The Way We Were
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4.2 • 18 Ratings
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- £3.99
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- £3.99
Publisher Description
An orphaned child and a tragic secret . . . the heartwarming and engrossing novel from this well-loved author. Perfect for fans of Erica James, Victoria Hislop and Santa Montefiore.
It was in the middle of a snowstorm when Tiggy arrived at the remote house on Bodmin Moor. She was alone, her partner tragically dead in an accident, and Julia, her dearest friend, welcomed her into her warm and chaotic family.
As winter turned to spring, and then to summer, Tiggy started to live again and await the birth of her child. But nearly thirty years later, when her son is about to become a father himself, the next generation discovers that there are secrets from the past which must be uncovered...
Praise for Marcia Willett:
'A beautifully woven tale of families, secrets, love and loss' Liz Fenwick, bestselling author of THE CORNISH HOUSE
'A genuine voice of our times' The Times
'Riveting, moving and utterly feel-good' Daily Mail
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Willett (Echoes of the Dance) gives us a domestic novel of quiet yearning, haunting memories and onerous guilt, oscillating between the present of 2004 and the late 1970s, when bighearted mom Julia welcomed her pregnant, widowed best friend Tiggy into her home to live. With lush descriptions of pastoral Cornwall as a backdrop, Willett explores the life of naval wives Julia and Julia's Aunt Em, daughter-in-law Caroline and nemesis Angela, each of whom spend much time waiting for her husband to return. Julia and her daughter, Liv, grapple with echoes of their former lives: for Julia, it's the specter of her husband's infidelity, in the form of Angela; for Liv, it's the one that got away, in the form of unhappily but intractably married co-worker Chris. And that's hardly all; Willett piles on the conflicts and tragedies, overloading her suffering characters. The women are largely faultless and sweet particularly the insouciant, lovely Liv which undermines their well-earned gravitas. Still, Angela makes a delicious antagonist, and the friendships at the novel's heart especially the tender relationship between Julia and Tiggy are believable and warming.
