Thank you Bolinda Audio for allowing me to read and review Looking Back by Josephine Cox on NetGalley.

Published: 12/01/23

Narrator: Sherry Baines

Stars: 3.5

I have mixed emotions and thoughts on this story. The 0.5 star is a signifier. I didn't want to forget mentioning Baines. Her performance kept me coming back to the book. I liked her and thought she did really well.

The story was weak. It was just words that flowed relatively well. I wasn't buying the story. The ending was ridiculous and not unexpected. I didn't guess the ending as subconsciously nor consciously did caring come up.

Seriously, at the conclusion I was tired and felt like I had meandered up and down corridors for hours.

It's not horrible and it's not award-winning, it's just available.

Amy Tattersall had a surprise visitor one day. Exhausted from caring for her abusive husband and six children, she snapped and made a big decision to escape her own life. Molly Tattersall was left to choose between her soulmate and her five brothers and sisters. It was the cruellest decision of her life, with long-reaching and heart-breaking consequences.

When I picked this up, I didn’t realise that the book was originally published in 2000. The storytelling style was definitely reflective of the period, with its epic drama and tragic plot points that were maximised to work out your tear ducts.

The premise was definitely captivating (the synopsis made me pick up the book after all!), but I think I would've enjoyed this a lot more in the noughties. There had been other similar stories written since, so there was no surprise factor left for me anymore this time around.

This was my first Josephine Cox book, and I liked the way she wrote feelings into the storytelling. I will definitely try her other books in the future.

Thank you to the publishers, author and NetGalley for the free copy of this audio book.

This was a well written story that drags you through all sorts of emotions. I really enjoyed this and would be interested in reading more by this author. The narrator did a great job as well.

I loved this audiobook, this time period is fascinating to read and this was another one in which I loved reading and it was such a lovely tale of triumph amongst hard times

Beautifully written.

Josephine Cox can always be depended on to write a beautifully atmospheric novel

This was a sad and happy read. This isn't my normal jam of genre but I really enjoyed the book and loved that there was a happy ending and some healing for everyone involved. I can't image being Mollie or Amy.

#LookingBack
#NetGalley

Heartbreaking and endearing…
This will gut you in more ways than one…

Molly Tattersall is a young girl who has fallen in love and wants to start her life with her young man. It is the 1940’s. Things were very different back then…
Molly has five brothers and sisters…and her Mom is pregnant yet again. Her Dad is a drunk who abuses her Mom often.

When her Mom’s old boyfriend shows up unexpectedly, Molly’s life takes a drastic change…and she is in a tailspin…

Beautifully written and totally tugs at your heartstrings!

The love of this young girl for her siblings shines through…and what a beautiful, bright light it is!

The father on the other hand…I’d like to reach through the book and smack him in the head!

5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ for me!

#LookingBack by #JosephineCox.

Thanks to #NetGalley and #BolindaAudio for an ARC of the audiobook which has already been released.

Of note, this apparently was written several years ago and was just re-released as an audiobook! Also of note, sad to see that this author has passed. I will be looking for more of her works to read, as this one was terrific…but sad that there will be no new ones.

Check out all my reviews at Book Reviews With Elaine on FB or on IG @ #BookReviews_with_emsr.

Happy Reading!! 📚📖

Looking Back by Josephine Cox is the story of a girl who has to give up her dreams for her responsibilities. It is also the story of a woman who has had enough of all the things life has thrown at her and she has decided to give herself a change. I think this is the second book by Josephine Cox that I listened to this year and I quite enjoyed it.

It's a straightforward story of love and sacrifice and I would recommend it for at least a one-time listen.

Thanks for the review copy, NetGalley.

Thanks to a great author we have warmth, wisdom and emotional intelligence, this book was a huge pleasure to read! A fabulous, really enjoyable read.

Thank you to @netgalley for the chance to review Looking Back by Josephine Cox. I know that she is a prolific author but this is the first book of hers that I read. Molly's mother is pregnant and leaves the home, asking Molly to care for her younger siblings. Molly has to choose between leaving for America with her love, Alfie, or taking on the task of caregiving. I was not a fan of the ending, it seemed just a bit rushed. Abuse, love, and survival - this was engaging.

Excellent narration that brought life to challenging characters.

An emotional listen that had red flags from the start. Stay with her abusive husband or leave her children plus the one she was carrying and go with a past love. I took an instant dislike to the choice she made. This was my first read by this author

I wanted very much to stop listening to Looking Back not long after it started, but I persevered. A snapshot of a particular time and place (post-WWII small-town Britain), it is also a tale as old as time of women being kept tethered by childbirth and poverty, their wings clipped and any hope for escape thwarted at every turn. Yes, eventually I came to care, a bit, about what would happen to Molly, who nobly gives up her own dreams for happiness in duty to her family, but after the long slog through misery, I found the "well now, it looks like everything's going to be fine, after all" ending implausible, and the suggestion that a tiger could change his stripes downright ridiculous. The writing was good, the descriptions vivid, the conveyance into the time and place expertly accomplished, but Looking Back was not a pleasant journey.

Audiobook.
It’s the late 1040’s. Amy Tattersall has six children and is pregnant with her seventh. Her husband isn’t a kind man, he abuses her and takes her for granted. Amy has a hard life. Amy’s eldest child, Molly, is courting and her and Alfie are talking about marriage, they are very much in love.
Amy has complications when she goes into labour shortly after a visit from Jack, a former lover from before she married Frank.
Amy runs away with Jack, leaving Molly to decided on life in America with Alfie or looking after the home and her younger siblings. Lottie is already going off the rails. Such a dilemma, what should she do?
A tale of decisions, repercussions and survival - made possible by close friends, family ties and the desire of what’s important.
A few twists and turns towards the end brought some tears and some smiles.
I loved it.

I loved this novel I was wistfully back in time and the main characters quickly stole my heart, I enjoyed it right to the very end where I was screaming for the author not to have gone down this road. It was a shock twist and not in a good way.

Still, it’s well written and narrated.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bolinda Audio for the opportunity to listen to this audiobook in return for an honest review.

I didn’t love the story per se, but I got the audiobook edition and enjoyed the production of it. I think it was done well and the voice, Sherry Baines, did a great job with just an okay story. For that alone, I would give it 4 stars but with the storyline it brought it done to 3 in my opinion!

This novel reminds me of such works of past times. I am so used to reading books with a more modern style even when set historically in a different age. This book came across as naïve and unrealistic. For example, how can such a character as Frank change so suddenly? Perhaps I would enjoy reading this more myself but I was not keen on this audio version.

This was an interesting audio book to listen to although I do have some misgivings regarding Molly's father Frank toward the end. I just can't believe that such a violent alcoholic man could be redeemed so quickly and completely without some kind of divine intervention or at the very least some serious soul searching. I think that aspect of the story could have been explored more fully. The narrator did a great job with the accents of all the characters and it was well paced. Recommended for the historical fiction genre and those who enjoy audio books.

Many thanks to Net Galley and Bolinda Audio for an audio copy of Looking Back. This book was written several years ago. This is Historical Fiction at its best!! 5 stars!


Molly is a young girl who is made to grow up very fast. Everything is falling in her shoulders.