OUT NOW! – and its a Corker. See original review from “Coming Soon” below and put it on your list!
Well. Where to start. Maybe with a huge thanks to the girls at Harper Collins who sent me an advanced copy of this book. Lets say this. You want this book for when you are sitting on the beach. I said it would be the read of the Summer and I don’t think I am wrong. You want this book if you need to curl up under a blanket indoors because as often happens, British Summertime never arrives. You want this book even if you are not having a holiday, just because I’m telling you – you want this book.
Carrie falls asleep on the beach, very briefly, and when she wakes up her 5 year old son Charlie is gone. We’ve all done it – taken our eyes off them for a brief moment in time, usually without consequence – but the consequences for Carrie are severe, and here starts her story. Living with the guilt sometime later, she has moved on as much as is possible under these circumstances, and life is continuing. A series of events sets in motion a possibility of closure..but what exactly will Carrie have to face to achieve this? In the meantime, on Charlie’s last day on the beach, he met and played with another little boy – Max. Max’s mother Molly is facing her own personal issues and tragedies, and interspersed with Carrie’s story we also have Molly’s. What will happen when the worlds of these two women collide? You will have to read to find the answers – and trust me, you want to do that.
I both laughed and cried while I was reading this book. It will take you in unexpected directions. It will tug at your heartstrings and make you consider the people in your life and what they mean to you. It is also a great mystery story – the two sides of this novel if you like come together perfectly – and by the end I was a bit of an emotional wreck in the best “reading” way possible. I wish I could start again. In fact I’m sure one day I will. The characters are real people facing real situations and it speaks to the feelings of grief and horror and that “how can this happen to me” feeling that everyone gets at some point in their life. The fact that I am going through something myself at the moment – nothing at all as heartbreaking as the loss of a child, but still heartbreaking in its own way – means that this book was extremely meaningful for me at a time I needed an outlet for that kind of emotion. This is why books speak to us isnt it?
So, to sum up. Great story. Great characters. Emotive and brilliantly written – you will love it. Don’t miss it.
