Little Darlings is a 2019 thriller novel by British writer Melanie Golding about a new mother who suspects that a supernatural entity is attempting to abduct her children. It received a 2019 Dragon Award for Best Horror Novel.

Ending: An ending that left us with a little bit of mystery to ponder that I was totally satisfied with interpreting on my own. Despite a slow start, I enjoyed this novel very much. I especially liked the police procedural part of the story. I was always questioning how many of the events had actually happened or were just imagined by Lauren. Detective Sergeant Harper brought a welcome dose of earthy realism. There are two levels to the horror in this novel. The first is the tangible, physical horror. Golding’s prose actually brought me to a stage of nausea as I read the descriptions of what was being done to Lauren’s body. She no longer possesses any sense of agency over her own body. The medical personnel do what they want when they want, ignoring her pleas and her pain. A common childbirth experience that quite a few of my friends share is this sense of being treated like a mere vessel. They even get reprimanded for not being strong or tough enough to bear the pain. The book has been cleverly written and was really addictive. I actually read it in two sittings as I didn’t want to put it down. I can’t say that they book creeped me out or had me on edge but there is definitely a darkness to the book and the sense that something sinister is always around the corner.

Advance Praise

Little Darlings is a 2010 children's novel by the best-selling British author Jacqueline Wilson. It was adapted for television by Sky UK in February 2022.

Lauren is truly terrified for the majority of this book and that really got under my skin. The writing used to illicit that feeling was so strong. I want to thank the publisher Crooked Lane Books and Netgally for the opportunity to read this ARC! Ingenious, chilling, and completely absorbing, Little Darlings is destined to be the hit of 2019. The scariest book I have read in many years."I think the police procedural aspects are the weakest part of the novel. Little Darlings is at its strongest when hovering somewhere between a portrait of postpartum depression and a dark, sinister fairy tale. I can speak from experience when I say depression can be terrifying. And just like in this novel, you can never quite be sure what is a legitimate feeling and what is an exaggerated response brought on by your mental state; these two often overlap. Little Darlings has caused quite a buzz in the literary world. I read where the UK publisher snatched up the manuscript within 48 hours of submission! A six-figure sum for the book and now news of the movie rights being sold—wowzah, great news for a debut author. Dark, richly evocative, tense, and thought-provoking. Taps into every woman’s fear that she will not be believed.“