Thursday, June 22, 2017

After You Left by Carol Mason

3.5 Star

You want to know what the worst thing is? It’s not the embarrassment, or the looks on people’s faces when I tell them what happened. It isn’t the pain of him not being there—loneliness is manageable. The worst thing is not knowing why.

When Justin walks out on Alice on their honeymoon, with no explanation apart from a cryptic note, Alice is left alone and bewildered, her life in pieces.

Then she meets Evelyn, a visitor to the gallery where she works. It’s a seemingly chance encounter, but Alice gradually learns that Evelyn has motives, and a heartbreaking story, of her own. And that story has haunting parallels with Alice’s life.

As Alice delves into the mystery of why Justin left her, the questions are obvious. But the answers may lie in the most unlikely of places… 


Kathryn - 3.5 Star

After You Left is a tale of two women's stories that merge into one. I confess that I didn't warm to Alice until the very end of the novel.  I think I could have used more time with Alice and her husband to truly get a feel for her. His leaving was abrupt, to say the least, but because I didn't feel invested in their marriage I found her floundering perplexing. This was likely intentional by the author.  If you felt attached to their marriage then his disappearance would have felt devastating and would have been hard for the reader to move past it- let alone Alice.  His reason for leaving is explained but it seems a flimsy choice to me. Though he obviously needed to refocus most of his attention for a period was their really a reason to leave his wife?

My connection came when we met Evelyn- a woman who is so lively and intriguing that you couldn't help wanting to know all about her. Through their emerging friendship I grew to like Alice more and was appreciative of the quiet strength and support they were giving each other.

The novel isn’t filled with rainbows and unicorns- there weren’t a lot of moments when I felt pure joy from either of our protagonists.  There was so much sadness and misunderstanding in both their lives, even as children I felt that they had been given a very subdued start to life.   And yet neither of them had really had a bad or difficult life, just perhaps not the one that could bring them joy.  Though I didn’t always love reading the novel it did linger with me as I thought about living for the sake of living and living for the joy of life.  

There was a twist towards the end that actually did come as a surprise to me. I certainly don’t want to give it away but it does a lot to explain both Alice and Evelyn.


Thank you to Lake Union Publishing for our review copy.  All opinions are our own.

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