The Girl You Left Behind by JoJo Moyes.

(The Girl You Left Behind by JoJo Moyes.

Published by Penguin, 2012.)

Review by Helen Jackson.

France, 1916. Sophie Lefevre must keep her family safe whilst her adored husband Edouard fights at the front. When she is ordered to serve the German officers who descend on her hotel each evening, her home becomes riven by fierce tensions. And from the moment the new Kommandant sets eyes on Sophie’s portrait – painted by Edouard – a dangerous obsession is born, which will lead Sophie to make a dark and terrible decision.

Almost a century later, and Sophie’s portrait hangs in the home of Liv Halston, a wedding gift from her young husband before he died. A chance encounter reveals the painting’s true worth, and its troubled history. A history that is about to resurface and turn Liv’s life upside down all over again . . .

In The Girl You Left Behind two young women, separated by a century, are united in their determination to fight for what they love most – whatever the cost.

Helen’s verdict:

Me Before You was one of my favourite books of 2012, so I was really looking forward to reading The Girl You Left Behind. It wasn’t as good. That’s the only bad thing I can say about it though, and it’s only not as good as MBY because that was AMAZING (capitals needed!) and one of my favourite books of 2012. TGYLB was still really, really good.

The book starts off in Sophie’s time, in her POV and stayed in it for the first 163 pages. She’s living during the war in a small town in France, which was occupied by the Germans. Her husband is at war, along with her brother in law, and most of the village’s other men, so the women are left defending their town. It shows their struggle in such bleak times; Sophie is such a strong character, holding her whole family together you can’t help liking and totally respecting her.

Part 2 switches back to modern times (2006). After 163 pages of Sophie I hated Liv. She wasn’t Sophie; I wanted to get back to Sophie. Slowly though Liv came through, and I fell for her too.

Liv’s husband died suddenly 5 years ago, and she’s still getting over his death. He gave her a painting, which is her most treasured possession. Now though, the painter’s family want it back, claiming it was stolen in the war by the Germans, and thus should be returned to them.

I read this for my book group and some of the members found Liv too self obsessed to be that likeable, I however didn’t. As she’s still getting over the death of her husband a few years earlier, my friends thought she should have picked herself back up by then, but I found myself thinking how I’d be if I lost my boyfriend, and I think I’d be much the same. I made the mistake of reading one bit on the train, which came from nowhere describing her husband’s death. It killed me, I cried in the middle of rush hour.

I find that’s always a sign of a good book. If someone can move me so much with just words I cry, they’re brilliant (remember Moyes is the author of Me Before You, which had me sat on the sofa sobbing for 20 minutes once I’d finished it – thinking about it now makes part of me want to cry).

I massively recommend The Girl You Left Behind. If you haven’t read Me Before You, I recommend that, and having only read these two books, I recommend every book Jojo Moyes has ever written, and ever will. I know I’m planning on reading them all.

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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.