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21/09/2016

The Day I Lost You by Fionnuala Kearney


Published on September 22nd 2016 by Harper Collins my thanks to the author and the publisher for the review copy.

'THE DAY I LOST YOU ANNA, WAS THE DAY YOU TORE OUR FAMILY APART...'
The day that Jess’s daughter, Anna, is reported lost in an avalanche is the day the changes everything.
Left to explain her absence to Anna's five-year-old daughter, Rose, Jess isn't yet ready to admit to herself that her daughter might not be coming back. But Anna's disappearance has opened a Pandora's Box of lies and Jess begins to discover that she never really knew her daughter at all.

And when she unearths a secret that could irrevocably change her world and her family, she has to decide whether a mother's love is unconditional...

My Thoughts:

I was delighted to be sent a review copy of this authors second book, having read and enjoyed her first, You, Me and Other People last year. You can see my blog tour post for that here.

Fionnuala Kearney is an author that writes with real heart and soul. She manages to create characters that have their own nuances who on the whole aren't perfect and this brings a reality to her stories. She writes about realistic situations and I think she is manages to actually drill down into the characters emotions and that is what makes this story come alive.

This story is a portrayal of how a family can implode, running amidst the trailing emotions of bereavement. When secrets and lies come to light after the event and threaten to effect everybody. We have a few central characters. Jess, Anna, Theo and Rose. Jess is Anna's mother and is struggling to cope, she refuses to give up hope and is struggling to forge a way forward. She seems overprotective and overbearing. She is on a knife edge all the time. Anna's side of the story comes in the form of blog entries. I found this to be a useful tool as it allowed her story to come out in her owns words over the course of the book. Rose is five years old and is Anna's daughter, she is being cared for by her grandmother and I think is lost and confused as to where her mother is. Theo is Anna's best friend, a local GP and somewhat of an enigmatic character. Theo, Theo, Theo, I wasn't quite sure whether to love or loathe him. 

I wasn't quite drawn into an emotional state when I read this, but it does possess some very emotive storylines about Mother and Daughter relationships, about family secrets and trust. It is also a story of grief and love. That at times I was deeply moved. This story implies that nothing is perfect, even that which we think is, indeed that is what is known as the human condition.

A beautiful, poignant page turner from a talented writer, with a cast of richly drawn unforgettable characters. When is book three coming out?

Really recommend this author. 

About the Author:

Fionnuala Kearney lives in Ascot with her husband. They have two grown-up daughters (both with deliberately simple monosyllabic names). One of seven children, Fionnuala likes to write about the nuances and subtle layers of human relationships, peeling them away to see what’s really going on beneath. The Day I Lost You is her second novel. She can be found on Twitter @fionnualatweets.


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