Review: A Little in Love by Susan Fletcher

Paris, 1832. A street girl lies alone in the darkness, clutching a letter to her heart. 

Eponine remembers being a child: her swing and the peach tree, and the baby brother she loved. But mostly she remembers being miserable. Taught to lie and cheat, and to hate the one girl, Cosette, who might have been her friend. 

Now, at sixteen, the two girls meet again and Eponine has one more chance. But what is the price of friendship – the love of a boy. 

I am only familiar with Les Misérables as far as the Hollywood film version (with Hugh Jackman.) I know, I know. The book has been on my to read pile for so long and now, after reading A Little in Love, I might have to get around to reading it.

The story of A Little in Love begins when Eponine is sixteen and it then goes back to when she was a child. Out of all the characters in Les Misérables, Eponine is the character I have always been intrigued with the most. She wants to be a good person – decent and kind but the circumstances of her life conspire against her.

She does not have the best start in life and in trying to gain her mother’s love, she turns her back on the one girl who may have been her friend – Cosette. I found Eponine’s story so heartbreaking. Anyone who has an idea of the story knows what happens to her but that did not stop me from willing it to end differently.

This novel captivated me from the first page. It’s written in the first person from Eponine’s point of view and so you get right into the characters head. The plot fitted in well with the little bit of knowledge I had of the main story and in my opinion, it’s done well. I like that this minor character is able to finally have her story told.

I am absolutely in love with the cover of this book. It’s beautiful and I love that the pages are red lined too.

There were a few surprises throughout. This book is haunting, romantic, heartbreaking and captivating and I would completely recommend it. I love, love, love this book. It’s one that I would quite happily read again.

(A Little in Love is published by Chicken House LTD, Oct 2014. Thank you to the publisher for a review copy.) 

by

Laura

I’m Laura. I started Novel Kicks in 2009. I wanted a place to post my writing as well as give other writers like me the opportunity to do the same. There is also a monthly book club, a writing room which features writing prompts, book reviews, competitions, author interviews and guest posts.

I grew up by the sea (my favourite place in the world) and I currently live in Hampshire. I am married to Chris, have a cat named Buddy and I would love to be a writer. I’m trying to write the novel I’ve talked so much about writing if only I could stop pressing delete. I’ve loved writing since creative writing classes in primary school. I have always wanted to see my teacher Miss Sayers again and thank her for the encouragement. When not trying to write the novel or writing snippets of stories on anything I can get my hands on, I love reading, dancing like a loon and singing to myself very badly. My current obsession is Once Upon a Time and I would be happy to live with magic in the enchanted forest surrounded by all those wonderful stories provided that world also included Harry Potter. I love reading chick lit. contemporary fiction and novels with mystery.