Written in dual time frame, this novel is an absolute gem. I loved everything about it and would like to thank NetGalley and publisher Cornerstone Digital for my copy, sent in return for an honest review. The novel revolves around Eleanor a mother and her grown up daughter Rachel who have always had a tricky relationship. They love each other it’s true, but there are various tensions and feelings of awkwardness that have never been addressed.
Throughout the story we learn that Eleanor is a talented and famous artist whose career rapidly escalated after her first triumphant exhibition. Thereafter she has always been very much in demand for portraiture. Born in the swinging sixties; she enjoyed her life in London surrounded by a small circle of good friends. She and Charlie, her husband, were undisputedly brilliant, hands-on parents who had waited sixteen years for the birth of Rachel and who had focused their nurturing, love and devotion on their only child.
Rachel, however, has always felt that she lives her life in her mother’s shadow. She feels that she has never been good enough set alongside her famous mother; that she has always been a great disappointment to her. She adores her father and every photograph her parents had ever taken featured her with her father; her mother obviously the photographer. 
As the story starts Rachel has been jilted by her fiancé Claude on the morning of their wedding day and with nowhere else to go has been forced to return to the family home. The distance between her and her mother feels like a giant chasm, and as that long hot summer draws on she feels out of sorts and miserable. She can feel the tension rising. She cannot face her new life of unhappiness or her unsatisfactory relationship with her mother. Then one evening her life changes in a heartbeat. Nothing will ever be the same again. This is Rachel’s story and what a tremendous, engaging and beautifully written story it is.
I loved the storyboard and the way the characters were developed in the story. They worked their way into my heart and the rogues were truly inspired. I like stories about families and I enjoyed this story especially.  This author has insight and compassion and is an excellent storyteller, wise and full of empathy. I also loved the themes that made up the story and the way they were seamlessly resolved. I particularly loved the brilliant finale to the story, everything pulled together to give the reader a heart-warming and immensely satisfying ending. I highly recommend this novel as a breathtakingly excellent read.

This is a light, chick-lit style story. There is nothing original in the structure of the book (then and now), or the characters and setting, and the outcomes were predictable. I did read to the end and the writing was OK, but I like something with a bit more tension.

A thoroughly enjoyable read. This proved to be ideal reading for passing the time on my sunbed  by the sea.