Twenty years ago, Alys’ husband, Sam, was in a terrible car accident that left him fighting for his life. His recovery was slow and painful and, just at the point when Alys began to hope, he sent her away, refusing to see her ever again for reasons she could never understand.
Now: Married again and living in a new town with a new family, Alys feels like she’s sleepwalking through life. She’s just lost her job, her grown-up daughter is flying the nest, and her new husband doesn’t see – or even seem to care about – the downward spiral she is in.But a chance encounter changes everything. As the life she could have had crashes into the one she settled for, Alys must decide whether or not to reveal the lie she’s been telling everyone all these years. Will it tear apart the ones she loves, or could it set them free?An emotional, page-turning family drama about the difficult choices and sacrifices we make to protect the ones we love. Perfect for fans of Amanda Prowse, Kerry Fisher and Jodi Picoult.
The Wife's Choice by Emma Davies was published on 30 July 2020 by Bookouture. My thanks to the publisher who sent my copy for review and invited me to take part on this Blog Tour.
'There's a very fine line between secrets and lies.'
The opening sentence to the prologue of The Wife's Choice by Emma Davies, and a line that made me think hard, even before I'd begun to read the book.
Alys and her husband Hugh have a great life. He's the manager of a local department store and Alys herself also works there. She's been there for years; measuring and cutting fabric in the haberdashery department. Their twenty-year old daughter Esme has just completed a diploma in catering and is taking her first steps on the career ladder. She's landed her dream job, working for The Green Room, a well know restaurant that's about to branch out and open in their own little town in Norfolk.
On the surface, things look great. However, Alys is feeling unsettled. She often thinks back to her first marriage. She and Sam were madly in love when their life was turned upside down by a dreadful road accident. Sam was left with life-changing injuries, he was almost killed. Their marriage ended when Sam sent Alys away. He told her to go, that she should find someone else, and be happy.
The 'someone else' was Hugh. He's been a good husband and father, but just lately Alys has noticed that his controlling behaviour is getting worse. When he engineers a redundancy for her, complete with hefty payout, Alys is devastated. She has no idea what she will do with her days, and begins to regret wasting her qualifications in fabric restoration.
Esme's new job at The Green Room comes with shocks and surprises. Alys' life starts to slowly unravel when she realises just who is the mysterious person behind the facade of The Green Room. Nothing is going to be the same for this family ever again.
The Wife's Choice is a compelling and well written cross-genre novel. It's firmly a story of family relationships, but has a hint of mystery and intrigue running throughout. Not an easy mix, but this author pulls it off very well.
The characters are finely drawn and I don't think there will be many female readers who don't get annoyed with Hugh, and who don't secretly admire Nancy; Esme's new boss at the Green Room. This is a varied and mixed bunch of characters, each with their own secrets .... or are they lies?
I enjoyed The Wife's Choice very much. It's an intriguing read that kept me turning the pages in order to discover just how the unravelled secrets would affect the characters in the end.
After a varied career, Emma Davies once worked for a design studio where she was asked to provide a fun and humorous (and not necessarily true) anecdote for their website. She wrote the following: 'I am a bestselling novelist currently masquerading as a thirty something mother of three.' Well the job in the design studio didn't work out but she's now a forty something mother of three and is happy to report the rest of her dream came true.After many years as a finance manager she now writes full time, and is far happier playing with words than numbers. She lives with her husband, three children, and two guinea pigs in rural Shropshire where she writes in all the gaps in between real life. It's a county she adores, her love of its beautiful people and landscapes providing endless inspiration for her books, and in fact the only thing that would make Shropshire more idyllic is if it were by the sea.
Pop over to her website www.emmadaviesauthor.com where, amongst other things, you can read about her passion for Pringles and singing loudly in the car. You can also wave to her on twitter @EmDaviesAuthor or find her on Facebook (a little too often than is good for her).
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