Welcome to Litsy!

While this is advertised a lot with the words "Charles Manson" and "cult", these are only just elements in the book. What it focuses on are the girls, specifically Evie Boyd - young, craving love and belongingness - and how enraptured she was with one of the main girls from the cult. The much maligned overly descriptive writing actually made it colourful and atmospheric. I'd say that I liked it but I didn't love it, hence the rating.

"Somehow, despite her politics and smarts, she had become a wife, and wives, as we all know, are invisible. The midnight elves of marriage. The house in the country, the apartment in the city, the taxes, the dog, all were her concern: he had no idea what she did with her time. It would have been compounded with children; thank goodness for childlessness, then."

"I do not sigh and yearn for extravagant displays of passion, for the grand affair, the world well lost for love. I know all that, and know that it leaves you lonely. No, what I crave is the simplicity of routine. An evening walk, arm in arm, in fine weather. A game of cards. Time for idle talk. Preparing a meal together."
- Anita Brookner, Hotel du Lac