A Life Between Us

I came to the second novel by Louise Walters with some anticipation, having enjoyed her debut Mrs Sinclair's Suitcase very much. This second book is being self-published by Walters, an act of independence to be admired.

A Life Between Us is set in the present day and features Tina, a lonely housewife, avid reader, compulsive overeater and bereaved twin. Tina is still grieving - her twin Meg, we know, died in childhood in an incident that Tina blames herself for. When Meg asks Tina to avenge her, we are plunged back into the past and the story of Tina's aunt Lucia.
The narrative switches between the past, as we begin to find out more about Lucia, and the present, as Tina starts to follow her husband's advice to get out more, joins a reading group and makes a friend.

Walters has written of a lovely, engaging, ordinary woman who has very little idea of how she is struggling, and her hapless husband who is equally stuck in different ways. (I mean it as a good thing when I describe Tina as ordinary - the kind of person we could all meet.) Walters is excellent at portraying an isolated woman, as she showed in her debut novel, and here she describes Tina's attempts to make sense of her world with a strong sense of pathos. She has also written a real *SPOILER ALERT - KIND OF* nasty piece of work in Lucia, someone whose first scene as a child displays some of the mean spirit she will continue throughout. The mean streak is not really explained, as some authors might do, and this is refreshing. She just is.

This is less a whodunnit, despite Meg's urging for revenge, and more an examination of how we deal with grief and loss. A confident and assured novel.

Great read centred around Tina and the death of her twin sister Meg. It took some getting into, there are a lot of characters, and relatives, and flash backs to different years, but a great story of families and their secrets. Being a twin myself I could empathise with Tina and her difficulty in accepting Meg's death.

Incest, death of a child, divorce, parental abandonment, psychoses, abortion, adultery. This was a very good book that dealt with very disturbing topics. Tina has spent close to four decades unsuccessfully trying to cope with the loss of her twin sister, Meg. Tina witnessed the accident that took her sister’s life when the girls were only eight years old. She is convinced she is somehow responsible for Meg’s death, and her guilt manifests itself in a personality disorder. Tina carries on conversations with her sister in her head as well as audibly, and she compulsively visits Meg’s grave. Tina’s husband, Keaton, has been very supportive of his wife for nearly twenty years. However, he is beginning to lose patience with Tina’s reluctance to seek professional help. Cracks are appearing in the marriage as Keaton longs for a healthy relationship.

Intertwined with Tina’s story is the backstory of her father William’s childhood. William was the youngest of five children. His brothers Robert and Ambrose have minor parts in the book, but his sister Lucia and brother Edward play prominent roles. Lucia was six years old when her baby brother was born. She was old enough to be resentful of the attention he received, so she treated William cruelly for years. However, she adored her brother Edward and would go out of her way to please him. Years later, her strong affection for Edward would lead to dark family secrets. And when the mean-spirited girl grew up to be a cold and callous woman, the next generation to bear the brunt of her cruelty would be William’s children, Meg and Tina. Lucia was also present the day Meg died, and she was quick to blame Tina. With only two witnesses to the accident—one a devious adult, the other a traumatized child—whose recollection of that day is correct?

If the subjects in the first sentence of this review trigger an emotional reaction, you may want to avoid this book. Otherwise, expect to find some interesting and unexpected twists in this intriguing narrative. Despite the subject matter, the book does end on a positive note. Louise Walters is a very talented author, and she has just acquired a new fan!

Thank you to Matador and NetGalley for a complimentary digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A Life Between Us is a well written story of a family hiding many secrets. I was intrigued by the premise of Meg playing a major part of her twin, Tina's, life for so many years after dying at the age of eight. An interesting idea that guilt can be inflicted on a child and affect her adult life for many years afterwards. Tina's witnessing of Meg's death and the guilt she feels result in a personality disorder exacerbated by parental abandonment. Other topics covered included incest and abortion which were part of the family's secrets. I felt sympathy for Tina but not so much towards her Uncle Edward, who was manipulated by his sister. I wondered whether he was meant to appear so weak?

I enjoyed The Life Between Us more than Mrs Sinclair's Suitcase although I didn't feel that the prologue was necessary. In fact, re reading it after I finished the book made the narrative no better for me. I thought the letters written between TIna and her American cousin was a good mechanism explaining what was going on in Tina's life but felt that we were rather distanced from the Uncle and family in America. I would have liked them to have visited England at some point.

Overall a good read and I'm sure it will be a great success with fans' of family sagas such as those of Joanna Trollope. Many thanks to Netgalley and Troubador Publishing for the opportunity to read and review the book.

What a great book!

I really enjoyed this novel. I liked the structure of alternating between past and present, showing the world from the eyes of two main female characters, Lucia and her niece Tina. Neither of the women are amazing or outstanding. They are both flawed, Lucia more than Tina. Tina for better reasons than Lucia.

Lucia is actually a terrible,selfish person from almost the moment we meet her, hating on her younger brother without cause, torturing him as a toddler, something only their eldest brother sees. It’s hard to sympathize with her when she has to deal with a tough situation and an even tougher choice. It isn’t a choice easily made and one she carries with her the rest of her life, further influencing her selfish behavior.

Tina, seen both as a young girl writing letters to a far away cousin and as an adult living with her beloved husband, is easier to sympathize with. Her life wasn’t easy. She lost her twin sister, Meg, at a young age, blaming herself. Her mother runs off, her father abandons her to live with her aunt, Lucia. She does love her husband but finds it hard, even all these years later, to deal with her lose.

This novel deals with the past, how to move on from it, and how, even if you do, it is still a part of you, always.

I highly recommend this book.

Slow start for me, and I almost quit this book. I became interested at about 20% mark. Great book in all. The end seemed a little rushed together, but i was still satisfied. Some books leave to many questions, this didn't, but was a fast ending.

A Life Between Us is a truly beautiful book. It deals with difficult subjects - death, divorce, incest, grief, mental illness - with subtlety and grace & moves seamlessly between past and present drawing the reader into Tina's world.

Louise has created an unputdownable family saga that keeps you guessing until the very end & will stay with me for a good while yet.

Having loved Mrs Sinclair's Suitcase I was absolutely thrilled to be given the opportunity to read a advance copy of this new offering. I was in no way disappointed - A Life Between Us is another amazingly well written, instantly absorbing read. Once again the quality of of descriptive prose is superb and the plot flows effortlessly. This story of hidden family secrets is one of the best I've read so far this year. Loved it!

I liked this book I do like books that alternate between past and present.
Its a family saga and a love story with dark secrets, betrayal and redemption.
There are 2 main characters Lucia and Tina.Lucia is Tina's aunt and Tina lives in the present day and has secrets about the death of her sister Meg as a child.
A great conclusion to the book I must read this authors other books.

Thank you to the Author Netgalley the Publisher for a chance to read this book.