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Thursday, August 8, 2019

The Man Who Didn't Call by Rosie Walsh

Read August 2019. Published in paperback 25th July 2019 by Pan Macmillan/Mantle Press. Audio book released 14th June 2018.

Nineteen years ago, Sarah fled The Cotswolds after a terrible car accident, to start again in California. She barely recognises the person she was then, but she is now facing divorce from her American husband - albeit an amicable one - and this has given her pause for thought.

Sarah has come back home to see her parents and revisit the site of the accident that changed the course of her life, all those years ago. Near the site of the accident, she runs into a man having a very serious conversation with a sheep. Something about him unexpectedly attracts her. The man is called Eddie...

Over the course of the next seven days, Sarah and Eddie are inseparable. Sarah knows she has fallen in love and believes that it is mutual. She has never been more sure of anything in her life. They have even talked about making a long distance relationship work.

So, when Eddie goes off on a surfing holiday, at the end of the seven days, Sarah has no reason to doubt that Eddie will call her from the airport when he returns, so they can plan their future together.

But he doesn't call....

Sarah's friends think she is mad at her insistence that something terrible must have happened to Eddie. No mater how hard they try to persuade her that this was clearly just a fling on his part, she knows deep inside that this was the real thing. Why hasn't he called? What is the reason for his silence?

But there is a reason - and that reason is the one thing about their past that they did not share with each other...the truth about why they were in the same place, at the same time.

*********************************************************************************

This book is absolutely fantastic - one of my favourites of the year. I loved that it was narrated from both Sarah and Eddie's points of view, so you get into both of their heads, as this makes it a very emotional experience indeed. You know that both of them feel the same about each other, but the burden of the past seems impossible to negate.

I actually alternated between the paperback book and the audio book of this gem, so I could keep going with the story when my hands were occupied! The audio book is narrated by Katherine Press with such feeling that it really brings the story to life, so even if you have read this beauty, go and get the audio book too - you will not be sorry.

It is very difficult to review this one without giving away spoilers, because there is the most fabulous twist in this book that completely floored me. Rosie Walsh very cleverly leads you in a direction that seems obvious, so when you learn the truth, it comes as a complete shock. Bravo Rosie Walsh, this is a very difficult thing to achieve and you pulled it off beautifully!

But, wait, the surprises do not stop there. What happens later had me totally gripped, until I could breathe again. The tension was terrible (in a good way, of course), and I sobbed my eyes out at the ending.

This book is awesome. I cannot give it enough superlatives....just go an buy it now and immerse yourself in Sarah and Eddie's world.

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