Mary enjoys a whirlwind romance with the charming and devastatingly attractive, Jim. He's not perfect, she discovers as they begin a life together, but when one night she comes home to find he's left, she's shocked to the core.

Clearly, as we meet her seven years later, standing outside the underground station with a sign urging Jim to return home, she has never got over her loss.

When Alice meets Mary and learns something of these events, she's determined to find the answers to Jim's disappearance. She likes Mary and wants to help her, but the story could also be the scoop she needs to save her job on the newspaper. So she joins the phone helpline and gets alongside Mary and her friends to find out more.

A clever idea, beautifully executed - you can't leave this story before you've found out the answers to the mystery and the central characters are wonderfully compelling. Although I didn't quite believe in Jim, the impact a missing person can have on a life is sensitively presented. Touching, amusing and intriguing. A great read.

This is another astonishing tale from Abbie Greaves. I very much enjoyed The Silent Treatment, and can't wait to see what she comes up with next!

This completely failed for me from the start because I did not believe that anyone would stand holding a sign every evening for seven years, specially as Mary actually had had the chance to find out where Jim was, she just refused to do it. Yet another story which involves someone on a road trip chasing around the country looking for someone (a father, birth mother, husband etc.) I did like some of the characters, particularly Kit, but it was an unoriginal, over-sentimental plot.

A touching read centering on the very important and sensitive issue of mental health.  Especially in these times awareness is even more important..  The book does jump about a bit on different timelines, however, these are all clearly indicated so not too confusing.  I did find it very slow going in the beginning and wondered how it would resolve itself if it carried on in the same vein, but the introduction of secondary characters enlivened the rest of the book which made it worth reading to the end.  So, basically, stick with it and hopefully the reader will be more aware of possible mental issues around them.

Some books are great for a quick unwind at the end of the day but this book tugs at the heartstrings and you find yourself thinking about it whilst not reading. 

We have complex  intertwining stories - from Mary, Jim, Juliette, Richard, Alice, Kit and Ted... There are twists along the way, as well as a few surprises. 

This story covers the issue of mental health and people doing what they need to get by. We never know what's really going on in someone's head. 

This story is full of hope pe and denial, as well as acceptance.

The Ends of the Earth, Abbie Greaves

Review from Jeannie Zelos book reviews

Genre: General fiction .

I was really intrigued by the description, and having enjoyed Abbie's novels before I really expected to love it. Maybe in a different time I would, but I'm reading this in November 20, caught in the Covid depression fugue that has many of us in its hold, and its just too drear, to somber for me. 

It deals with such important issues of mental health that I feel bad about saying I didn't enjoy it, but I couldn't really connect properly to the story or the characters. 
I felt when I got to the end ( and of course not the end I wanted...) that I had more questions than answers, and I just don't get along with stories that make me feel that way. I like everything – or almost everything – wrapped up, questions answered, no missing parts, and here that didn't happen. Unless I've missed something ;-) 

Stars: Two, I might come back and reread one day, when times are less grim and my mind can take a book that has a lot of sadness in.  Right now its just not a story for me. That's down to me, not the book, others love it and you may too. 

ARC supplied by Netgalley and publishers

This book tackles the important subject of  mental health through a mystery. Mary's boyfriend Jim disappeared 7 years earlier and she has maintained a vigil every evening since at the station, with a sign saying 'come home Jim'.  We hear their story through flashbacks, and through the intervention of other characters.
It's a gripping read, as you want to find out why Jim disappeared, what went wrong with their relationship, and is he still alive? On the way, we meet other characters, each of whom has their own back story.
This is almost a very good book, but I felt the author did not develop the characters enough, and the coincidences in the book were a bit unbelievable at times. I can see why they were there, to keep the story moving, but some were not entirely credible. With a bit more editing, I think this could be a very good book.

Mary's partner Jim mysteriously disappeared 7 years ago. Every night she heads to their local tube station with a sign reading 'Come Home Jim' and stands there for hours. Her vigil comes to the attention of a young journalist who wants to help bring Jim home. The book flips between when Mary and Jim first met and throughout their relationship to how her life has been with him gone. I thought this was an interesting idea for a book and I liked the focus on male mental health. I found the ending a bit of a letdown although I appreciate it is probably quite realistic. It was an easy enough read but I didn't find it overly gripping and wouldn't rush to recommend.

Thanks Netgalley and the Publisher.   I really enjoy this authors books and this was no exception, fantastic storyline, great characters.   Loved it.

A really great story where you follow the story of Mary and Jim and what went wrong. Intro Alice and she wants to try and make it all ok after dealing with her own missing person. So beautiful and lovely all the way through.

I loved this book!

Abbie has a brilliant way of making ordinary life so compelling.

I read The Ends of the Earth from start to finish over a weekend and at times couldn't put it down.

It's a wonderful story - and a beautiful portrayal of living with someone who is struggling with depression too. 

Highly recommend!

This novel about a woman who, seven years after her lover's disappearance, still keeps a public vigil for him displaying a cardboard sign saying 'come home Jim' was less moving than I'd hoped, as I found it difficult to sympathise with the main characters despite the drawn-out sentimentality and the mental health issues the book attempts to highlight. As a result I found the novel very slow going, especially the first third where I would have given up reading had it not been for the introduction of secondary characters Alice and Kit. I was also curious about the mystery of Jim's disappearance, compelling me to read on to the (rather pat) ending. This one fell flat for me I'm afraid.

I really enjoyed this story. I loved how the narrative flashed back and forth in time, and between different characters to get a deeper look at the story. I found it a little slow to begin with, but once I got into the story I really enjoyed it.

I absolutely loved this book! Abbie Greaves has created an engaging mystery, with characters who are easily identifiable with. I liked the way Greaves filled in pieces of the back-story as the book progressed so that her chief protagonist's situation became gradually clearer. The other threads of the story were skilfully woven around the main narrative, so that I found myself desperate to find out what happened to the other characters, too. I had several theories in my head as to how the mystery would be resolved (none of which were correct), but the ending was very satisfying without being twee. Hoping to see more from this author!

I’ve been dipping in and out of this book as it never had me enthralled. The storyline is enjoyable to follow and highlights the need to address mental health issues especially in men. 

What it lacked was anything gripping, it was all quite predictable and came together nicely. Maybe in the summer this would make a perfect summer read but I just needed something a bit more in-depth right now.

This is a moving story about Mary O’Connor and what leads her to perform a daily vigil at Ealing station with a sign stating ‘Come home Jim’. Jim has been missing for seven years and the story takes us through their relationship and the hunt for Jim by a journalist Alice after a chance meeting with Mary. The story explores mental illness, and the effect this has on men in particular, loneliness, denial and ultimately friendship.  Mary is a very likeable protagonist that you are rooting for throughout. The story is well paced and It is an easy, enjoyable read.

A romantic mystery drama that slowly melts your heart with its wonderful prose and complex characterisations. 

The image of Mary sitting waiting with her placard for years filled me with sadness. I had to find out what happened.  And I just loved dipping into her past relationship with Jim. What had gone wrong? 

Alice is also a great character and I thoroughly enjoyed her journey. 

A really engrossing novel which just missed the 5 star category because the pace felt a bit slow in the middle to me but it is a wonderful tale.

Abbie Greaves this was truly a beautiful book! Written with such love and so many feelings. I adored Mary ( a good feisty Irish lady) and so so wanted her to find the peace and happiness she deserved!  Thank you for allowing me to read a book I never wanted to put down! And for giving it the ending it so rightfully deserved

Ohhhh, this was such a slow burner I was almost on the point of giving up, but I stuck with it and it turns out a good book in the end. I would like to have given it 4 stars but the first third and more was so slow I couldn't.

I’m not sure what I was expecting from his one but I don’t think it was along the lines of the what the story told! It was a nice book though, with a strong undertone of love and grief, just not in the way I thought it was going to be. 

Jim disappeared 7 years ago, and ever since, Mary has sat in the same place at Ealing train station with a sign reading ‘Come Home Jim’. I was drawn in from the start wanting to know were Jim was and why had he left? Mary is a lovely girl, she met Jim and fell in love, after only 4 days they moved in together. She left her family back in Wales and moved to London to Jims flat where they were extremely happy. 

The story goes from the present to the past, and in the present Mary is working in a supermarket during the day and for a crisis helpline through the night. She meets someone one night at the train station who also joins the crisis helpline and befriends Mary, and keeps digging for more information on Jim, but is there an ulterior motive? The other characters in the story were well written, and I really liked them. kit who works at the crisis helpline was a favourite of mine through the second half of the story.

This book had me guessing until the end and we find out wha happened and why. There are triggers of depression, alcoholism and grief in the book, which were handled very well.

We meet Mary whilst standing on Ealing platform with a sign saying 'Come Home Jim', something she has done everyday for the last 7 years. We follow her on her journey to face up to the events that took place 7 years ago and discover her reasons for her train station vigil. The story swaps between time frames including the time Mary and Jim met, the present day, when their relationship started to break down and a few more events in-between.

I loved this book! Everything about it was just brilliant. 

The most poignant thing for me was the focus on mental health, and how every single person has their own battles to fight despite seeming okay from the outside. It just felt so real, raw and relevant to real life. So many stories have a fairytale like quality, which whilst sometimes enjoyable, does not portray how most people experience life and it was refreshing to read something so honest. The Ends of the Earth is both heartbreaking and heartwarming all at the same time. The capacity relationships have to influence our lives, both positively and negatively, is a really powerful aspect of the story. 

I loved following Mary on her journey of growth and discovery. I liked how it started out with just Mary, but then other characters were introduced as she moved through life. I liked all of the characters and enjoyed seeing how each of their individual character traits influenced their relationships with one another. 

It is a 5 out of 5 from me and I would certainly recommend it to others. A story of this nature could end up being quite depressing but the author has done an excellent job of making it real but still really enjoyable.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this electronic advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review.