Sunday 27 January 2013

Books Read: Eleanor Moran - The Last Time I Saw You

When Olivia Berrington gets the call to tell her that her best friend from university has been killed in a car crash in New York, her life is turned upside down. Her relationship with Sally was an exhilarating roller coaster, until a shocking betrayal drove them apart.

But if Sally really had turned her back, why is her little girl named after Olivia? As questions mount about the fatal accident, Olivia is forced to go back and unravel their tangled history. But as Sally's secrets start to spill out, Olivia's left asking herself if the past is best kept buried.

Although The Last Time I Saw You is Eleanor Moran's fourth novel, it's actually the first one that I'd read as somehow her previous books have slipped me by although I do have her free Christmas short story, In a New York Minute still to read on my Kindle.

The story begins with Livvy getting a phone call from her flatmate James telling her to come home urgently where he has to tell her the news that her best friend from university, Sally, has been killed in a car accident in New York.

Livvy and Sally had met on their first day at Leeds university and pretty soon were totally inseparable although it was fair to say that they had a tempestuous friendship.  Sally was very much the dominant personna in their friendship which often saw Livvy making decisions that she might not have chosen to do so otherwise, but a shocking betrayal broke the bond of their friendship irretrievably.

Despite them having not been in contact for a number of years, Livvy decides to go with James to Sally's funeral to pay her respects where she meets Sally's husband, William, and daughter Madeline Olivia.   William asks if he can keep in contact with her as a link to Sally, and during their conversations Livvy soon discovers that there are questions as to what exactly happened with Sally prior to the accident. Will they ever discover the truth or was it simply a tragic accident?

The history of  Livvy and Sally's friendship, and eventually estrangement, is told through a series of flashbacks in which we see the events that played a major part in their lives and the final betrayal that had such a big impact on both their lives...  

If you're looking for a quick read then this one is definitely not the one for you as at 504 pages it is one of the longest I've read recently but it doesn't feel that long.  Almost from the start I was hooked and was wanting to keep reading so that I could learn more about Livvy and Sally's friendship and discover what further secrets would be revealed... The Last Time I Saw You was a complex tale of friendship, love and relationships that made for intense reading.

I'd like to thank Alice at Quercus for sending me a copy of this book to review.

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