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Synopsis: In the midst of WWI in France, Edouard Lefevre, an up-and-coming artist, leaves his young wife Sophie to fight against the Germans. In the hotel that Sophie and her sister run hangs Sophie's portrait that Edouard has painted. When a German troop occupies their small town, its Kommandant becomes obsessed with Sophie and the painting. While it is never a safe bet to be on any German's radar, Sophie decides to risk everything in order to see her husband again.
Fast forward to modern day London. Liv Halston's talented young architect husband gives her a wedding gift...the painting of Sophie, a bargain obtained from a woman clearing out her late mother's apartment. Not long after, Liv's husband suddenly dies, and the painting is the anchor that keeps Liv from losing all touch with reality. But when the painting falls under scrutiny, and is declared to be a piece of artwork looted by the Germans during the war, Liv must put everything on the line to defend herself in court, and keep it from being taken from her. Together with the charismatic young American ex-cop that she has just met, she must explore the history of the painting, tracing back exactly how it got from Sophie's possession to hers. She finds herself wondering if she will have anything left after the fight. Will she have any friends? A house? Her painting and last memento from her husband? Any chance for love again?
My thoughts: I'll be honest. For the first hundred pages or so, when we are learning about Sophie, I could barely drag myself through. It took me two weeks to read those hundred pages. It was strange, because I love wartime stories. But I just could not engage. But suddenly, when the narrative switched to Liv, my interest and reading pace sprung to life. Now THAT was the Jojo Moyes I remembered!
Liv's life, her personality, her chemistry with the handsome American, and her friendship with the goth girl that crashes at her house...it was charming and alluring. Once Liv began researching the painting and Sophie's history, that part of the story became much more interesting. (Just so you know, it seems in some reviews, readers had the opposite reaction. I think the most important point here is that the two stories were so completely different, they could have been written by two separate people.)
By the end of the story, I had nearly forgotten my frustration and lack of interest earlier, and was completely drawn into the story. The ending was pretty predictable, but it was heart-warming, and I didn't mind.
Definitely, this was not "Me Before You", but a worthy read.
4 out of 5 stars
15 comments:
Yes not Me Before You but wasn't it amazing how DIFFERENT the voice was from the SAME author? very impressive, I thought!
So, I guess I need to finally listen to that review copy of Me Before You? There's a chance I may be alone in my car for 6 hours on Sunday...
I do not do well with war time stories. No patience for them.
I have put Me Before You on my wishlist after going back and reading your review of it. Don't know why I passed it by a couple of times. Now I think I understand the allure of it. Thanks.
I am so far behind, I just finished Me Before You last month. With its slow start, I'll have to be in the right mood for this one.
I really want to read this one and am glad you ended up really liking it, Sandy. I will be prepared in case I find the beginning difficult to get into as well.
That is so funny because I felt the opposite about the two stories. I LOVED Sophie but it took me a little while to get into Liv's story. Overall, though, I really liked this one a LOT. Not quite Me Before You, but for me personally it comes in at a very close second.
I think it will be hard for any of her books to top Me Before You! Glad to hear you did end up enjoying this one.
Thanks for preparing me that this may be slow at the beginning. I hope to start next week.
I'm way behind on the Moyes train and need to catch up. I was in the airport recently and this woman was so engrossed in ME BEFORE YOU that I considered buying it in the airport bookstore.
I still haven't tried any JoJo Moyes - I will get to 'Me Before You' one day!
While I liked Me before You, I wasn't compelled to rush right out and read more. I'll keep this one in mind, despite the slow start.
Well I skipped all the way to the end to see if you liked it because I just started to listen to it about an hour ago. Lol. I'll be back once I'm done but I'm glad to see you liked it.
I'm glad to see you liked it despite the slow beginning.
Interesting! I actually had the opposite reaction. I thought Sophie was so brave, intelligent, and resourceful, I couldn't stop reading because I wanted to find out the end of her story. I liked Liz alright, but she felt a little flat to me.
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