The idea has struck all of us at least once – what if we could run away and become someone else for a day? Of course, we might consider the moral and legal implications of this and soon think otherwise. The Other Girl explores what would happen if you pressed ahead with the idea and expands it into a three-hundred-and- fifty-page narrative that is guaranteed to entertain, if not mildly confuse.
Narrated in three parts from the perspectives of two teenage girls who swap places one summer day, this story covers a lot of ground, both geographically and thematically. What begins as a humdrum thriller set on a train soon becomes a complex mystery that is unlike any other in its no-holds-barred examination of serious issues such as body dysmorphia, addiction, and death. This is, of course, framed by a fun, globe-trotting plot that never fails to amuse with plenty of memorable quotes and secondary characters.
Emily Barr’s newest title constantly surprises with two protagonists who are the definition of unreliable narrators but that’s what makes this tale so tantalising – you never know what the other is going to uncover about the girl she is meant to be and how that affects her new life. If incredibly readable, emotionally heightened mysteries are your thing, then this novel should be at the very top of your recommended reads list.
Mark Jackson
The Other Girl
Emily Barr
Penguin Random House UK, 2025
Paperback, £8.99
ISBN: 9780241643440
