A moving story of love, loss and friendship that breaks and
uplifts your heart.
Netta Wilde has a task to complete.
She’s agreed to go through the late Edith Pinsent’s
diaries and possessions personally. The problem is, she’s been busy sorting out
her own life. But she’s in a better place now. She’s free of her manipulative
ex, has a new love in neighbour, Frank and has reunited with her kids.
What better time to begin Edie’s story?
But the path to discovery is not easy.
There are missing diaries to contend with, boxes of
memories to uncover and revelations that turn everything on its head.
Revelations that make Netta question if her own life really is sorted.
Delving deeper into Edith’s history, Netta is
overtaken by a need to revisit her own past and put things right, but to do
that she has to find the two people who once meant everything to her.
As her two challenges intertwine, Netta realises
that Edith had a purpose for her. One that she must fulfil
Bit by bit, the house yields a lifetime of secrets
and the real Edith Pinsent begins to emerge.
But will it be the Edith everyone
thought they knew?
What did I think?
I enjoyed reading Being Netta Wilde last year so was really looking forward to the next book and catching up with Netta. I think this book would work well as a standalone title but I am glad I had read the first so I had a bit of a background on Netta.
Netta has moved into Ediths house and is now following her wishes and working her way through her belongings - including her diaries. The book is set in two timelines - alternating between Netta and Edith and I really enjoyed this aspect of the book.
The story is bittersweet - both sad and enchanting in equal measure. Really got into the characters and their stories - didn't want to put it down.
Really hope there is a third book.
Hazel Ward was born in inner city Birmingham. By the
time the city council packed her family off to the suburbs, she was already something
of a feral child who loved adventures. Swapping derelict houses and bomb pecks
for green fields and gardens was a bit of a culture shock but she rose to the
occasion and grew up loving outdoor spaces and animals.
Strangely, for someone who couldn’t sit still, she
also developed a ferocious reading habit and a love of words. She wrote her
first novel at fifteen, along with a lot of angsty poems, and was absolutely
sure she wanted to be a writer. Sadly, it all came crashing down when her
seventeen-year-old self walked out of school in a huff one day and was either
too stubborn or too embarrassed to go back. It’s too long ago to remember
which.
Against all odds, she somehow managed to blag her
way into a successful corporate career until finally giving it all up to do the
thing she’d always wanted to do. Shortly after, she began to write her debut
novel Being Netta Wilde.
Hazel still lives in Birmingham and that’s where she
does most of her writing, although she spends a lot of time in Shropshire or gadding
about the country in an old motorhome. Not quite feral anymore but still up for
adventures.
