This post was originally published at Novelicious.com and is now at WritingTipsOasis.com. WritingTipsOasis.com acquired Novelicious.com in June 2022.
Reviewed by Debs Carr
Lara is living a lie. Everyone she knows assumes that her perfect life with her adoring husband Sam, in picturesque Cornwall is everything she’s ever wanted, but it’s not. Lara is bored. She longs for excitement and although she’s spent years hiding from a past that almost ruined her, she feels she’s going crazy away from the hectic world she loves back in London. Lara’s only one friend in Cornwall is Iris, a loner with an agoraphobic partner. They’ve only met a couple of times, but both women see something in the other that wouldn’t be obvious to anyone else. When Lara persuades Sam that she needs to take on a job in London, she insists it’s only for several months until she’s brought in some much needed cash.
Lara takes the sleeper train every Sunday night to spend the week living in a room in her sister’s flat, they don’t get along and her sister has issues of her own, but it gives Lara the freedom to be in London and away from her dull existence at home. She meets a small group of friends on the sleeper train and they get to know each other every Friday night on their way home and on their way to London on Sundays. Lara begins an affair with one of the group, Guy, a married man and also begins to suspect that her past is catching up with her. One day the train arrives back in Cornwall and not only has there been a major incident during the journey, but now Lara is missing and there’s no trace of her at all.
I wasn’t too sure how much I’d enjoy this book when I first started reading it, but the more I got into the story the more intrigued I became. Lara’s only relief from her relationship with her needy husband, overbearing father, distant mother and troubled sister was her connection with her godfather, a man who had always been there for her regardless of what difficulties she got herself involved with. I don’t want to say too much, because it would be a shame to give any spoilers, but there were twists and turns that I definitely didn’t see coming and not just where Lara was concerned. Although I took a little time to get into the story it was worth sticking with and I enjoyed discovering exactly what it was Lara was hiding from her past and exactly who was behind everything that had happened to her.
8/10
Emily Barr’s Website