The Younger Girl

Now available from Mission Point Press

Based on a true crime, The Younger Girl combines historical fiction and supernatural suspense to unravel a thrilling tale of family betrayal and redemption.

On March 2, 1933 Chicago tabloids trumpeted the death of 20-year old “town belle” Aldine Younger: “HEIRESS SLAIN, MARRIED MAN HELD.” The son of the mayor of Pontiac, a rich farming community south of Chicago, was convicted of manslaughter. But the dead girl’s baby brother, Owen, grew up in a broken family and suspected his beloved sister’s killing was orchestrated by their wealthy uncle. In 1996 Owen is an old man desperate to make peace with the tragedy of Aldine’s death. His daughter, Joanna, takes her still grieving father back home to claim his share of his sister’s lost inheritance. Together, they are caught in a dark labyrinth of family betrayal crossing three generations. Owen is found raving during a violent thunderstorm and now believes his daughter is his sister, Aldine, returning to him. Joanna races against time to save her father and unearths damning secrets that threaten her own life. The guilty will be exposed at the psychic bridge linking past, present and future. But at what cost? And who will survive the revelations?

Read reviews Why this book now?A trip into the past

Reviews

“True-crime stories are difficult, and far more so, when the true crime is in your own family. Georgia Jeffries’s triumphant novel tells the story of her aunt Aldine Younger’s killing in 1933 — a violent death that has cast a long and complex shadow over the family, the community, and far beyond. Viewing these events through the lens of fiction, Jeffries deploys clear-eyed research and lucid, evocative prose to craft a novel that will haunt long after the book is closed.”

—Howard A. Rodman, Novelist/Screenwriter, Professor, USC School of Cinematic Arts, Vice President, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

“This chilling tale was inspired by the true story of the author’s own aunt, and is hauntingly conveyed … with great poignancy … [Jeffries] artfully crafts … an often-gripping story of family dysfunction and murder.”

—Kirkus Reviews

“[T]he author deftly combines historical fiction and supernatural suspense to unravel a thrilling tale of family deception and long-denied redemption. A deftly crafted and simply fascinating read from start to finish… especially and unreservedly recommended.”

—Midwest Book Review

“The Younger Girl is historical fiction at its best. Through meticulous research, Georgia Jeffries creates an eye-opening, immersive story about a family, then and now, nearly stripped bare from greed and the steadfast refusal to acknowledge a painful past.”

—Rachel Howzell Hall, Bestselling author of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize nominated And Then She Was Gone and We Lie Here

“The Younger Girl is an expertly told tale of family, buried truths and betrayal. Georgia Jeffries has burst onto the mystery scene at a very high level! She’s a writer to watch.”

—Matt Coyle, Bestselling Anthony Award-winning author

[A] spellbinding journey into the darkest of family secrets. The mysterious death of an heiress years before provides the catalyst to this mix of haunting suspense and surprising twists. Highly recommended!”

—Dennis Palumbo, award-winning author and Peabody Award nominee for Hulu’s The Patient

“Georgia Jeffries’ The Younger Girl shines a beacon of light on the inherited effects of multi-generational trauma. We’re transported in time and space inside the clapboard houses of the Midwest where we bear witness to the darkness that resides in us all.”

—Janet Leahy, Emmy Award-winning executive producer/writer of Mad Men and Boston Legal

WHY THIS BOOK NOW?

My aunt, Aldine Younger, bequeathed a tragic legacy that has left its mark on three generations of our family.

This book was inspired by oral histories, clarified through personal interviews and documented with extensive research. The central characters are based on real people. Certain names are taken from historical public records. Others have been changed to protect the privacy of those who assisted in my mission to understand the circumstances that led to my aunt’s killing.

When my father and I returned to Illinois in 1996 to make my first inquiries into my aunt’s past, I was astonished to learn that over six decades after her death, her name was known, the “accident” remembered. A number of individuals were happy, even eager, to share their memories. Others, put off by lingering distaste for roadhouse scandal, declined to offer any assistance. Aldine Younger was still stirring up strong public opinion in her hometown.

For all the factual evidence and lively recollections that fueled my journey, I knew that the “true” story of Aldine Younger could only be accessed through the liberating power of fiction. Like all novels this one is a potpourri of experience, metaphor and hard-earned insight. Characters are composites, relationships embellished, drama heightened, and many scenes entirely the work of this writer’s imagination.

Subjects choose us as much as we choose them. The ghosts of my father’s tribe dined at our family table every night of my childhood like it or not. In a sense I grew up with Aunt Aldine. But I believe all ghosts, within and without, long to be released. For any child-woman wrenched from a place of safety and belonging before she is fully grown, there comes a time to transcend the past. To make peace with who they were and what they can now become. I wish that for Aldine. I wish that for all lost daughters.