Cover Image: Without Her

Without Her

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Member Reviews

Without Her is a story about two steadfast friends: Hannah and Claudia. They met in boarding school and because lifelong friends. Claudia receives a message from Hannah's husband that she is missing. She rushes to Europe and the story flashes back to various time frames to fill in the story of the women, I didn't care for the ending, but I understand why the author chose to handle the situation in that manner. It's a novel about friendship and difficult choices.

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Hannah and Caludia were very close at boarding school but Hannah has form for just leaving parties, trips away etc without proper explanations. Hannah marries a guy she meets at Uni and the friends only meet up once a year as Caludia has moved to the US. However, just before retirement Claudia gets a call from Hannah's husband, Hannah has gone missing en route to their French holiday home and he urgently needs Claudia's input on the situation.

Hmm not sure I liked this book. It was well written and researched but I found the character of Alexandre a bit unbelievable and that one of the main characters would have a life long affair of a few days sex a year with him, whilst being in love with him but not calling him on it and saying she wanted to be with him. I just couldn't get a handle on their relationship, it didn't work for me. Also, the twists were pretty easy to see coming as to why Hannah had "gone missing".

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If you have old friends, really old friends that you have known since you were a child, this book will move you. Brackenbury tells the story of Claudia and Hannah, best friends since boarding school and now in the 60s. When Hannah goes missing, Claudia flies from America to France to try to find her and sooth Hannah's fretful husband and children. Claudia isn't terribly worried, Hannah used to disappear when they knew each other at school, too. But as she combs her memory for any clue about where Hannah could be, Claudia relives the time she spent with Hannah and realizes that not everything was as it seemed. I wouldn't call this bool a mystery, but it is mysterious. Mysterious because it makes the reader examine how much we really know one another, our spouses, lovers and closest friends. And of the people we knew them as in childhood, how much of that person truly remains? Good read. made me want to call my best friend from high school.

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This fast paced novel definitely keeps the reader in suspense. This is a quick read, but only because it is written so well that you do not want to put it down! "Without Her" is filled with excellent descriptive writing and imagery, suspenseful plot twists, and relate able themes. I can not recommend this book highly enough!

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