Charming story following lives at different periods, blending together with a bit of the supernatural in the form of a boy living out a past life to find closure. Well written and worthy of the time taken to read.

I loved this complicated, intricate book....heavens, I even read and enjoyed the acknowledgements at the end!
Beautifully written, it tells the story of Lucy, Clare and Ben...and a few other people, their lives interwoven tightly between the past and the present day.
Each character lived and breathed convincingly, I ended up slowing my reading towards the end, as I didn’t want to finish, and lose touch with these interesting people.

I requested this book after reading the synopsis and have to say I was delighted I did. Such a fantastic story written from three perspectives, Ben a young survivor of a horrific attack who tries blot out the what he has witnessed, Lucy the doctor who is trying to get him to remember and Clare a reclusive woman living in a Nursing Home. Their three stories meet in a completely unexpected way. I loved the author's style, her writing really got me to keep reading and wanting to see how events unfolded. A fantastic book I would have no hesitation in recommending to anyone. Thank you Netgalley and Random House UK, Cornerstone for allowing me to read in return for an honest review.

A wonderful story, both interwoven, and at the same time, only lightly connected - we are allowed to see those vital connections which the protagonists themselves aren’t aware of. I couldn’t put this down, I needed to know what happened next, and why. A deeply satisfying book.

This is a story with a difference.

I am calling it fantasy as it makes an assumption about how souls and their memories can be transferred from one person to anotehr after death.

At first I found  it tricky to follow what was going on but suddenly it all came clear and I was entranced. It would have been 5 stars if I hadn't been tempted to put the book down after a couple of chapters due my confusion.

It is gently written in a clear and unassuming style. A style that is easy to get lost in and a book that I didn't want to end.

The description of the hurricane was devastating and Clare's life, of penance almost, afterwards, was told with great empathy and affection for this damaged woman. And Leo, as he told his story, was so tragic, you really wanted to cuddle him forever. You forget now, just how harsh some of the religious houses were for orphans - the way they were treated like indentured servants despite their ages, and one can only be thankful, that this no longer happens. Although, orphanages are still far from good....

Read this book to find out what the Depression was really like for the American South.

The Possible world is a lovely story exploring the importance of family, friends and the memories we make with them. It begins with a tragedy. Ben, an anxious 6 year old goes to a birthday party he will never forget. Lucy is working in the hospital when those involved are admitted. I enjoyed reading a doctor’s viewpoint of the ER, and the various characters she encountered were a lighthearted, but sometimes emotional, break from the rest of the story.

We also meet Leo, who has a lot of memories about his past, and Clare, an old woman recalling the story of her life. Clare was by far the most interesting character in the book. Her life has been full of heartache, but also uplifted by the kindness of others. As the oldest woman in the town she realises there isn’t much time left to hold onto her memories. She is guarded, driven and lonely, but we also see how caring, nurturing and a loyal friend she is behind that. Clare drew me into the book and her relationships with others really made it for me. I only wish I could have known so much more about her.

The strands of these four main characters come together in a unique way. Each of them takes turns to tell their story and bring the reader closer to the truth. Unfortunately, I didn’t feel satisfied with how the characters were inextricably linked. The big reveal didn’t sit right with me and I couldn’t help wishing they were written as two separate stories. Regardless of this, I loved my time with Clare and the others and have been left wanting just a little more time. Something I think Clare herself would have been wishing for when remembering those who were most important in her life.

Tribulation

The Possible World is a beautiful, fascinating book to treasure 3 characters and their very poignant stories. The novel is narrated chapter by chapter from the perspective of Ben/Leo, Clare and Lucy. If you were to imagine 3 situations and characters that could provide you with such depth and emotional connection, you would be hard pressed to choose beyond the personal stories in this book. 

Ben is a young 6-year-old boy who is the only survivor at a children’s birthday party where a killer has slaughtered Mums and children alike. Immediately our own minds wonder what traumatic impact it will have on him, which is reinforced through wonderful writing to underpin the anguish we feel. As a consequence, he suffers from Post Traumatic Amnesia, and informs the doctors and police his name is Leo.

“No one has told me what’s wrong with me, but it must have something to do with the emptiness in my memory. I know that it should be different, that there should be a long story like a book I’m in the middle of, with pictures and words filling the pages. When they ask me to open the book of my story, every page is blank.”

Lucy is a doctor working in a hospital emergency department and she’s dealing with Leo along with other critical trauma cases. The range of emotions an ED doctor must face on a daily basis are enormous and the constant awareness of getting close to the patients while remaining slightly aloof are a challenge. So what happens when a young innocent boy comes in, covered in his mother’s and friends blood having witnessed multiple murders, and you need to keep your shit together to provide your professional assistance? Lucy remembers the saying ‘You have to love medicine – it won’t love you back.’ I loved the medical terminology having worked around healthcare for a long time and it is very interesting listening to the language and processes clinical staff engage in during diagnosis and treatment. It is not surprising that Liese O’Halloran Schwarz was a medical doctor working in an Emergency Department, but she doesn’t overindulge the clinical terminology and lose her readers. 

Clare is nearing her 100th birthday and is living in a nursing home. Her days are spent alone trying not to engage with others and while her mind seems quite sharp she remains quiet, creating a suspicion of dementia or depression. A faltering relationship with Gloria whom early on Clare reminds her that “‘This is the place you’ve come to die’ I can feel the air go still before my next word. ‘Alone.’” The developing friendship with Gloria gives rise to the opportunity for Clare to tell part of her life story.

There is a pervasive sense of anxiety and frustration with each character as they navigate the personal and professional challenges they face. We know each story will come together in a surprising way but how that is achieved is through great story-telling. The only issue I would have is that the pace slackened at times particularly in the middle of the book.

This is a special book exploring deep and really heart-breaking stories that are totally captivating. I had thought of passing on this book and I’m so glad I didn’t. I would like to thank Random House UK, Cornerstone and NetGalley, for an ARC version of the book in return for an honest review.

A different kind of book from my normal read and it took a bit of getting in too but after getting into the characters and story telling of past lives everything came together and was very interesting a good book which keeps your interest

This book is beautifully written and I was immersed in the stories.

It follows 3 stories of an elderly lady approaching her 100th birthday in home, a young boy that witnesses a crime and an A and E doctor. These stories intertwine and there are also patterns across time.

I wanted to give this 5 stars but how Ben's story links with Clare's I thought was a bit of a stretch and the final scene a little rushed. I also didn't feel Ben's story was fully resolved.

Beautifully written and touching without being scmaltzy. A tale of three traumtasided soles whose experiences and ultimate fates entwine despite living in different eras

A surprising read that wraps up three different storylines in a different and interesting way. Took a while to get into but worth the preserverance

The Possible World weaves intricate and complex stories through several generations and a small group of people impossibly connected.
I loved the characters and thought the writing style was great.
I thought the story itself was well rounded, satisfying and I had closure at the end!
I’d definitely recommend this to anyone that loves a story about different peoples’ lives connecting with each other and the impact they can have.

This book's premise surprised me and was not what I expected from its blurb but I enjoyed it alot. I was drawn into the stories of all the characters points of view and could not see where they would take me.

The photo above bears no resemblance to the fabulous colourful drawing that graces the cover of the book I chose to read.

It’s a lovely book although on the face of it, there appears to be three or four disparate threads.

The stories of Ben and Lucy appear quite straightforward at first. There are hidden layers which become revealed although some questions are never quite resolved .

Clare’s story is clearly quite obtuse - she blanches when offered the accolade of being the town’s oldest resident, and the story of the picture is not shared. This would have been interesting to understand. Her story was quite powerful and shocking, but I loved her tale.

And finally Leo. I have to admit to being confused about where he fitted in and almost gave up on this book. But it was an intriguing tale and wound to a satisfying conclusion - worth waiting for.

Sadly the ending was a little abrupt for me and I found the tale a little meandering so give this a solid 4* score.

I really wanted to love this book; it has a great synopsis, a cool cover and a long list of positive reviews. However, after the initial graphic opening scene I have to be honest and say the story didn’t grab me until over halfway through the book. Luckily, I persevered with it and began to connect with the story and was eager to find out what would happen.

The story follows the lives of Ben – a young traumatised boy, Lucy – a doctor who is drawn to Ben, and Clare – a solitary, elderly woman in a care home. The three stories weave and jump from chapter to chapter pretty effortlessly and the writing is excellent, with some lovely ideas and depictions. All three characters have had to overcome some form of sadness and grief and this is well executed.

“I don’t deserve a happy ending” as Clare puts it.

“Which was worse: an all-powerful divinity that exerted such cruelty, or a total absence of any meaning to the world?”

But there were times when I felt the characters’ voices could have been more distinct and I sometimes had to flick back to the beginning of the chapter to remind myself who was talking and whose flashback belonged to who.

I read that the author used to be a doctor and this is telling in Lucy’s character and her use of detailed medical terms which I enjoyed. It gave the character truth and credibility and although not initially obvious I can see how her character is crucial in progressing the plot.

Another minor quibble is the cover. Although I think it’s beautiful and intriguing I can’t see the connection with the story. I get the boy but why the bird? There is a brief mention of a parrot that belonged to one of the minor characters but apart from that I don’t remember any birds featuring heavily in the content. Did I miss something? Maybe I’m being too literal but there were other obvious themes and imagery which stood out to me such as the dying rose bush or the apple tree and cemetery. BUT hey, I am no cover designer and would be fascinated to know about the process in choosing that design.

“Still, the message stings; it is not our choice anymore. It is that shrinkage of a life that truly makes a person feel old, the pruning of all the small branches of possibility until one is left with just the nubbin of what is, and no more of what might be.”

Overall The Possible World is an impressive story with some poignant, shocking and surprising parts which explores faith, second chances, past lives and the connections we make in life. I personally was hoping for a slightly less abrupt ending and was left with a few unanswered questions, but perhaps that’s the point. This book has garnered lots of praise and while it’s easy to see why, it didn’t pull me in as much as I’d hoped.

The Possible World by Liese O’Halloran Schwarz starts off with Six-year-old Ben is the only survivor of a crime that killed his mother and many others.

Lucy, the doctor who tends to Ben, is dealing with her own personal upheaval but feels a profound connection to him. Will recovering his memory heal him, or damage him further?

Clare believes the lifetime of secrets she’s been keeping don’t matter to anyone now, until an unexpected encounter prompts her to tell her story.

It is told from the viewpoint of multiple characters – Ben, Leo, Clare and Lucy. Normally I like split narrative tales as I think it helps the reader associate with characters but there were times in this book where I think it added to my confusion as to what was happening.

Having said that each character was well developed and once I understood what was happening I did enjoy The Possible World despite having not understood how it all connected for a very long time whilst reading it.

Ben is almost 7 years old when he attends the party that will change his life forever. He is anxious, so his mother comes in with him, something he is embarrassed about because he knows none of the other boys will have their mother there.

During this chapter he is thinking about his mother and the things she says to him like, “I love you more than pizza, bingo or caterpillars.”

Whilst at the party, there is some teasing of one of the boys and Ben senses that things are about to turn nasty so he decides to use the opportunity to go off to the toilet, so he doesn’t need to be witness to it. He is in there for a while and when he comes out it is clear there is something wrong.

“There aren’t any lights in the hallway and its gotten dark. I make my way be feel, one hand on the wall., towards the living room…When I step onto the fringey living room carpet it squelches, uh-oh, Scooter probably peed and now it’s on my sock. It’s a whole lot of pee – my socks warm and wet- I steep back and lift my foot to peel the sock off. Something in my brain knows that it’s not pee; there’s something flashing warning in my head.”

Ben has been a witness to something horrific that will change his life forever.

The next chapter begins with Lucy, a dedicated ER doctor with a busy schedule and a failed marriage. She was an interesting and humorous character and I enjoyed reading her chapters. She is the admitting doctor for him and is shocked first when she learns what he was witness to and secondly when she realises she knew his mum.

“I’ve presumed taken from the scene of a homicide meant he’d been found in a house where a domestic dispute had ended in gunshots – that he’d been hiding in his bedroom or ensconced terrified in a closet. Not close enough to the action to be soaked in blood, so much blood – what must the scene be like?”

When she speaks to him he tells her his name is Leo and refuses to say anything about the event, he claims not to remember anything. Over the course of his stay in the hospital flashes come back to him but he doesn’t speak about them and his psychiatrist decides to try hypnotherapy on him.

The young boy knows something is wrong, but he cannot remember what happened.

“The sorrow is in the cookies, the juice, the rough towel they dry me with after the bath, but mostly in their eyes that don’t look right at me. It’s as though I’m the sun too painful to look at, I am something too hugely sad to behold.”

Clare was my favourite character in this book and the parts involving her and Leo were my favourite in the book, something that I wasn’t expecting when I began it.

Clare around 100 years old and living in a care home. She isn’t close to anyone and keeps her secrets close thinking no one will care and that she doesn’t want to share them anyway. Then she meets Gloria and begins a reluctant friendship with her and eventually decides to open up about her tragic past.

The Possible World is a book worth reading but there were several things about it which caused me to rate it at three stars. Firstly, as I already mentioned, it was confusing at times because of the split narrative form – particularly in relation to the chapters from the point of view of Ben/Leo. This would have been easier to follow if I had known from the start the reason for the switch between the two.

Secondly, there were times where it felt like I was reading two different stories, both well-written but they didn’t mesh together until I was a long way into the book.

Having said that, the character development was excellent, and I enjoyed the story once I realised what was happening

I really enjoyed this book, at first I wasn't quite sure that I could keep up with the three narratives, however I found it very easy to keep on track as we found out each of our characters stories.

The story is a heart warming one, it was really well written and I loved finding out how our three characters were connected, I really enjoyed reading their stories and I couldn't wait to find out how it ended!

This is the best book I’ve read this year. It is so well written, emotional and sensitive. I loved the characterisations and felt that I’d got to know Lucy, Ben/Leo and Clare in the course of reading their stories. I liked how everything linked and was rounded off perfectly. I usually enjoy a book where the characters each have separate stories depicted and this was one of the most accomplished.

I’d never read anything by Liese O’Halloran Schwarz before and will be looking out for more.

It was the beautiful book cover that drew me to this novel as did the short description and neither let me down. The Possible world is a wonderful gentle tale that touches your heart as you read it. A young boy is brought to the ER he's covered in blood and the sole survivor of a brutal home invasion. ER resident Lucy treats this little boy and unlike any of her other patients she is somehow drawn to him. Ben has no memory of the events that brought him to the hospital, in fact he appears to believe he is someone completely different. This wonderful novel is told through the eyes of Ben, Lucy and Clare, each so separate, yet totally entwined.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and was blown away by the beautiful writing, the descriptions so clear and well constructed that you feel as if you are there alongside them watching the story unfold. I will certainly read Liese O'Halloran Schwarz's other novel Near Canaan.

I have to admit that I approached this with some trepidation. I had requested to read it based purely on the front cover (a bird in flight and a child stood with their arms out wide - the UK cover, I think). It really stands out. And as I started to read it, I realised that it wasn't just the cover that stood out. The prose is beautifully written. It's difficult subject matter: a child is brought into ER as the sole survivor of a massacre, and is taken care of by Lucy, the doctor. He doesn't remember anything, it seems. Clare (good name choice, by the way) is nearly 100 years old, and is living in a home across town. She's not happy to be there.
These people's lives all seem to be separate, but they do come together eventually. And it's so emotional when they do. It's an emotional book with some dark subject matter, but there is also hope.
It's well worth a read, but don't forget the kleenex. You'll need it.
Thanks to The Pigeonhole and NetGalley for the chance to review this.