The Last Time I Saw You by Jo Leevers #TheLastTimeISawYou @JoLeevers @AmazonPub #BookReview

 

She’s waiting to become a mother―but first she has to find her own.

Weeks away from the birth of her first child, Georgie should be enjoying the peace of her new life in the country, but boredom has settled in and nerves are running high. A viral news story about the rescue of a missing child warms her heart until she sees the photo: the woman who found the child is her own mother, Nancy, who disappeared twenty years ago.

How could Nancy have abandoned her own children? Georgie needs to know before becoming a mother herself, even if it means calling on her estranged brother Dan for support. As the siblings set off on a road trip towards the Scottish island where Nancy was last seen, they don’t yet know that her side of the story has just as much heartache as their own.

Caught between her new life and old secrets, Georgie must make peace with the past. Can she and Dan unite to uncover the truth? And can piecing together Nancy’s story fix their broken family―or are some wounds too deep to heal?

The Last Time I Saw You by Jo Leevers is published today, 1 July 2024 by Lake Union Publishing. My thanks to the author and publisher who sent my copy for review. 

I read this one whilst on holiday in Corfu and it is the perfect book to get totally immersed in. I love a dual timeline, and two points of view and this one is perfectly and cleverly done. Quite often, one story can overpower the other narrator, but in The Last Time I Saw You, both eras and both characters are fascinating, nuanced and wonderfully delivered. 

Georgie is about to become a mum for the first time. With only a month to go until her due date, she often questions herself. Will she be a good mother? Georgie doesn't really have a great role model; her own mother, Nancy abandoned her and her brother Dan twenty years old. That was the last time she saw her, explaining the title of the novel. 

Georgie's husband is working away, and she's mindlessly scrolling social media when a news story makes her stop. It's a typical feel-good story; a lost child has been found by a woman on a remote Scottish island. The woman is known locally as something of a loner, she doesn't mix with the community and she looks awkward in the photo. It is the photo that makes Georgie stop and look again. That is Nancy, her mother, the woman who left her. Yet she's rescued another child. Georgie needs answers. 

Georgie and her brother Dan have a strained relationship and haven't spoken for a couple of years. The reader finds out this back story later on, and it's another tragic tale in Georgie's past. Regardless of this, they agree to travel together to find Nancy. The journey ahead is a long one, their vehicle is not the most reliable, Georgie hasn't told her husband, and she's about to give birth! 

This is an entrancing, warm story that touches on many emotional and quite dark issues. Setting most of the story during an enclosed journey in a car is a nice touch and adds depth and atmosphere to the tale. The reader learns so much about Georgie and Dan along the way

Meanwhile, we are also listening to Nancy's own story, and for sure, at first, I expected her to be a selfish woman who only cared for herself. She is certainly damaged, but as the story unravels, we can see that terrible circumstances that she was trying to cope with, and like it or not, we can also understand why she made the decision that affected so many lives. 

Long hidden truths are exposed and all of the characters begin to realise that many things that they assumed were not the real truth. It's complex and layered so well and an absolute joy to keep reading and keep discovering.

A story of family and hurt, of motherhood and despair. There are secrets and shocks and characters that will surprise the reader. A wonderful read and recommended by me.

Jo Leevers grew up in London and began writing fiction after a career in magazine
journalism. 

Her bestselling debut, Tell Me How This Ends, was a BBC Radio 2 Book Club choice. Whether writing fiction or interviewing people for articles, she is fascinated by the stories and secrets that we all carry with us. 

She has two grown-up children and lives with her husband and their wayward dog, Lottie, in Bristol.

X @JoLeevers

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