Sunday, August 18, 2013

The Girl You Left Behind, by Jojo Moyes


What happened to the girl you left behind?

In 1916 French artist Edouard Lefevre leaves his wife Sophie to fight at the Front. When her town falls into German hands, his portrait of Sophie stirs the heart of the local Kommandant and causes her to risk everything - her family, reputation and life - in the hope of seeing her true love one last time.

Nearly a century later and Sophie's portrait is given to Liv by her young husband shortly before his sudden death. Its beauty speaks of their short life together, but when the painting's dark and passion-torn history is revealed, Liv discovers that the first spark of love she has felt since she lost him is threatened...

In
The Girl You Left Behind two young women, separated by a century, are united in their determination to fight for the thing they love most - whatever the cost.





I love Jojo Moyes.  She makes her characters so real and imperfect and TRUE.  I love how she intertwined the lives of Sophie and Liv through the painting and went back and forth between their stories.

Like Me Before You and Honeymoon in Paris, The Girl You Left Behind is a heartbreakingly beautiful novel.   I cried several times, especially near the end.  Thankfully, I wasn't as emotionally overcome as when I read Me Before You; there is more of a sense of relief and hope in this story than in her previous work.

There is one continuity problem between The Girl You Left Behind and Honeymoon in Paris regarding how Liv's husband purchases the painting, but it doesn't affect the story.

I will definitely purchase this book for my personal collection.

I received a copy of this book from Edelweiss in exchange for my honest review.

No comments:

Post a Comment