Girls with Long Shadows

By Tennessee Hill

Book Overview

"Tennessee Hill beautifully evokes the sensation of realizing just how many people have a hold on the person you are, the person you hope to become."--Kevin Wilson, New York Times bestselling author of Run for the Hills

"What a delicate, hot-blooded tempest of a debut."--Amy Jo Burns, author of Wait for Me and Mercury

With the haunting, romantic voyeurism of The Virgin Suicides and the atmosphere and emotional intensity of Where the Crawdads Sing, an intoxicating Southern Gothic debut novel about identical triplets whose lives are devastated when their burgeoning desires turn deadly.

Identical triplets Baby A, Baby B, and Baby C Binderup were welcomed into the world as their mother was ushered out of it, leaving them nameless and in the care of their Gram, Isadora. Nineteen years later, the triplets work at their Gram's crumbling golf course in Longshadow, Texas, where the ever-watchful eyes of the town observe them serving up glasses of ice-cold lemonade to golfers, swimming in the murky waters of the neighboring bayou, or slipping t-shirts off their sunburnt shoulders in hopes of attracting the kind of attention they are only beginning to understand.

Cautious Baby B watches as lustful Baby A and introverted Baby C find matches among the town boys. Even Baby B has noticed that the town's golden boy seems to be intrigued by her, only her. Just as each girl's desire to be seen for herself is becoming fulfilled, a seemingly trivial kiss is bestowed on the wrong sister, leading to a moment of unspeakable violence that will upend the triplets' world forever.

Pulsating with menace and narrated with hypnotic lyricism, Girls with Long Shadows is an electrifying literary thriller that captures how female teenage angst can turn lethal when insecurities are weaponized and sibling bonds are severed. Tense, lush, and painfully beautiful, it forces us to consider the lengths to which we will go to claim our own personhood.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0063412012
• ISBN13: 9780063412019
• Release Date: May 2025
• Publisher: Harper
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.9" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

3.5 stars

GIRLS WITH LONG SHADOWS by Tennessee Hill I’m a bit on the fence with this one. The premise is intriguing; triplet girls having an identity crisis, each wanting to be seen as individuals/unique, sibling rivalry and jealousy, small town drama etc. However, this was such a slow moving, fever dream. There’s an abundance of foreshadowing and red herrings, but no real progress or action to hold my interest. The end is when things ramp up, but by then I was lukewarm about the whole thing. Additionally, I wasn’t fond of these teenage girls being referred to as Baby A, Baby C and Baby B. While I understand it’s a way to show how everyone views them a a single entity instead of individuals, it was just… weird. Why not just use their initials? In short, this was good, but not great. Perhaps you’ll have better luck than me. Rating: 3.5/5 ⭐️ Pub Date: 05.06.25 **ARC courtesy of Goodreads & HarperBooks giveaway.