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Secrets Beneath a Riviera Sky by Jennifer Bohnet #Review

  I am delighted to be on the tour to celebrate Jennifer Bohnet's romance, Secrets Beneath a Riviera Sky, which was published by Boldwood Books on April 17th.   As one door closes, another one opens… When Agnes Agistini receives a phone call from Theo, her brother-in-law informing her that her estranged, abusive husband Oscar has died in an accident, she feels nothing but relief. But that relief is short-lived as Oscar’s vengeance from an early grave forces Agnes to return to the place she fled from over forty years ago. A place and time she’s not keen to revisit. At the request of a French notaires dealing with Oscar’s last will, Agnes travels to Cannes in the South of France alongside their daughter Francine and her grand-daughter Jasmine. Agnes knows that going back will inevitably drag up deep, dark memories which she is yet to reconcile, but what choice does she have? What she wasn’t prepared for are the family secrets that will come to light, or the cruel w...
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For When I'm Gone by Rebecca Ley #Review

 

 Rebecca Ley's debut novel, For When I'm Gone was published on 3rd September by Orion. 

Because there's never enough time to say goodbye...

Sylvia knows that she's running out of time. Very soon, she will exist only in the memories of those who loved her most and the pieces of her life she's left behind.

So she begins to write her husband a handbook for when she's gone, somewhere to capture the small moments of ordinary, precious happiness in their married lives. From raising their wild, loving son, to what to give their gentle daughter on her eighteenth birthday - it's everything she should have told him before it was too late.

But Sylvia also has a secret, one that she's saved until the very last pages. And it's a moment in her past that could change everything...

My Thoughts

This is a superb debut novel which has some poignant and heart-wrenching moments. You move from the present to the past through the journal which Sylvia has written for her husband as a sort of guide to how he can manage after her death from breast cancer. Through her words, you getto know her. Paul, her husband discovers a few things he did not know about her. It is a powerful story of grief, loss and moving on.

    Sylvia turns out to be a complicated but sincere person and you get to see her in her different roles: wife, mother, daughter, sister, friend. Through her, you also get to meet her children. There is so much that resonates with the reader. The daily minutiae of everyday living is set against some profound moments of self-awareness. Although at times it feels unbearably sad, there is also a feeling of resilience and hope. It is one of those books which touches a nerve at times and which has a lasting effect on the reader. Marvellous

In short: Read with a box of tissues to hand!

About the Author


Rebecca Ley is a journalist who wrote a column for the Guardian, Doing it for Dad, about her father's dementia. She has previously worked at the Times, the Sun and the Daily Mail. For When I'm Gone is her debut novel.

You can follow Rebecca here: Twitter 

Book link: Amazon UK 

Thanks to Rebecca Ley, Orion Books and Tracy Fenton of Compulsive Readers for a copy of the book. 


 

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