The Burning Girls

A Novel

By: C. J. Tudor

Narrated by: Gemma Whelan, Richard Armitage

Length: 10 hrs

Publisher's summary

An unconventional vicar must exorcise the dark past of a remote village haunted by death and disappearances in this explosive and unsettling thriller from the acclaimed author of The Chalk Man.

Named One of the Best Books of the Year by The New York Public Library and Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

“Hypnotic and horrifying.... Without doubt Tudor’s best yet, The Burning Girls left me sleeping with the lights on.” (Chris Whitaker, New York Times best-selling author of We Begin at the End)

A dark history lingers in Chapel Croft. Five hundred years ago, local Protestant martyrs were betrayed - then burned. Thirty years ago, two teenage girls disappeared without a trace. And a few weeks ago, the vicar of the local parish hanged himself in the nave of the church.

Reverend Jack Brooks, a single parent with a fourteen-year-old daughter and a heavy conscience, arrives in the village hoping for a fresh start. Instead, Jack finds a town rife with conspiracies and secrets, and is greeted with a strange welcome package: an exorcism kit and a note that warns, “But there is nothing covered up that will not be revealed and hidden that will not be known.”

The more Jack and daughter, Flo, explore the town and get to know its strange denizens, the deeper they are drawn into the age-old rifts, mysteries, and suspicions. And when Flo begins to see specters of girls ablaze, it becomes apparent there are ghosts here that refuse to be laid to rest.

Uncovering the truth can be deadly in a village with a bloody past, where everyone has something to hide and no one trusts an outsider.

©2021 C. J. Tudor (P)2021 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

“Fans of Gillian Flynn, Tana French, and Jess Lourey will leap at the chance to read [C. J. Tudor’s] new psychological thriller.... Gruesome and haunting, The Burning Girls is worth every page turn.” (Booklist, starred review)

“The kind of novel that’s so creepy, it might just seep into your dreams.” (PopSugar)

“Tudor’s uncanny twisty plot is populated with intriguing, damaged characters and the slow-burning suspense leads to a crackling ending.” (Minneapolis Star Tribune)

OMG What a great story! Worth the credit!

I've been waiting for this and it deserves ALL the hype! I challenge anyone to guess at the ending! Guess all the way up to the very end when you THINK you know what's going on. It will blow your mind!

Must listen!!!! Phenomenal storytelling excellent narration!

Sometimes I give 4 or 5 stars to a book because I enjoyed it and it kept me interested. I listen to books constantly!! Listening to this book made me realize the difference between enjoyment and truly being engrossed by an incredibly delicious story. There are many deep layers to the flawed but heroic main character as well as an engrossing story line that for once I didn’t figure out In the first five minutes! This book is like a complicated recipe that is rich with hidden ingredients that when consumed leaves all of satiates all your senses! I have a feeling I will be listening to this book again soon!

Previous reviews were promising, but fell a little short in my opinion

I have yet to listen or read a book that absolutely shook me to my core, which I was hoping this would do after seeing the reviews. I was not surprised when it didn’t but I did enjoy the book nonetheless. It had its spooky parts to it and everyone involved did a great job setting up the scenes and my own personal imagination did feel a bit enhanced to provide a more in depth feel. The twist at the end was a surprise and I would like to listen and read more like this title as well. 8/10 for me!

Superb narration, annoying protagonist

This is just my personal perspective. Off the bat I will say the story and writing are great. The narration is so good, especially Gemma Whelan, ,Albert one of the best I’ve heard. The only reason I would dock a star is the main character pissed me off haha. Not that we always have to love the main character of a book, she was still well written, she was flawed, and she admits is several times. But I HATE the whole “teen girls are innocent angels and teen boys are evil bad influences and there’s nothing in between” thing. And she constantly pulls it through the book. As a mom of boys it drive me nuts and distracted me from the story several times. But it was otherwise good so I still gave it 5 stars.

very engaging

suspenseful and surprising. great narration!. glad I selected it with no prior knowledge of this author

Most amazing plot I’ve ever heard

Absolutely loved this book. Kinda started slowly but then it grabs you and I couldn’t let go.

Awesome

I really enjoyed this story. It was a great pace and pulls you right in. Couple times I had a hard time distinguishing internal dialog with spoken but that happens with audio books. Tudor made me a fan! Will definitely read or listen to more of her work!

Well done story.

The narrators were excellent and the story plot was good and kept me listening. The twist at the end was a little lame and seemed a bit forced but overall, yes, I will listen to this again.

Darkly & Sinister

Book Review

𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑩𝒖𝒓𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑮𝒊𝒓𝒍𝒔
𝑩𝒚: C.J. Tudor (@cjtudor )
𝑮𝒆𝒏𝒓𝒆: Thriller, Mystery, Fiction
𝑮𝑹 𝑺𝒄𝒐𝒓𝒆: 4.09
𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒎 𝑼𝒔𝒆𝒅: Audiobook
𝑴𝒚 𝑺𝒄𝒐𝒓𝒆: 🔥 🔥 🔥 🔥

"Darkness is exciting
Darkness is fun
Darkness is beautiful
Darkness is kind"
─ 𝑪.𝑱 𝑻𝒖𝒅𝒐𝒓, 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑩𝒖𝒓𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑮𝒊𝒓𝒍𝒔

𝑷𝒓𝒆𝒎𝒊𝒔𝒆

Welcome to Chapel Croft. Five hundred years ago, eight protestant martyrs were burned at the stake here. Thirty years ago, two teenage girls disappeared without a trace and now present day two months ago, the vicar of the local parish killed himself.
Reverend Jack Brooks, a single parent arrives in the village with her fourteen-year-old daughter Flo, hoping to make a fresh start and find some peace. Instead, Jack finds a town mired in secrecy and a strange welcome package: an old exorcism kit and a note.
When Flo is troubled by strange sightings in the old chapel, it becomes apparent that there are ghosts here that refuse to be laid to rest. And even more so uncovering the truth can be deadly in a village where everyone has something to protect, everyone has links with the village's bloody past, and no one trusts an outsider.
𝑴𝒚 𝑻𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒔

This was definitely a creepy religious type of story, and by far my first one. Reading about vicar's, martyrs and mean priests that do ungodly things. "𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑩𝒖𝒓𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑮𝒊𝒓𝒍𝒔" sure had me listening non-stop. Twig dolls being burned by fire, Bible verses about evil demons - strange things we definitely happening in this village for sure. But the things you don't see coming are at the end where it becomes twist after twist.

C.J Tudor blew me away with the timeline and understanding all these characters. That was one thing I was not fond of with this story, was the amount of character names in the village and names from the village the Reverend moved from. There might have been a few things I found unbelievable but however the story itself was fun, entertaining and had me listening everyday till I finished. This was my first book from C.J Tudor and it won't be my last.

Entertaining!

Great characters, great atmosphere, and for the most part a great story. As things began to unravel, it became a bit hard to follow and I think that's because there were simply too many different strings and events that had to be connected in one way or another. You get hit with so many revelations at the end that they begin to feel less impactful and less realistic. But overall, I definitely still enjoyed it!