Paperback: 331 pages
Genre: Fiction, Contemporary Fiction, Domestic Drama, Psychological Thriller.
Publisher: Lake Union Publishing April 2023
Source: Tywyn Public Library
Review Quote: “A compelling, claustrophobic story…I finished it in one huge gulp, excusing myself unilaterally from any family responsibilities I was so desperate to finish it.” ―The Observer
Favourite Quote: 'My parents always warned me: be careful who you have kids with. Mortgages, joint bank accounts, marriages - you can extricate yourself from all of it. But have a child with someone and you're linked to them for the rest of your life.'
First Sentences: When I open my eyes, nothing is familiar. Light falls in parallel strips across the ceiling. Square white tiles, puckered with small black holes, form neat grids. A metal railings above me, curved like the broad sweep of an arm.
My Opinion:
This is the third book I have read by this author and I was looking forward to starting. Wow, once I did I raced through this story that makes for compulsive reading, I was hooked from the start.
Anna Bradshaw and Livvy Nicholson, the protagonists are two young women who are both in relationships where they feel trapped. We are told in the book blurb that their stories are going to collide, but how is that to be? Told from the points of view of both women the disturbing story unfolds.
Absolutely devoured this very moving and scarily realistic novel about coercive relationships and domestic violence. Highly recommend to all fans of the genre.
Previous Review: If Only I Could Tell You. The Impossible Truths of Love
Précis Courtesy of Goodreads:
From the bestselling author of If Only I Could Tell You comes the story of two women feeling trapped and powerless. Can they find their way back to life?
When Anna Bradshaw wakes up in a hospital bed in London, she remembers nothing, not even her loving husband, Stephen. The doctors say her amnesia is to be expected, but Anna feels cut adrift from her entire life.
In Bristol, Livvy Nicholson is newly married to Dominic and eager to get back to work after six months’ maternity leave. But when Dominic’s estranged mother appears, making a series of unnerving claims, Livvy is sucked into a version of herself she doesn’t recognise.
A hundred miles apart, both women feel trapped and disorientated, and their stories are about to collide. Can they uncover the secret that connects them and reconstruct their fractured lives?
Author Profile and Photo From Amazon:
Hannah Beckerman is a bestselling author and journalist whose novels have been translated into more than a dozen languages worldwide. She is a book critic and features writer for a range of publications including The Observer and the FT Weekend Magazine, and has appeared as a book pundit on BBC Radio 2 and Times Radio. She chairs literary events across the UK, interviewing authors and celebrities, and has judged numerous book prizes including the Costa Book Awards. Prior to writing her first novel, Hannah was a television producer and commissioning editor for the BBC, Channel 4 and the Discovery Channel, and for two years lived in Bangladesh, running a TV project for the BBC. She now lives in London where she writes full-time.
Her About Me on her Website makes an interesting read.
Photograph and Biographical Information courtesy of the following sites:
Amazon Author Profile Official Website - Hannah Beckerman. Twitter Profile
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