2.43k reviews for:

When She Returned

Lucinda Berry

3.78 AVERAGE

mysterious medium-paced
dark emotional tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
dark mysterious tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
dark mysterious tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

soph2962's review

2.75
dark emotional medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
challenging emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

WHEW. This book put me THROUGH IT, right until the very end. I had a feeling the ending was coming but didn’t want to believe it. One of her best books.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I think this would have made for an excellent literary character and relationship analysis kind of book. A wife gone missing, husband still in love but moves along and remarries a widow, who has fallen deeply in love with him. An apparently happy home now with children from both husband and wife's first marriages. Then, the missing wife returns. An excellent premise. The author decides to handle this more as a mystery, eventually leading to an unsatisfying, tame ending. But that does not detract from how brilliantly she unravels the threads that bind the different people affected by the return of the long-missing wife. I was constantly wondering where my sympathies lie, as every character seemed justified in behaving as they did. The multiple narrators also helped in giving this a very authentic feel. Good stuff!
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bajebookclub's review

3.75
mysterious tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: N/A
Diverse cast of characters: N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus: N/A