You have to keep running if you want to survive . . .
When her husband returns shell-shocked and broken from the Great War and his mother makes her life a misery, Betty Wellow discovers how bitter and hard life can truly be. But it is not until a devastating storm sweeps through their small fishing village and endangers her life, that she sees her chance to escape - and takes it.
Fleeing to Bristol, she changes her name to Mabel Brook and takes a position as a maid. But tragedy strikes once more after the sudden death of her mistress and she is cast back onto the streets.
Penniless and alone Mabel suffers a brutal attack before being rescued by a psychic named Nora Nightingale. There she gets her first taste of those who receive messages from the dead and realises she may have this gift herself.
But it isn't long before Mabel receives her own message and is forced back to the very place she has escaped. A place of heartbreak and perhaps even murder - but Mabel realises that to secure her future she must confront her past one last time.
Many thanks to Penguin UK, Michael Joseph via NetGalley for my copy of You'll Never See Me Again to review and to Sharon for having my review on the blog.
You'll Never See Me Again is easily the best book I have read by my favourite author Lesley Pearse in several years. It really felt like she was going back to the tone and atmosphere of her earlier novels where the title was always the main characters name. I was hooked from page one as there was such a dramatic opening and I couldn't leave it out of my hands until I had finished the final page. This was a deeply satisfying read packed full of emotion, tension, danger, suspicion and heart and I loved every minute of it. I really felt that I had been on a journey with our main character Betty who within the first chapter or two is forced to change her identity and call herself Mabel.
It's evident Mabel is a courageous, brave and determined girl who when faced with a life altering choice and is given the chance to escape from a life of drudgery, mental cruelty and lack of sympathy or passion that she then just grabs the bull by the horns and goes for it. It was an admirable decision given the nature of her situation but little did she really realise the consequences of it. What follows is a story with so many twists and turns balanced nicely with periods of calm, rest and happiness before upheaval, fear, unease and angst rear their ugly heads. Can Mabel battle through and emerge successfully out the other side? Can she find the happiness she so desperately seeks? Can kindness and integrity triumph over adversity? Or will the past come back to haunt her and threaten the idyll she wishes to create for herself?
I loved the opening to the story as the setting and weather really played an important role in establishing the reasons and motives behind the main plot-line of the story. In 1917, Betty lives in a very small coastal fishing village. Her father has died and her husband Martin has returned home injured from the war and he is no longer the same man he once was. Shell shock plays a major role in his character and he remains locked away mentally from Betty, their love and marriage apparently forgotten. His mother Agnes is spiteful, ignorant and treats Betty like a skivvy. Betty feels she is at breaking point and wonders can she continue with the situation that faces her on a daily basis.
One night a storm of epic proportions hits the coast and Betty is forced by Agnes to go her cottage to retrieve some of her belongings as she had been staying with her mother-in-law Agnes as her home would best suit Martin in his recuperation. Betty feels she has been put in a perilous situation for no reason as it's clear the severe nature and force of the storm will soon wash away her home. But as she makes it upstairs to her cottage she seizes an opportunity. A spur of the moment decision where she can see freedom beckoning although it will not be without its challenges, confrontations, upset and despair. But she goes for it and grabs a few things and slips away into the night not knowing where the path will take her but desperately hoping it will be into a future that is brighter and more content than her deeply unhappy existence these last few months and in the years since she lost her father. With the words -You'll never see me again - she forges a new direction for herself.
I didn't judge Betty who changes her name to Mabel to conceal her identity and background story for leaving her husband. What could she do given Agnes was so cold blooded, callous and heartless? Martin was a wreck of a man who didn't know even where he was nor could he identify people. Mabel does feel a sense of duty but given the very short time frame she has to make the decision, I felt she made the right one. I felt such a powerful and impressive opening really made me identify and feel for Mabel and I was hoping she would find what had evaded her for so long. There are many stages to her journey and although she shoulders the burden of concealing her identity I enjoyed that her true nature and character began to emerge. She was full of grit and determination and although she hadn't much to offer in the way of qualifications she was willing to take on jobs that would further her that little bit more. She had aspirations, enthusiasm and was keen and interest and hopefully she would put these traits to good use.
Mabel had left with very little but she was dogged and decisive with a more of a purposeful plan slowly starting to emerge. I loved all the characters she met upon her journey, well apart from those who were evidently from the rougher side of life with ulterior motives and who in turn ultimately created setbacks for Mabel. But I thought she became a different person once she left the hamlet of Hallsands and that in a way a weight or burden had lifted from her shoulders even though always at the back of her mind was the worry her true identity would be discovered. She feared that if that had been the case that people would judge her for her choice but that was something she had to just live with and come to an acceptance with if the truth did emerge. Would she be strong enough to deal with the fallout if this did become a reality?
The people Mabel meets can sense there is something dark in her past that she is trying to conceal but it isn't a dominant trait of her personality. Mabel enjoys being answerable to no one and she becomes a different person. She works hard and wants to excel and its when she reaches Willow Cottage in Dorchester and the home of illustrator Clara then I thought the book took on another tone and feel altogether. It really came across as this was a settling period in Mabel's new life and I loved the setting that Lesley Pearse created. Even though the war was raging on and the threat of the Spanish flu edged ever closer Clara's home seemed like a little oasis of calm amidst the madness and destruction. It became a safety net for Mabel where she could relax to some extent and the friendship that developed between herself and Clara was something that Mabel needed in her life. Something unusual and life changing which would have significant consequences began to make itself known to Mabel. Normally I would throw my eyes up to heaven at such a strand emerging in a story but here it felt genuine and it slotted perfectly into the overall plot and I felt its inclusion was necessary and pivotal.
It was never all plain sailing for Mabel even though I thought she found this for a time at Clara's cottage. At one point it appeared as if she could never catch a break that she deserved far more than she had been given. Then it was so cruelly and graphically snatched from her hands that I felt every bit of sorrow and loss emanating from the pages. But Mabel is strong, resourceful and competent and I knew she had the capabilities of pulling herself up from the bottom and emerging triumphant out the other side but the manner in which she attempted to do so would never be easy or plain sailing.
I thoroughly enjoyed the romance element that began to emerge. It was leisurely and paced very well and never too in your face as Mabel always had at the back of her mind her real identity and her reasons for her upheaval. The last quarter of the story once again ramped up the action and I was on the edge of my seat and aghast at some of the things that were unfolding. Mabel is faced with the greatest challenge of all and I think other people would have turned a blind eye and continued on the way they were but Mabel has a conscience and a deep and abiding loyalty and she proves her worth. I wouldn't have chosen the root she did but perhaps she needned redemption and to see her journey through right to the bitter end.
You'll Never See Me Again was a brilliant read that kept me guessing right until the very end. It's definitely a book that you should read this summer as it is Lesely Pearse at her very best. This story will bring plenty of new readers to Lesley's work and long term fans will be deeply satisfied. I'm just gutted I'll have to wait another year for something new from Lesley.
I loved this book! With a very captivating story line it held my interest from beginning to end!
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