2/5 Stars

I’m honestly a bit stumped on what to say about this one, but I’ll try to sum it up: it was overall pretty unlikeable, and I spent most of the time frustrated with every single character. I almost gave up around the 20% mark, but somehow pushed through to finish it. Even then, my opinion didn’t change by the end.

In a word? Bland. The narrative alternates between Harry in the present and his mother’s story from 1981, and honestly, I found myself far more interested in his mother’s timeline. Every time the story shifted back to Harry and his search, I was bored stiff. Harry and Tabitha, the main characters, were truly unbearable—childish and irritating to the point where finishing the book felt like a chore.

I would have given it a one-star rating if not for the last 50 pages, which somewhat redeemed the experience. But for a book just under 300 pages, it somehow managed to feel like it dragged on forever. I felt zero connection with any of the characters, and their motivations were completely baffling. The promise of stolen art and romance initially intrigued me, but neither element was given much attention, which left me disappointed.

In the end, while the concept had potential, it just didn’t deliver. If you’re looking for a compelling story about art and romance, you might want to pass on this one.

#TheLostLivesofFrancesLangley #NetGalley

I really enjoy dual timeline novels, although because I’m older than I realise, 1981 feels like yesterday even though it’s forty years ago. Our first timeline concerns a summer in France. Frances Langley is a young, independent and headstrong English girl falling in love for the first time, with France and with Benoit. Benoit is charming and romantic, an art collector who will do anything to get his hands on a piece he wants for his collection. He knows Frances will do anything for him including hiding a disputed piece of art. An artefact that was stolen by the Nazis in WWII and hidden ever since. In our second timeline we’re in England and Frances’s son Harry is going through the process of dealing with the clutter in his mother’s home after her death. The house is chaos, but he knows that his mother wrote to Tabitha, a woman Harry loved and lost. Frances begs Tabitha to ensure Harry looks for a jewellery box, lost in the clutter she’d started to accumulate. She believed the box was priceless, and as an art historian, Tabitha desperately wants to find this treasure thought lost to the art world forever. Harry thinks they’re on a wild goose chase, but he agrees to search, not knowing that there is so much more than a jewellery box to discover.

I found the book really enjoyable, the story was well plotted and the dual timeline works really well with my interest perhaps more in the past sections than the present, but that happens to me quite often with this structure. I connected with Frances and her presence is missed in the current timeline. I felt the pangs of first love and how she throws herself in with all defences down. The book was really evocative, conjuring up France and it’s history. Some subjects are sensitive and hard to read about, but I felt the author handled them really well and they gave the story some heft which I appreciated. I found myself deeply engaged in the story and the emotions of these characters from love and joy, to terrible loss. I did root for Tabitha and Harry’s relationship too. I would recommend this to people who enjoy historical fiction, dual timeline structures and an emotional read.

France. Summer 1981: In a small village in southern France, a wilful English girl is falling in love. Frances Langley has fallen under Benoit's romantic spell, and their summer of love finds Frances willing to do almost anything for the handsome art collector, even hiding a precious artefact for him, stolen by the Nazis decades before. England. Summer 2022: Frances's son, Harry, finds himself packing up the clutter and chaos of his late mother's home. Little does he know that his mother had sent a letter to Tabitha, the lost love of his life, begging the pair to find a priceless jewellery box, hidden in her cottage. Harry quickly dismisses the search, but as an art historian, Tabitha cannot risk the chance to recover something so valuable that was long thought to be lost. And so they embark on a journey of discovery, but soon find themselves searching for much more than a missing piece of art.

I fell in love with this book. The plot is stunning and I loved that it is set over a dual timeline. Personally, I found myself rushing through the 1981 chapters to get back to the present day but I think that is because I connected with those characters more, the chapters set in the past are still engaging to read. For me, this had everything including love, loss, joy, heartbreak and a treasure hunt. I felt every emotion Adams wrote about and was spellbound by this book. This was an enjoyable read but Adams does write about some very sensitive subjects which made for difficult reading at times but it was done well and provided more depth.

I have touched on the characters already but I adored Tabitha and Harry, I felt connected to them and was rooting for them the whole way through. Tabitha and Harry were my favourite characters but all the characters are well developed, integral to the plot and made me feel something. Plus I enjoyed the story they had to tell.

'The Lost Lives of Frances Langley' is a beautiful, emotional read and one that I found to be incredibly evocative. I loved this.

Thank you to NetGalley and Orion Publishing Group for an advance copy.

Some things which feel truly lost, are really there all along, safely hidden, just waiting to be found... Thoroughly enjoyed it and it was a lovely way to start the new week!

I fell in love with the gorgeous cover and liked the compelling and engrossing story.
It's a dual timeline story, the story of a past love story and of the present. I liked the storytelling, the well rounded characters, and the plot.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

A dual timeline story that takes you between 1981 and today.
A sweet story that’ll make you smile.
Thank you NetGalley!

A dual timeline book set in 1981 and 2022 I enjoyed the sections set in the past and the relationship between the young English girl, Frances, and French art collector, Benoit, in the South of France, but not so much the main part set in the present.

After Frances dies her son Harry and his girlfriend look for a precious jewellery box stolen by the Nazis and hidden in her Cotswold cottage among the stuff she has hoarded over the years. I felt much of their interaction was meandering and the story lost focus for me. The title didn't help as it implies Frances had many different lives whereas it was the stolen box that was the focus for me.

Thanks to NetGalley and Trapeze for the opportunity to read and review The Lost Lives of Frances Langley.

This was such a good read, I couldn't put it down and read it really quickly. It is a well written story that is well executed with well developed characters, some that were more likeable than others, and a good amount of mystery to keep the reader engaged all the way through. A really enjoyable read.