This post was originally published at Novelicious.com and is now at WritingTipsOasis.com. WritingTipsOasis.com acquired Novelicious.com in June 2022.
Reviewed by Susan Lobban
One morning Emily Coleman leaves the warmth of her marital bed and while her family are sleeping she is on a train heading away from Manchester. By the time her husband Ben realises she has not just popped out to the shops, Emily is looking for somewhere to stay in London. As the day comes to a close Emily is now Cat Brown and has a very basic bedroom in a shared house of strangers.
As the days go by Cat’s life becomes further away from the one Emily walked left behind. However the reason she left is never forgotten and despite how much her life changes it never will be. What made Emily leave her old life? Can she really become a completely different person? You can run away from a secret but you can’t hide.
I remember reading about Tina Seskis and how after being turned down by publisher after publisher she decided to take matters into her own hands and do it herself. I managed to grab this book in the short period it was free on kindle a while ago, but never got round to reading it. Since then I have seen that it has been published in paperback and now has a fab new cover ready to be released in the US early next year, so it reminded me to bump it up my reading list. I am glad I did, it made me feel lucky to download this gem of a book before its value was realized.
We meet Emily sneaking out of her family home as the sun is coming up on what should have been a normal week day. From then on we follow her as she leaves straight-laced Emily behind and becomes reckless Cat. Throughout we are none the wiser why this radical life change has come about and to be honest I was at a loss to understand why she would leave her loving husband and even worse a young son behind. This is why I literally could not put this book down. As Cat’s life spirals out of control I was dying to find out what had happened in her life to make her resort to this. The chapters switch between past and present in both Emily and her family’s life so that we gain glimpses, but none prepare you for what is to come, no matter how much you try to figure it out.This book delivers a compelling read, which kept me guessing right up until Emily’s emotional secret is revealed. As much as I tried to speculate on what Emily was running from I was completely blindsided, which is testament to the excellent writing, even the epilogue was not predictable. I would highly recommend that you buy and read this book now so you can gloat to your friends that you read it before it got really big, because believe me Tina Seskis is an author we will be hearing more of. Bet she is glad she took matters into her own hands now!
9/10