The Years That Followed
A Novel
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3.5 • 14 Ratings
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- $15.99
Publisher Description
Acclaimed international bestseller Catherine Dunne’s thrilling US debut is the story of two wronged women bent on revenge at all costs, and “a page-turner that’s both poignant and satisfying” (Booklist).
Revenge is sweeter than regret…
Dublin. Calista is young, beautiful, and headstrong. When she falls in love with the charming, older Alexandros and moves to his native Cyprus, she could never imagine that her whirlwind courtship would lead to a dark and violent marriage. But Calista learns to survive. She knows she will find peace when she can finally seek retribution.
Madrid. Pilar grew up with very little means in rural Spain and finally escaped to a new life. Determined to leave poverty behind her, she plunges into a life of working hard and saving money. Enchanted by an older man, Pilar revels in their romance, her freedom, and accruing success. She’s on the road to achieving her dreams. Yet there is one thing that she is still searching for, the one thing she knows will make her truly happy.
Sweeping across the lush European backdrops of Spain, Greece, and Ireland, The Years That Followed is a gripping, modern telling of a classic story. As two wronged women plot for revenge, their intricately crafted schemes send shockwaves through their families that will echo for many generations to come.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Dunne's (The Things We Know Now) latest traces the parallel lives of two women connected by a single shocking event. At 17, Calista married successful, charismatic Alexandros and left her native Dublin for his family estate in Cyprus a whirlwind romance with a man who suddenly turned controlling and violent. As her marriage reaches a breaking point, Calista is forced to make an impossible choice that irreparably alters her relationship with her children, and though she rebuilds her life and finds love again, her years with Alexandros led to tragedies for which she can never forgive him. In Madrid, Pilar fights her way out of humble beginnings and makes a name for herself in the business world. Along the way, she embarks on a forbidden, tragic romance with a handsome Cypriot of her own. Years later, she begins a redemptive search for the son she was forced to give up and finds herself confronted by the past in unexpected ways. Though the two women never meet, their lives are intertwined in ways they could never guess, culminating in a surprising, grisly discovery in the apartment building Pilar owns. Though the narrative might have benefited from more explicit ties between the two stories, taken separately, both women are nuanced, sympathetic characters whose lives and loves are well developed throughout this darkly compelling story.
Customer Reviews
Disappointing
Suddenly ends. No understanding of how these characters are intertwined.