Tuesday, November 15, 2016

Big Reads: The Girl You Left Behind


I stayed up way too late last night finishing this book.

Like everyone else on the planet, I read Me Before You and ugly cried through the ending. I still haven't seen the movie because Sam Claflin is just so darn cute that I'm not sure I could handle it.

But after Me Before You gutted me so thoroughly, I was interested in reading more of Jojo Moyes work, but I wasn't in a super big hurry to do so. Then I saw The Girl You Left Behind at Barnes & Noble for around $5, so I had to pick it up. Plus look how beautiful that cover is! I definitely have a type and it's this one.

I was reading The Secret History, but set it aside when I brought this home. The Girl You Left Behind is all kinds of up my alley. Romance, Germany-occupied France (WWI this time instead of WWII), secrets, bravery, hope, and questions up until the very end.

The Girl You Left Behind is the story of a painting. A portrait of young woman, Sophie Lefevre, by her husband and the path it takes through history until it ends up in the hands of Liv Halston almost a century later.

The story begins with Sophie, running her family's hotel in a small town in France that is occupied by the Germans. Sophie and her sister are forced to serve the Germans dinner every night and it's then that the new Kommandant notices her portrait and becomes obsessed with her.

Jump to present day London with Sophie's portrait lives on the wall of Live Halston's bedroom. The one she shared with her recently deceased husband. Enter a handsome American former detective whose job it is to return stolen artwork to family members who lost said art during war times.

The story moves swiftly and has the most perfect ending you could possibly hope for - quite the neat little bow everything is tied up in. Sometimes we need that, right?

I loved The Girl You Left Behind. So much. Have you read this or any of Jojo Moyes other works?

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