The Last Time I Saw You by Eleanor Moran
| The Last Time I Saw You by Eleanor Moran | |
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| Category: Women's Fiction | |
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Reviewer: Jo Heffer
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| Summary: Sally and Livvy were inseparable friends at university but being friends with Sally was like constantly living on a roller coaster. Eventually, after what Livvy felt was the ultimate betrayal, the two fell out and their friendship never really recovered. Years later, after discovering that Sally has died in a car crash, Livvy is forced to relive the past and she starts to discover what her friend was really like. | |
| Buy? Yes | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 504 | Date: January 2013 |
| Publisher: Quercus | |
| ISBN: 9781780876320 | |
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As a woman in her mid thirties, Livvy feels that her life is OK. She has a good job even though she is slightly intimidated by her boss and is often in danger of being overlooked for new projects. Her love life might be non-existent but at least she shares her home with James, the one time love of her life which only works if she can settle for being good mates. However, when she hears that Sally, her best friend from many years ago, has been killed in a car accident, her world is turned upside down.
Her feelings become even more unsettled when she goes to the funeral and meets Sally's husband, William, and her daughter, Madeline. William is desperate to find out more about what made his wife tick and relies on Livvy to reveal clues from the past. What neither is prepared for though, is the feelings they start to develop for each other as they support each other through this difficult time. Would it really be such a terrible thing for Livvy to fall in love with her late best friend's husband?
The Last Time I Saw You is an absorbing novel about relationships and shows how devastating it can be to lose a friend. It's worse for Livvy because, in effect, she loses her best friend twice - once when they fall out and another when Sally dies. I really felt I could empathise with Livvy's bewilderment at her loss. I also enjoyed reading about how her relationship with William started to develop and could fully understand her feelings of guilt.
The book is written in a very interesting way as well. In one way it feels like a mystery unfurling page by page. The sense of intrigue is immense and I felt quite impatient waiting to find out what terrible deed S ally had committed to cause the huge rift between her and Livvy. At the same time, it is also a poignant and tentative love story especially as both William and Livvy feel so very guilty about their feelings towards each other.
The story moves between the present and the past which enables the reader to slowly piece together what had happened to cause the rift. It was an absorbing and enjoyable read on the whole but perhaps, with over five hundred pages, it was slightly too long.
Why not take a look at Stick or Twist?
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