The Lost Wife – by Anna Mansell

Original Cover

My own copy

The blurb:

How do you live without the one you love?

Since Rachel lost her mother she has drifted through life, never settling down. Then she meets Ed, recently widowed and with a new baby, and is compelled to help him and his son.

Ed is struggling to cope, and his friends and family all tiptoe around his grief. Rachel is the only one who sees him as more than just a widower, and the pair soon grow close.

Then Rachel discovers something Ed’s wife was hiding from him – something that changes everything. But she knows that memories of lost loved ones are precious, and should be protected at all costs…

Can Rachel help Ed learn to live in a world where his wife is no longer around to tell her side of the story? And can Ed help Rachel to finally open her heart to a happy future?

My Opinion:

*Book provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review*

This stunning book blew me away, I couldn’t put it down.

It’s divided into three parts. In the first part we get introduce to the two main characters. There is Rachel, who lost her mother and works at a nursery. She lives with her best friend Mo. She has not found her place yet, so she goes through a real journey in this book. Ed recently lost his wife and has a son. Ed’s brother Simon was driving the car, when Ellie (his wife died). This makes things a bit complicated.

The second part is dedicated to the moment when Rachel and Ed meet and everything that happens after. Ed takes has baby son Oli to the nursery, where Rachel works. The grow close very quickly, because Rachel is the only one who sees more than just the widower and she went through something similar. After a while Rachel discovers something about Ed’s wife’s accident and doesn’t know what do do about it. This calls for a lot of drama and Anna Mansell’s writing has a real talent to include all this in the storyline. I was hooked from the start. I really liked Ed and Rachel getting to know each other and with the little Oli in between, there were just so many little sparks.

Part three happens a few years later, a lot has changed. We finally find out the truth about Ed’s brother and Rachel has changed her life completely.

This book has everything! It’s very emotional, touching and moving! It’s about loss, grief, love, family, strength, friendship, life and much more. Anna Mansell has captured it all beautifully and created a magnificent story.

Rachel and Ed took turns narrating, which I really liked. Some chapters also end in a very interesting way and the other person just takes over telling us his/her way. This added a lot of great tension to the story and made it really exciting. Both characters are really authentic and well lined out.

I couldn’t put this book down! I liked, how it was structured and the storyline always had a great flow. I couldn’t recommend this enough, definitely not your usual chick-lit and I totally mean that in a positive way!

Rating:

Anna Mansell on Twitter: @AnnaMansell Goodreads - Amazon UK - Amazon US