Somewhere Close To Happy by Lia Louis

Read June 2019. Published 13th June 2019.

Lizzie' world is shaken to the core the day she receives a letter from her childhood friend and first love, Roman Meyers. The problem is that the letter is dated 12 years ago, when Roman mysteriously disappeared from her life, but it has only just been posted.

Roman...the faithful friend who could see the real Lizzie, behind the anxiety and depression she felt after the break-up of her parents' marriage.
The friend who said he would never leave her, despite his own troubles.
The friend who was going to be her companion when they left their worries behind and travelled off into the sunset in the battered old caravan named "Sea Fog".

Where are you Roman? Why did you leave? Are you safe?

Lizzie has certainly had a troubled childhood, made worse by the loss of her beloved granddad, Hubble, just before Roman disappeared from her life. It took her a long time to get to where she is now, but she has settled into a routine with a steady job and her regular Thursday nights round at her dad's place, with her brother and sister-in-law. It is best to avoid some members of the family - such as the horrendous Aunt Shell - but Lizzie mostly manages to succeed. She is somewhere close to happy, at least.

Encouraged and aided by her oldest friend, Priscilla, Lizzie attempts to track down Roman. She is unsure if she really wants to do this, at first - scared of what she might find, but Priscilla plays Sherlock to Lizzie's Watson and they soon begin to uncover some clues. Lizzie's search will stir up some painful memories and she will learn some truths that she did not expect along the way. Can she find Roman and forgive him for leaving her?

This book is wonderful.
The timeline moves around a lot between the present and past - swinging between the events of now and the events that tell the story of Lizzie and Roman's relationship. Past events do not always come in the order that they happened, but this serves to build up layer upon layer of the history between Lizzie, Roman and her messed up family. Everyone here will benefit from confronting their past to help them move forward.

Tension builds beautifully towards the end of Lizzie's search, when the answers to the past become clear.
Lizzie will reach a kind of peace with what happened to her years ago, and a breach will also begin to heal between the fractured members of her own family....well all except the awful Aunt Shell anyway, who seems beyond help and needs a good kick in her substantial pants!

This is a book about friendship, love, loss, family and accepting people for what they are. I absolutely loved it and sobbed my little heart out at the end.