Book Club 📚

‘The Girl You Left Behind’ is the sequel to ‘Honeymoon in Paris’ which The DON bookworm reviewed a couple of weeks ago. Both books chart the marriages of Sophie and Edouard (set in the 1900’s) and Liv and David who are set in the present day. In ‘Honeymoon in Paris’ we met both couples and learned about their marriages and how much they love each other. Your resident bookworm loved Honeymoon in Paris and was very excited to read ‘The Girl You Left Behind’.

In ‘The Girl You Left Behind’ we have fast forwarded and both marriages have changed dramatically. Sophie is now in German occupied France during World War One and Edouard is fighting somewhere unknown to Sophie, then we see Liv is a widow in 2006 after David tragically passed away. The main plot of the book is seeing how they both try to cope and survive without the men they love.

The toy stories are joined together (as in Honeymoon in Paris) by a painting done by Edouard of Sophie and bought a century later by David for Liv. The family of Sophie contest the legal ownership of the painting and want Liv to give it to them. A court battle ensues as a backdrop to the stories of what happened to Sophie and Edouard during World War One and Liv in the current day.

Liv becomes fascinated with what became of Sophie and so researches the story, meeting her descendants. The tale of Sophie is one of strength and bravery but is ultimately a deeply sad tale. Through learning more about Sophie, Liv becomes more and more determined to keep her painting to protect her memory.

I loved learning about these two women and the plot twists and turns are done so well that it is impossible to put this book down.

I found this an amazing story of the strength of love, the resilience of women in the face of adversity and the importance of believing in people’s decency. As always with books written by Jojo Moyes I was in floods reading this book, both happy and sad tears. I absolutely loved it and felt it was beautifully written. A really powerful story told in a sympathetic and emotive way.

Enjoy.

The DON Bookworm 📚