Mark and Chloe are
solicitors working for a London firm. They've shared a past, but Chloe is now
happily married to Alex and life is good. But then, one night at dinner in a
restaurant, Mark introduces his date Julia to Chloe and Alex and everything
suddenly changes. Although they deny knowing each other, it's obvious that Alex
and Julia have some kind of connection. Eventually it is revealed that they did
know each other many years before and now have to face up to something that
happened that has haunted both of them since.
This story drew me in right from the start. Chloe's life is going well, too
well as it turns out, and now she is thrust in the middle of something she had
no part in. It is obvious that whatever happened to Julia and Alex has scarred
them both, but Julia much more so. But as the story moves on you learn of
Alex's guilt over not being able to stop the event or protect Julia from harm.
Just to complicate things Chloe has a secret of her own - a secret she is
unable to share with Alex once Julia re-enters his life. Although she does her
best to hold it together at work and in dealing with her dramatic mother and
Alex's brother (who suffers from a mental illness), you can literally feel
Chloe beginning to crumble.
The suspense is great as the story slowly unravels, moving between present and
the 1990s in Australia. As you come to know just what did happen, you can
understand why Julia has become the person she is and while you know Alex is
the only person who can help her heal, you begin to wonder if he actually can.
The main themes of this story are love and the difficult choices that can be
associated with it - especially young love. It also touches on mental illness
and post traumatic stress and the lengths people go to in the search for coming
to terms with tragedy.
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