Written by Joanna Glen

 

 

You’re not lost. You’re just looking.

Augusta Hope has never felt like she fits in.

At six, she’s memorising the dictionary. At seven, she’s correcting her teachers. At eight, she spins the globe and picks her favourite country on the sound of its name: Burundi.

And now that she’s an adult, Augusta has no interest in the goings-on of the small town where she lives with her parents and her beloved twin sister, Julia.

When an unspeakable tragedy upends everything in Augusta’s life, she’s propelled headfirst into the unknown.

She’s determined to find where she belongs – but what if her true home, and heart, are half a world away?

 

 

 

 

Superb Prose! 

 

This is, without doubt, a beautiful read.

Augusta is very much a misunderstood child; the proverbial ‘fish out of water’ whose parents really don’t understand her. Her sister is pretty and ‘normal’ but even as a young child Augusta has outgrown her small town surroundings. When her family suffer a tragedy of massive proportions, her home town can no longer hold this wandering spirit and she goes in search of .. well, happiness? Satisfaction? Or just something she can no longer find where she has been raised?

Whilst I realised quite early on that this is a terrifically created novel with superb prose, it took an unusually long time for me to get into this book. It is skilfully created but to begin with the alternating chapters of someone not mentioned in the blurb threw me off and I wondered where it was heading. I don’t re-read the synopsis prior to beginning to read, so it wasn’t expectation; it just seemed out of place. I could tell that this was an amazing novel but I somehow never got the rewarding feeling that I know I should have. Why? No idea! I’m pretty sure that this is a book which other reviewers will rave about and I’m very happy to recommend it as I know in myself that I’m out of step here. Did I miss something? Not sure, but please don’t let me put you off. I’m fairly certain that we shall hear a lot more from Joanna Glen! Four stars.

My thanks to publisher Harper Collins for my copy via NetGalley. This is, as always, my honest, unbiased and original review.

 

Tags: women’s fiction

• Format: ebook, paperback, hardcover, audio
• Size: 384 pages
• Publisher: The Borough Press, Harper Collins UK
• Publication Date: 13 June 2019
• Purchase Links: Google Play
•                                 Kobo
•                                 W. H. Smith
•                                 Watersstones
•                                 amazon

 

 

Meet the Author

 

 

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Twitter: @JoannaGlenBooks