Maggie O'Farrell is a favorite...this being her first novel I was prepared to give her some slack, I didn't need to...I read it in about 24 hours (maybe less). The timeline jumps were a little confusing but the story was terrific and I couldn't wait to find out what she saw at the train station. It didn't disappoint and the ending was perfect. Ann (the mother) was an awful character, (O'Farrell's dedication for the book is to her Mother for not being like Alice's mother....oh yeah). I loved Elspeth, the grandmother, so wise and loving. Highly recommend .... ( )

Aangrijpend en intensief verhaal over Alice en haar relatie met John en met haar moeder. Ze is het kind van haar moeders minnaar maar weet dat niet. Als ze het ontdekt, probeert ze zelfmoord te plegen. Haar vader is op de hoogte maar wil er niet over praten. Grote liefde John komt om bij een bomaanslag. Het verhaal wordt met grote sprongen in de tijd en perspectiefwisselingen geschreven. ( )

Although not the best book I've ever read, it wasn't the worst. I liked how the different stories unfolded and found it compelling, although the changing viewpoints could be a bit confusing. There was heaps of family drama - although the blurb focuses on Alice - it's really about her family. There's generations of secrets and truths and lies and feelings. If you like contemporary dramas this is for you. Unfortunately, it's not really my thing. ( )

Alice makes a trip home to Scotland to visit her sisters, but shortly after arriving she witnesses something disturbing that causes her to abruptly turn around and return home to London. A few hours later, she's in the hospital in a coma after walking into the pathway of a car. Was it an accident or did she do it on purpose? As her family tries to make sense of the accident, the reader witnesses flashbacks into Alice's past which may give a clue as to the circumstances of what actually happened.

The format of this book takes a bit of getting used to. The time frames jump around in seemingly random order and with various viewpoints. It's a bit disconcerting and confusing at first, but if you can get past that, it's a decent story which gradually unfolds. But it's also incredibly sad, and I'm not sure how I felt about the ending. ( )

“Love is not changed by death and nothing is lost, and all in the end is harvest.” Julian of Norwich

I was prepared for this not to be Maggie O’Farrell at her best. After all, it is her debut novel and she is bound to have gotten better over the years…right? Nope. She started out her writing career a full-blown amazement and never faltered afterward.

This novel starts off with a bit of a mystery. Alice sees something while visiting her home in Scotland that makes her run back to London, and we do not know what it is she saw. She is plunged into a coma immediately thereafter, so we must wait for the details of her experience to emerge. Just the desire to know what she saw would have been enough to propel me to the end, but there is so much more to this novel than that.

There is romance, but I would not label this a romance novel. There is humor, but it is tempered with foreboding. There is tragedy, particularly of the kind family members inflict upon one another. There is the reminder that our capacity for forgiveness should be equal to our capacity for love and that time is a limited commodity.

Written in flashbacks, while Alice lies in a coma, the details of Alice’s life come with clues that slowly unravel and reveal not only who Alice is but the secrets of those who touch on her life the closest. As the story progressed, my affinity for Alice grew, until I felt like I was living in her skin.

Maggie O’Farrell has rapidly become a favorite author for me, and I am convinced that her understanding of the human condition makes it unlikely she will ever fail to leave me in awe of her writing. I have hopes of reading all her books before I am through. Maybe 2022 will be the year of O’Farrell for me.
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