Beautifully written story that takes you through the lives of some really interesting, complex characters. I thought the storytelling was incredible and found the whole book really immersive, even if it was a little heartbreaking! I would love to see more from this author soon - she is a huge talent.

Another Life is a gorgeous, captivating read. The main character Nick starts seeing a local girl, Anna, who is from an ultra-religious background. Nick has his own problems and that, combined with a secret relationship with Anna, means things end between them perhaps prematurely.

The book focuses on Nick the present day and also the story of his relationship with Anna ‘back then’, so we see multiple timeframes which explains much more about Nick’s personality and background, and perhaps why he behaves the way he does – he is often told, by others, that he lacks emotion, is very calm-headed and without real passion. However, we know that this is simply not the case – Nick is a complex character having to deal with so much, not least the awful situation with his little brother which is heartbreaking to read.

This book really is an emotional rollercoaster. I couldn’t put it down and loved every minute. It’s written beautifully, the characters feel convincing and well-rounded, and it’s certainly not ‘just’ a love story – for me, it’s SO much more than that. It’s about family, responsibility, regrets, societal expectations, religion and, of course, also about love in its many forms. It completely absorbed me and I don’t want to give too much away so I’ll just say, read this – even if it’s not something you’d usually pick up. It’s a brilliant read.

A beautiful novel about love. The raw emotion love causes. The sad but true fact that life can and does get in the way of love. And the devastating realisation that sometimes love isn’t enough.
I was drawn straight in to Nick and Anna’s story through the ages. Whilst it is told in separate times, that aren’t linear, it is easy to follow along. I willed them to be together and find their happy ending.
The writing really makes you feel everything all the characters do and sweeps you along with them throughout.
Another Life is a well written, poignant novel that leaves you thinking about it for days after.

What a moving book. A story about Nick and Anna, and their on-off relationship. The book starts with tragedy which makes Nick think about his past and how he has acted. He struggles to convey his feelings because he doesn’t understand them himself. He has had a difficult childhood and a difficult relationship with his father, and they all handle the past in different ways. A real will-they-won’t-they story. I really enjoyed reading this book and I’ve already recommended it to other friends.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC in return for an honest review. This book flips in time between 1980 and 2020 and is a story about love, coming of age, a life of loss and loneliness and everything in between. Short, choppy chapters make this very easy to read and hard to put down. Beautifully written, this really is a special book. I’ll be on the look out for further reads from this author.

A first love that never quite goes away, a barrier formed by religion, family and misunderstanding, all mixed together with heartbreak, grief and loss. Nick and Anna's story is well-written and thoughtful but, for me, didn't quite live up to the rave reviews that I've come across elsewhere. (3.5 stars)

Just an absoloutely beautiful book. A book that ultimately deals with love, and loss - wether that be from the person you love or your family.

I loved the writing style that Jodie Chapman adopts - Nicks fragmented thought process throughout, reflecting how anyone thinks and comes across memories - jumping from past to present, family to relationship, and how different circumstances through Nick and Sal's lives lead them to any given point.

It deals with an Epic Love story between Nick and Anna - and how one Summer together, changes their life's forever. Wether they knew this at the time or not.

This book is all consuming, emotional - and pulls at the heart strings on many occasions, this book is just Real. No rose tinted love story, just exactly how life can happen.

Cannot wait for more from Jodie Chapman

I enjoyed reading this book.

Nick has had a difficult life, having lost his mum. Meeting Anna one summer changed his life, but they have had very different upbringings.

The book moves backwards and forwards in time, will Nick ever find happiness? A very different love story to the traditional boy meets girl books.

This is a slow burner - worth going with but hard work at times. It is an emotional ride covering four decades of the relationship between Anna and Nick. They meet as they work together for a summer and begin an all consuming relationship - however Anna belongs to a religious group who dictate her lifestyle and life choices. She feels as though she is two people and has difficulty reconciling the two. Nick’s past has influenced his ability to make meaningful relationships and his reluctance to commit. We follow their progress as they meet other partners and make their life choices linking in again over the years.

Adding to the picture is Sal - Nick’s younger brother - sensitive and marred by their past who links in with Tilly. Neither can meet the other’s emotional needs with devastating results.

A thoughtful novel. One to savour.

First time reading this author, if you liked ordinary people you will love this book. Set around a family of four which spans from the children’s births to the death of the parents the book tells the story of their life. Loss, grief, broken hearts, missed opportunities, different backgrounds, stiff upper lip, drown in sorrows, getting in touch with feelings are all covered. The chapters move from present day to past, I found it easy to keep up. I enjoyed the authors writing style and the characters were very well introduced and believable. Thank you #NetGalley for the copy.

I enjoyed this book, at first I wasn't so sure but it's just fantastic. Ostensibly about falling in love and being in love but really just about all kinds of love.

Whilst at times devastating, ultimately it left me hopeful and satisfied.

Anna and Nick are from totally different backgrounds, but their worlds collide when they meet at their summer job in the local cinema. Anna quickly falls in love, but she's afraid to turn her back on the beliefs she's been bought up with, and over time the two drift apart. Told from the point of Nick, from his childhood until 2020, 'Another Life' is a poignant story about family, friends, love and loss.

Whoaaa I was not prepared for such an emotional, and at times, shocking read! This is not just another boy meets girl love story. It's complex... it's realistic... and it doesn't shy away from difficult subject areas. It reminded me a lot of 'Normal People'... I just enjoyed this one ten times more!

I love books with dual timelines, and I thought this one did a good job of jumping between the various points in Nick's life. I really enjoyed reading about the relationship between Nick and his brother Sal. I wasn't so keen on Anna's poetry extracts... they didn't really add anything to the story for me and could easily have been left out.

I'm off to read something a little more lighthearted to get over the emotional hangover of reading this book!!

Thank you to the publishers for a copy of this book. I have seen so many good things about this and the book was highly anticipated

A few chapters into this book, I realised that this was a character driven book, rather than plot. It is a very descriptive, poignant book and I had such “one day” vibes about it.

The book deals with some interesting and difficult topics, such as grief, and the author portrays them beautifully in this book

This is a very thoughtful, powering debut and is already proving to be very popular.

Another Life by Jodie Chapman is an assured and confident debut novel about first love and family. It actually feels a little reductive saying that as it’s like saying the Great Wall of China is just a few bricks, because this book is about far, far more than that.

Nick and Anna meet in the heatwave of 2003 whilst working together at a cinema. She is beautiful and enigmatic, aloof without being unapproachable and she is almost other-worldly. She is a member of a religious ‘cult’ which is based upon Jehovah’s Witnesses (they are never directly named), and has a boyfriend who is currently in Australia. Their relationship is on hold for the time being and it is during this break that she meets Nick. Nick and she are like chalk and cheese, but their attraction is palpable and they begin a relationship, just for the summer, keeping it a secret from their gossipy colleagues.

This is an absolutely beautiful read which spans decades, taking us from their teenage relationship, to the present day and back in time to Nick’s difficult childhood. Chapman uses time in such a clever way, showing us one thing in the present and then a little while later taking us back or forward in time to show us a different perspective. It felt a little like a book version of This Is Us, with layers building upon one another allowing us to learn more about Nick’s past and illuminating the Nick we meet in the present.

Anna is unable to marry outside her religion without being looked down upon and unable to leave without losing her family. Nick knows this, he knows that she is a summer relationship, that at the end of the summer he has to let her go. But, ooof, that heady first love feeling. It is totally overpowering to him. It knocks him for six and despite loving her fiercely he has to let her go. Chapman puts us deep in the emotions taking place on the page. It would be easy for this to be a teen drama but this is so much more than that. The book is a battle between head and heart and the emotions are deep and complex.

As much an examination of complicated family relationships, dysfunction and trauma as it is an exploration of first love, Another Life is a deeply emotional read. Nick’s family background is complicated and the opening chapters give some indication of the weight of responsibility on his shoulders. His relationship with Anna, albeit brief, is light in a world which is quite dark and at times difficult to read.

At the centre of it all though is Anna’s deeply held religious beliefs. At the end of the book Chapman writes about being a Jehovah’s Witness herself and her choice to ultimately leave the religion. It cast an entirely new light on the book and although the novel is written from Nick’s point of view Anna is so well formed that we can see the battle raging inside her. Being brought up in such a way, believing certain things and living a life completely different to your contemporaries must be incredibly lonely and isolating. Her love for Nick challenges her beliefs and the way she sees the world and it is a huge and life changing thing for both of them.

This is such a wonderful book which since finishing I haven’t been able to stop thinking about. The characters are beautifully written with a clever narrative structure that I fell in love with. It delves deep into first love, difficult decisions and family loyalty. It isn’t an easy read, there are some sad and difficult moments but it is delicately and sympathetically written and Jodie Chapman is a writer to look out for.

From the first few pages, I knew that this book was special. I am in fact struggling to find the right words to explain how this book has made me feel.

From the character development, relationships, twists, the plot, this story just completely captivated me and I cannot stop thinking about it.

The characters are so well written, believable and likeable. I found it refreshing that this love story did not spark between two perfect teens who lead unrealistic lives and never seem to slip up. Instead, Nick and Anna’s story is something a lot of us can relate to.

Jodie Chapman’s writing in Another Life is also just exquisite. I felt like I was in the world of the book from the outset. The changing time period at first I thought I would find jarring as I have in other books, but in Another Life, I found that going back and forward actually helped me to understand the characters more and why they act the way they did, while also keeping a few secrets for the end of the book.

This isn’t your typical love story. It is gut wrenching, sad, painful and honest. However, in my opinion this is the truest depiction of love there is.

I cannot recommend this book enough. I would go as far as to say this is the best book I have ever read. I know it will always have a special place in my heart.

This a book whose quiet intensity invites full investment in the plot and characters, and leaves the reader with plenty to think about, even after they’ve turned the final page.

Its about love in all its forms. Yes, it’s full of romantic love and longing, of passion and miscommunications, primarily between Anna and Nick. But it’s also about parental love, love for a sibling and even love of God, a particular belief system, and a way of life.

Chapman’s writing is totally stunning, containing some passages that were so powerful they genuinely took my breath away. Though at times I became frustrated with both Anna and Nick, I was fully invested in them finding their happy ending, whatever that was going to look like.

It wasn’t a book that I could read particularly quickly but it’s one that I don’t think I’ll forget. With thanks to Michael Joseph for gifting me a digital copy to review.

I did finish this book, hoping something would happen, the characters are so miserable. And I note they all told Nick how passive he is, but that didn't make him any more appealing. It was interesting to read Anna's perspective on how religious indoctrination will draw you back in, even if you try to leave. It's not aside to the argument you often hear.

I had read comparisons to One Day by David Nichols and Normal People which are two of my favourite books! I was hooked straight away from the first chapter! I think the only way to describe it is devastatingly beautiful.
Another life is a powerful and unconventional love story, that explores all aspects of love. Nick and Anna first meet as teenagers but their relationship is forbidden in Anna’s religion which leads to the following years of complicated relationships.
Narrated through three different timelines it took a little while to get into the rhythm of reading but I loved the layers that this created of their relationship.
It was such an intelligent book with such raw emotions, it had me floored from the first chapter and was captivating, heartbreaking yet sweet and charming at the same time. Prepare yourself for tears more than once!

A very touching story about true love on many different levels spanning several decades. A little slow at first but soon draws the reader into the lives of Anna and Nick who first meet in their late teens, the story is told from Nick's angle. Over the next few years their lives cross, they are still attracted to each other but life is in the way. The central characters are quite self-centred, as are some of the peripheral characters, being a little detached not wanting to admit their true feelings which can be a little frustrating at times. The timelines do jump about a bit but the reader can soon settle into the narrative. There is a good amount of emotional sadness and tragedy in the background.

Another Life is a truly beautiful story. It made me feel a whole range of emotions and I felt invested in the characters (Nick, his brother Sal and Anna) right from the beginning. I adore how it was written with the narration moving between time, skipping back and forth. It is a love story but has so many extra themes that calling it a love story almost does it a disservice because it is so much more. Of all the central characters, Anna is a bit of a mystery - she has internal conflict between her desires and her beliefs and this makes things that could be easy so much more complicated. Nick is more straightforward in some senses yet when you scratch even a little below the surface there are many events in his life which have been upsetting and difficult to navigate and one in particular which is incredibly traumatic. His brother Sal made different choices as he got older and managed to put more distance between him and his childhood but at a cost. Often books I read look more into the relationship between sisters so it was nice to read so much about the two brothers and how their relationship evolved over time.

I am not at all surprised that Another Life has been selected as a BBC Between the Covers pick. I think it will be a huge hit and can easily see it being turned into a tv series or movie. I really look forward to future books by Jodie Chapman - she is clearly incredibly talented!