Wrong Side Girl by Julia Goda

A devilishly engaging book that will draw a wealth of emotion from you, some of which you probably didn’t even know you were feeling.

The author deserves to be commended for showing the true pain that human beings are not only willing but completely at liberty to inflict upon one another, some of the events are hard to read at times but that is what makes this a book that should not be missed, it hits hard and fast but it also flexes its softer side and endeavours to give a balance view not only of the world we live in but also how manipulative it can be.

Daughter of an alcoholic mother, Lizzy has always lived with the stigma of her upbringing, lived with the name calling and the fact that because of her mother she was always considered to be Wrong Side Girl, so to speak. The poor waif that would never amount to much, the one that they could feel sorry for but were always willing to look the other way.

All except Cole. They had a friendship that was forged in childhood and that didn’t see the barriers that the adults seemed determined to foist upon them. And as the years pass, their friendship was always headed towards morphing into so much more…no matter who much they tried to fight it.

As they try to build their careers in Boston they also try to forge a relationship, but some people have long memories and they are far from done with Lizzy just yet, they cannot bear to see her happy and will stop at almost nothing to stand in her way.

I found the animosity and callousness really hard to get my head around and that is nothing to do with the author, it is to do with sheer frustration with the fact that authors are able to draw on situations that clearly illustrate that we as a species are able to easily cultivate what can only be described as a viciously black heart and that time and time again the vitriol that one person is willing to hurl at another is difficult to understand and impossible to accept.

I thought the author penned an exceptional story, delivered some fantastic characters and laid forth a situation that will make each reader look at the life around them and wonder…why?