and then all the sudden the major conflict of the story is handled by kind of a side character and explained after to the main character. There isn't a satisfying resolution or answer to some of the magic problems. Tons of red herrings throughout the story that are just kind of explained away as coincidences.

What a fun concept! There are just some execution issues. It's an interesting read but just don't get your hopes up.

Darling Girl Review

Oh my, oh my...this dark gritty retelling of Peter Pan was so beyond good! I could not put this book down. I devoured it, every twist and turn I was hanging off the edge of my seat. My deductive skills worked overtime and I was able to properly guess different outcomes, but also was wrong about a few other predictions as well. This book seriously kept me guessing all the way until the very end.

The book follows, Holly Darling, the granddaughter of Wendy Darling as she gets a fateful call that her comatose daughter Eden has vanished. Her daughter also suffers from a rare condition that causes her to age rapidly and her "special" blood makes her incredibly valuable to any who choose to extract it. Holly keeps secrets from all those around her including her son Jack, her mother Jane, and the private investigator Christopher she hired to track down her daughter. Holly races to find her daughter and is terrified as she realizes she must be in the hands of the very real and the very dangerous Peter Pan.

Gradebook

My first audiobook and I loved it! Such an interesting twist on a fairytale we are all so used together

Great Read for Fans of Fairy Tails and Disney

I really enjoyed this story. Just please be warned, Peter Pan is portrayed as a corrupt man-child, so if you are not interested in this angle of a retelling, it may not be a good book for you. Otherwise, I found the book very interesting and it was hard to put this one down.