Monday 4 March 2019

If Only I Could Tell You by Hannah Beckerman

If Only I could Tell you
By Hannah Beckerman
Published by Orion (21 February 2019)
I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher



Publisher's description
Audrey's family has fallen apart. Her two grown-up daughters, Jess and Lily, are estranged, and her two teenage granddaughters have never been allowed to meet. A secret that echoes back thirty years has splintered the family in two, but is also the one thing keeping them connected. 
As tensions reach breaking point, the irrevocable choice that one of them made all those years ago is about to surface. After years of secrets and silence, how can one broken family find their way back to each other?

My verdict
If Only I Could Tell You is a moving story of a family torn apart by secrets, grief and loss.

Audrey wishes she could reunite her daughters Jess and Lily after 30 years of estrangement - in doing so, she would also enable her two teenage granddaughters to be part of each other's lives. But some wounds are embedded so deeply that they seem impossible to mend. Now the clock is ticking, is it possible for them all to move onwards, forwards and upwards?

If Only I Could Tell You is cleverly plotted, with a mystery at its heart - what caused Jess and Lily to fall out those years ago? It switches seamlessly from past to present, and back again, as secrets are unlocked and emotions are laid bare. This is a story about sisters, mothers and daughters, fathers and daughters, and tragic secrets that can bring families together but also rip them to shreds.

There was a game-changer around halfway through the book, which floored me and then put everything else into perspective, switching my views on the different characters and the parts they played. By the time the truth was there, I had tears rolling down my cheeks.

This book is an ideal choice for a book club or reading group. It's heartbreaking, poignant and uplifting, and raises many moral questions about serious issues by the end - perfect for discussions.

Follow the Blog Tour







No comments:

Post a Comment