The Green Eyed Girl set in New York – Julie Owen Moylan

Submitted: 18th April 2022

Green Eyed Girl of New York

1955: In an apartment on the Lower East Side, school teachers Dovie and Gillian live as lodgers. Dancing behind closed curtains, mixing cocktails for two, they guard their private lives fiercely. Until someone guesses the truth . . .

1975: Twenty years later in the same apartment, Ava Winters is keeping her own secret. Her mother has become erratic, haunted by something Ava doesn’t understand – until one sweltering July morning, she disappears….

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Boarding Pass Information : That Green Eyed Girl

Destination : New York mid century

Author guide: Julie Owen Moylan

Genre: literary fiction

Food and drink to accompany: a New York bagel and something strong to drink for later on in the book

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BookTrail the locations in That Green Eyed Girl

Julie I take my hat off to you. (I’d then throw it at your aforementioned character). It takes some skill to create such a hated character. I can’t even say what they do for fear of spoilers but it really rankled why and how they were doing what they were doing.

It’s not one big thing but lots of little things. I started to form an opinion of this character but like the others, you think you might not have understood, decide to give them the benefit of the doubt, think there is a way out. The character this is aimed at – they will know what to do, act in a certain way. There’s always karma, right?

BookTrail the locations in That Green Eyed Girl

Sadly not always. I felt so close to the person it was aimed at and had got to know her pretty well. The novel is written in the first person so you really get inside their heads and this makes for one heck of a compelling story and character experience. There are a few characters I have so wanted to hug. I felt so sorry for one in particular. Awful. Just awful. Sadly all of this could be true and probably has happened to many people.

There are two threads to this novel. The first involves this awful character. The second involves a woman worried about her mum who has mental health issues. How she is treated by the authorities and society in general is just heart-breaking. I had hoped that I would get some respite from my book trauma in the second thread. Nope.

There’s some great visits to Jazz clubs and I SO WANT TO GO TO ONE!

Oh and there is a brief visit to Paris, but this is all about New York in the 1950s (and 1970s)

The ending is just brilliant. This book made me mad and feel all the emotions in between. Book reading has never been so stressful but oh so completely awesome.