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Friday, January 12, 2018

BLOG TOUR & REVIEW: What She Left by Rosie Fiore @rosiefiore @rararesources @allenandunwin


What She Left
by Rosie Fiore
Allen & Unwin

Thrilled to be launching the Blog Tour for Rosie Fiore's What She Left - a contemporary women's fiction book that's sure to get you thinking.  Continue below for a synopsis, About the Author and my review (Spoiler Alert - I loved it!).  Thank you so much to Rachel's Random Resources for this copy!


Helen Cooper has a charmed life.  She's beautiful, accomplished, organised - the star parent at the school.  Until she disappears.

But Helen wasn't abducted or murdered.  She's chosen to walk away, abandoning her family, husband Sam, and her home.

Where has Helen gone, and why?  What has driven her from her seemingly perfect life?  What is she looking for?  Sam is tormented by these questions, and gradually begins to lose his grip on work and his family life.

He sees Helen everywhere in the faces of strangers.  He's losing control.

But then one day, it really is Helen's face he sees....

Purchase on Amazon:  Paperback | Kindle


Rosie Fiore was born and grew up in Johannesburg, South Africa.  She studied drama at the University of the Witwatersrand and has worked as a writer for theater, television, magazines, advertising, comedy and the corporate market.

Her first two novels, This Year's Black and Lame Angel were published by Struik in South Africa.  This Year's Black was longlisted for the South African Sunday Times Award and has subsequently been re-released as an e-book.  Babies in Waiting, Wonder Women and Holly at Christmas were published by Quercus.  She is the author of After Isabella, also published by Allen & Unwin.

Rosie's next book, The After Wife (written as Cass Hunter), will be published by Trapeze in 2018, and in translation in seven countries around the world.

Rosie lives in London with her husband and two sons.

Follow Rosie:  Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | Blog

My Review:

A beautifully written contemporary piece on the under side of marriage. 

Sam and Helen have been together for five years.  She's mother to his two kids from a previous marriage, gave up her career to further Sam's and runs everything to a precise perfection.  One day she just ups and disappears.  He goes crazy looking for her.  Blasts a message on social media and starts seeing her face everywhere.  He finds out from police that she has been to a station and confirmed that she is fine and has left of her own accord and does not want to be contacted by Sam.  He's consumed by the need to know why and spirals into a dark place at the expense of his job, his family relationships and his daughters.

We mainly see from Sam's point of view and he is NOT a likable character by any means.  The more you learn about him, the more reprehensible he comes across.  We also get a look into the eyes of his oldest daughter and the woman who ends up helping him, Lara.  As the blurb states, eventually he does see Helen and that's where we start to get her side of the story.

What I liked about this book is that it is realistic.  There are no crazy weird twists or out of left field reasons for any of the acts to occur.  This is something I think any woman who has been in a relationship can understand... at least the ones who felt they've given up a part of themselves for their children and/or their husbands/partners.  When is it enough and when do you get to find yourself again?  Is there any reason good enough to abandon your family?

A beautiful character driven domestic, contemporary drama that drives you to hate and love the characters all at once.  While Sam became utterly annoying and there seemed a lot of repetitive behavior that could become cumbersome, it really brought home just how hard relationships are and how quickly they can fall apart without you even being aware of what the other person is going through.  Don't take the people in your life for granted.  And never assume that they don't actually know what you think you're hiding.

★★★★


Follow along the Blog Tour!!



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