Your Beautiful Lies by Louise Douglas

*****

I’ve loved everything Louise Douglas has written previously and I had great hopes for this book – thankfully I wasn’t disappointed as it is a great read! 

Annie grew up in Matlow, the daughter of a miner.  Whilst in her teens she was in love with local lad Tom, who was imprisoned for the manslaughter of an old lady.  She is now married to William, the local police chief who has a reputation for being incorruptible, and although she has an affluent lifestyle her days are repetitive and tedious, consisting of cooking, the school run and caring for her frail mother-in-law.   Annie is troubled by the news that Tom has served his time and is back in the area insisting he is innocent.  Despite her initial reservations, Annie is drawn to Tom and seeks to find the passion that is so lacking in her life.

Set in the 1980’s miner’s strike the atmosphere of the book is bleak and claustrophobic.  Being from that area and living through the strike, I thought it was very well written and captures the despondency and hopelessness of the whole situation.  It’s a gritty read and all the main characters are seriously flawed; Annie in particular is not a sympathetic character, she’s childish and self-absorbed.  The only character I felt any warmth towards was William’s mother who has flashes of clarity amidst her increasing confusion and bewilderment of senility.

All the threads are skilfully brought together and culminates in a shocking ending.

It’s a fantastic book, more serious in tone and scope than her early novels, and I look forward to her next one.

Thank you to Netgalley and Random House UK, Transworld for my review copy.

The Secrets Between Us by Louise Douglas

*****

I'm part of the Transworld Book Group! This book was read and reviewed as part of the Transworld Book Challenge.

I was sooo pleased to get this book, as am a huge fan of Louise and loved her previous two novels.  This one is a bit different and certainly darker, but even better than I expected.

Sarah takes some time out in Sicily with her understanding sister and brother-in-law to try and make sense of her life.  The infidelity of her partner after the devastating loss of her baby son has left Sarah feeling rootless.  During her holiday she meets the charismatic Alexander and his charming young son Jamie.  She discovers that Alexander's beautiful and talented wife, Genevieve has recently left him and her need to be loved and to nurture leads her to the make the snap decision to move from Manchester to live with Alex and Jamie in Somerset as their housekeeper.
However, the move from city to rural life has it difficulties, not least the questions raised by the locals about Genevieve's sudden disappearance.  Is Alexander all he appears and what isn't he telling her?

In her acknowledgements, Louise Douglas mentions the impact of several classics as inspiration for this novel and it shows; it's brilliantly written and has a modern slant on the Gothic theme. It's very reminiscent of Rebecca in terms of the theme of previous wife and the secrets around her, and how the character that we never meet in the book can completely dominate. 

It's very atmospheric with a brooding, claustrophobic tension that gradually builds.  I read the whole thing in a day and stayed up late reading (despite it being the night before the start of the new school year) as I couldn't leave it without reaching the conclusion.   It's really difficult to review this book as I don't want to give the ending away, but it's a fantastic read, I can't praise it enough!

Missing You by Louise Douglas

*****
Sean’s seemingly perfect life crumbles when his adored wife Belle throws him out to start a new life with the Other. Sean had no idea of his wife’s unhappiness and struggles to cope without her and his young daughter, Amy. He rents a room in a house with Fen and her little boy Connor. Fen leads a secluded life based on work and the care of her boy. She’s moved away from family and friends to hide a guilty secret involving her brother. Both characters have difficulties in moving on but circumstances bring them together and they begin to find some happiness.
I do worry about second book syndrome, (I couldn’t quite forgive Victoria Hislop when The Return didn’t quite live up to my expectations after The Island – sad, but true!) but I didn’t need to worry with Louise Douglas. It has a similar thoughtfully wistful, sad tone as “The Love of my Life” (which I also loved!) The story starts slowly and in less capable hands there would be a danger of both Fen and Sean of being a bit pathetic and self-indulgent. However, despite there not being a lot of action through the story the sensitive and well created characters drive it on. Sean grows on you as he gradually accepts the changes in his life and falls in love with Fen. Fen is less straightforward; the guilty secret that has made her create her own seclusion is fairly predictable, but also understandable. She grows into a whole person by the end and appears much younger and lively than she does at the beginning. Belle is suitably shallow (as she needed to be for the plot to work) a spoilt brat that hasn’t grown up and still doesn’t know what she wants, I simply couldn’t understand what Sean loved about her in the first place apart from being a great beauty. I loved the character of Sean’s sister Lola and would have liked to know about her and her back story (another book?!)
Beautifully written and wistful – I loved it!