Kerry is a single mum, living on a tough London estate. She provides for her son cleaning houses she could never afford, and is determined he will never have a childhood like hers.
Noah lives with his family in Primrose Hill. He is a successful barrister, and having been adopted as a baby he is keen to always look forward.
When the two meet, so begins a chain of events with life changing consequences.
This is the first book I have read by this author, and therefore I wasn’t sure what to expect. I had, however, seen it crop up a lot on various bookish platforms. This in itself is often enough to put me off, as I often find overly hyped books to be lacking and I feel like I jumped on the bandwagon for no good reason. However, I was intrigued enough by the blurb to give this one a go, and I’m glad I did.
I found Gayle’s writing style to be an effortless read, and I enjoyed the alternating chapters for each protagonist and the use of letters to pad out their history.
The plot was a good one, if somewhat predictable, and I can’t say I have read anything similar before. There were no twists and turns, and the only revelation I felt as though I was waiting for came and went without me even blinking an eye.
I can see why some readers might have found this to be an emotional story, but it just didn’t tug on my heartstrings enough. I think this was due, in part, to me not feeling a huge connection to the characters. Whilst they were likeable and relatable there was just something missing, I didn’t feel an attachment to them at all.
That said, what I liked most about this book was that nothing really happened. It was a nice, steady story that I neither felt the need to rush through or put down and procrastinate over. For me this was a love story, plain and simple. A love between a brother and a sister that changed their lives.
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