‘Everyone has a story.
But what if you can’t remember yours?’
I Found You is the current release from New York Times bestselling author Lisa Jewell. Published earlier this Summer, by Century, a division of Penguin Random House, it was a book I was looking forward to reading
Everything about the copy I had appealed to me!!
It has a striking cover. It’s a hardback and the ease of layout, all made for an easy and very enjoyable read…
Read on to see my thoughts…
‘Two women, twenty years of secrets and a man who can’t remember’
‘How long have you been sitting out here?’
‘I got here yesterday.’
‘Where did you come from?’
‘I have no idea.’
East Yorkshire: Single mum Alice Lake finds a man on the beach outside her house. He has no name, no jacket, no idea what he is doing there. Against her better judgement she invites him in to her home.
Surrey: Twenty-one-year-old Lily Monrose has only been married for three weeks. When her new husband fails to come home from work one night she is left stranded in a new country where she knows no one. Then the police tell her that her husband never existed.’
I Found You is primarily a story of one man’s search for his identity and the people he meets along the way who assist him through this journey.
Alice Lake is a single mother of three living in East Yorkshire. Her life is chaotic and at times, to others, appears to be sliding out of her control, but Alice has one very important aspect to her personality that noone can take from her…empathy!
On seeing a stranger looking forlorn just sitting on the beach below her house, Alice is struck with the loneliness and sadness that permeates off him. Unable to ignore him, yet with all her senses telling her she must be mad, Alice welcomes this man into her home.
As Alice is to discover, he has lost his memory. Alice, unable to believe he looks like someone who could cause her any harm, invites him to stay with herself and her family for a few days until he gets to a better place emotionally and feels less fragile.
Alice is one of those people who attracts strays in life. Owning a number of dogs, Alice’s heart is open to all creatures. The community are not always as welcoming of Alice’s ways. They see her as a rather odd character with her mixed up family and eccentric manner.
In the meantime, Lily Monrose is in a panic in Surrey. Recently arrived from the Ukraine, Lily comes to the sickening realisation that her husband of a few weeks has disappeared. Lily married Carl after a whirlwind romance. Carl treats Lily like a queen and Lily is only too happy to accept all the wonderful objects of affection he offers. To Lily she is a princess and Carl is her prince. Her life, since marriage, has been a cocoon of love and romance with Lily not feeling the need to discover any more about either her husband or her new surroundings.
When Carl doesn’t arrive home, Lily’s life is thrown up in a heap. In complete panic, she soon realises that she has no family or friends to help her. Using her own ingenuity, Lily begins on an journey from which there is no turning back.
Alice and Lily could not be more different in terms of their attitude to life and their individual life experiences.
Alice is a ‘live-in-the-moment’ kind of person. Life has let her down in many ways and the discovery of this stranger on the beach opens up feelings that Alice hasn’t experienced in quite some time.
Lily is portrayed by Lisa Jewell brilliantly. Her halting style of English, the directness of some of her comments and the general depiction of her as a character is excellent. She is lost. She is alone…but…she is a fighter.
Both women become entangled in a web of deceit and lies. They discover truths and uncover a history that neither had been aware of but they also discover the truth about themselves. Both are very strong women. Women not afraid to stand up for what is right and for their beliefs.
I Found You developed into something I was not expecting. In my review I have been careful (I hope) to leave you with plenty to discover so you too can enjoy the story unfold in front of you. There will be characters you will love and others you will be disgusted by. The human mind works in very strange ways and in I Found You, this is all to evident.
This was the first Lisa Jewell book I have read but it most certainly will not be the last. I enjoyed the writing style and the easy flow of the novel. I hope you get an opportunity to discover it yourself!!
To pick up a copy of I Found You please click here:
All about Lisa Jewell:
Lisa was born in London in 1968. Her mother was a secretary and her father was a textile agent and she was brought up in the northernmost reaches of London with her two younger sisters. She was educated at a Catholic girls’ Grammar school in Finchley.
After leaving school at sixteen she spent two years at Barnet College doing an arts foundation course and then two years at Epsom School of Art & Design studying Fashion Illustration and Communication.
She worked for the fashion chain Warehouse for three years as a PR assistant and then for Thomas Pink, the Jermyn Street shirt company for four years as a receptionist and PA.
She started her first novel, Ralph’s Party, for a bet in 1996. She finished it in 1997 and it was published by Penguin books in May 1998. It went on to become the best-selling debut novel of that year.
She has since written a further nine novels, as is currently at work on her eleventh.
She now lives in an innermost part of north London with her husband Jascha, an IT consultant, her daughters, Amelie and Evie and her silver tabbies, Jack and Milly.
You can read more about Lisa at : http://www.lisa-jewell.co.uk/
