When Anna is discharged to move home it's like her house is a stranger's home. Stephen takes her to a few places that they used to frequent, but it doesn't jog any memories. She really can't even enjoy her favourite novels. She is feeling trapped and quite disorientated in her life.
The author writes so well that you can feel Anna's frustration at not being able to remember. I also didn't like her husband Stephen and felt very suspicious of him. I was glad when she met a new friend as her life was so insular and it seemed strange that there was no one except Stephen to help her remember her past.
Next, we meet Libby who is a new mum to baby Leo and is looking at returning to work. She lives in Bristol and is close to her parents and sister and is newly married to Dominic. Her husband is definitely gaslighting her and I will admit to being frustrated at her blind loyalty to him. I really wanted to shake some sense into her!
Dominic's controlling behaviour did make me think that his stories about his parents were probably not the whole truth and I was looking forward to getting to the bottom of that mystery when his mother turned up. The book was so well written that I got extremely agitated when he put his career ahead of Libby's chance at a promotion - I wanted to reach into the book and tell her to snap out of the spell he had over her!
I absolutely loved this book and couldn't put it up until I was finished. I did guess the twist, but it took me a little longer than it generally does.
I was very happy to see that Hannah Beckerman has written other books and I'm keen to read them too. Have you read The Forgetting or any of her other novels?
This book came up as recommended for me in my Kindle Unlimited subscription and I thoroughly recommend downloading it when you have a few hours free, curl up with your favourite cup of tea, grab a snack (like these delicious protein cookies) and enjoy!
