Moriarty’s back catalogue has become much more popular since the TV version of Big Little Lies hit our screens. What Alice Forgot was first published ten years ago but it hasn’t lost anything in the intervening years.
Alice Love knows exactly who she is. At twenty nine she is newly married, renovating her dream home with husband Nick and indulging in a passion for chocolate while pregnant with her first child – the “sultana”. Except that Alice fell during a step class and banged her head – hard. In reality she is thirty nine, thinner and fitter, separated from Nick and mother to three kids. Unfortunately she can’t remember anything about the last ten years – not even Madison, Tom and Olivia, her children.
She seems to have grown up and become a bossy organiser. Nick hates her and her beloved older sister Elizabeth no longer speaks to her. What on earth happened to Alice in those ten years and how does she reconnect with her true self.
It is a fascinating premise for a story and as we embark on a new decade it is interesting to look back on the type of people that we were ten years ago and whether that version of ourselves would recognise who we have become. In What Alice Forgot Alice is conflicted between the woman that she believes herself to be and the hard, cold, efficient PTA mother that she appears to have become. In many ways it would be a perfect book club read as it poses questions about change, about family, infertility, grief and mental health issues that can force you to think a little more deeply.
UK Publication Date: 27 May 2010. 512 pages.
Categories: 4 Stars Book Review
angelnet69
Prolific reader, enthusiastic theatre and movie-goer and ex-Olivier Awards judge who spent twenty years working in the music industry in London. Sharing my house with a gorgeous cockapoo called Harry who has taken over completely.
I love sharing my favourite books with friends - nearly always spoiler-free as I hate reading a synopsis of the whole book in other reviews.
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