The Story of Our Secrets: An emotional, uplifting new novel from Shari Low by Shari LowMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
Argh! Where to start? This is told partially through flashbacks to five years ago and partially in the present day (ignoring COVID), with a few flashbacks to even earlier.
Colm O'Flynn died, a relatively young man, in 2016. He left behind an ex-wife Jess and twin sons, a widow Shauna and a six-year old daughter, Dan, his best friend and business partner, and Dan's wife Lulu. Flash forward to the present day, Dan and Lulu are divorced and she has recently remarried, Shauna and her daughter live in the flat above Dan, in the house he inherited from an uncle, and Jess is an ever-present person in their lives. It's all very incestuous and co-dependent.
In their own ways all of Colm's friends are struggling with moving on so Jess decides that she, Shauna, and Dan are case studies for her degree and she will force them to let go of the past by sharing memories, good and bad, of their failed relationships.
I don't really know what to say about this because the blurb totally gives away the entire plot, so as a reader I was just sitting there thinking, 'but we already know this, what's the point?' As always with Shari the book was well-written and kept me engaged but I was expecting something more to happen. And don't get me started on that epilogue ... why? Just why did it have to be written like that?
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.
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