3.97 AVERAGE


This book was a slow burner for me. Part 1 was interesting but didn’t drag me in as much as I thought it would; however the rest of the book absorbed me & I ended up finishing more than half of it on the last day. I really enjoyed the story and how the characters developed.
emotional mysterious tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Loveable characters: Yes

This was such a compelling story- I loved the back and forth between WWI France and modern times, I loved the characters, and I loved the ending so much.

Jojo Moyes threw off my sense of prediction again. No surprise. I have fallen in love with her work--each novel is a surprise in its ending and draws you into a world of deep thought and vivid imagination. I thought the switch in the plot's setting was clever, although I enjoyed the story of Sophie during the German occupation. I was pleasantly surprised at the end; it had a mystery attached to it that made you wonder if there was a sequel perhaps. But then again, that's the way Jojo Moyes writes: mysteriously and highly engaging.

Two stories, two timelines. In 1916, Sophie is running her family’s restaurant with her siblings in a German-occupied village in France while waiting for her husband, a semi-famous artist to return from the war. She and her sister are forced to cook meals for the German officers, resulting in the highest ranked commander becoming obsessed with Sophie’s portrait painted by her husband. Sophie soon begins to view the commander’s obsession as a means of reuniting with her husband.
In 2002, Liv is in the possession of the same painting, titled The Girl You Left Behind, given to her on her honeymoon by her now deceased husband, David. When she learns that the artist has become famous and his descendants are demanding that the painting be returned to them, Liv is willing to give up everything else she owns, including a new relationship to fight to keep her precious gift. In building her case, Liv discovers the painting’s history as well as the mystery around what happened to Sophie.
This book is written a little differently from most “two timeline” stories in that the first part is focused on Sophie and the second part mostly about Liv with more switching back and forth towards the end. I found the first switch somewhat abrupt as Sophie’s story was far from finished but I was soon able to be drawn into Liv’s challenges and appreciated that both women’s stories were wrapped up. The nice conclusions were probably a little too “neat” and unrealistic but it’s fiction so why not give the reader some feel-good happy endings?
challenging emotional reflective sad medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: N/A
emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious medium-paced

This book left me in tears, which is kind of good since they are tears of joy. Personally, I think that the two stories that are being told are extremely well intertwined. Some characters undergo an interesting development that led me to liking them and their decisions more than I did at the beginning. Still, I think that starting with the second character’s storyline only in part two of the book kind of dragged it out a bit since there were basically two beginnings of the book. I would have liked it better if they just jumped around in time at the beginning developing the basis of all major characters from there on. Nevertheless, I very much enjoyed the book and would recommend it to people looking for an easy to read, but still quite emotional romantic book with a touch of historical fiction (since the described events could have happened like that).

It’s been so long since I read this, yet, I know I loved it. Truly, unabashedly loved it. Historical fiction set during one of the World Wars is my favorite, especially from the perspective of a woman during that time in a country seeing a lot of war or a village overrun my enemy soldiers. Add to that present-day characters and a plot-line sure to weave the two threads together, it makes for an excellent read.

One of my top three favorites of Jojo’s. Safe it to say it might be about time to reread this one!