The Life She Left Behind: An absolutely gripping and heartbreaking page turner

Name: The Life She Left Behind: An absolutely gripping and heartbreaking page turner
Rating: 4.590909004211426 (22 reviews)

Nicole Trope

Jul 2020 · Bookouture

4.6

22 reviews

Ebook

350

Pages

Eligible

About this ebook

When I wake up in the middle of the night, it’s not a sound that disturbs me. It’s a feeling. Silently, I creep to my daughter’s room, breathing a sigh of relief when I see her sleeping, her night-light twirling, butterfly shapes moving their pink wings. Quickly, I lock the door. I won’t let anything happen to my little girl.

You tell him everything. The husband you adore, the father of your child, your best friend.

He knows, just by looking at your sage-green eyes, when something is wrong. The two of you can communicate with a glance, or a touch of the hand.

Except what if you can’t?

What if your happy marriage has plastered over one huge lie? A lie you have even started to believe yourself, in order to survive?

What if you have a secret, something you have hidden from your beloved husband and your strawberry-scented baby girl, to keep them safe? What if the guilt has kept you up, night after night, for as long as you can remember?

Because, after twenty-eight years, that secret is refusing to stay buried. The past you have tried so desperately to outrun is catching up with you. A faded photograph, torn in half, threatens to expose the truth and everyone you love, everything you cherish, is in harm’s way…

An emotional, thought-provoking and beautifully written novel which examines the pieces of ourselves we are afraid of, and the impossible decisions we make when we are desperate. Fans of Jodi Picoult, Kerry Fisher and Liane Moriarty will be moved by this heartbreaking tale.

Readers absolutely love The Life She Left Behind:

‘Oh my... This was literally “un-put-downable”... This was not a book I could read chapter by chapter and take breaks in between, I NEEDED to keep going!… I know I will be thinking about this story for days… Amazing.’ NetGalley Reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

‘What a fantastic book!! I absolutely loved it, and it is hands down the best book I’ve read this year so far… Amazing… I couldn’t recommend it more highly. Now I’m off to buy several more of Trope’s books to get stuck in to.’ My Little Bookcase, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

‘Wow oh wow, what an absolutely gorgeous read. I devoured this beautiful book in just over an hour… I adored the writing style in this one, the author writes elegantly and in a way that just pulls you into the pages. I cannot say anything negative about this book, I have been truly engrossed and shocked by how quickly I read this one. I didn't want to put it down. This is definitely a beautiful read by a very talented author.’ Goodreads Reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

‘Loved this book! Very emotional! Read it in 1 sitting!’ Reading through the Looking Glass, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

‘A highly emotional read that had me hooked from the start. This is another fantastic book by Nicole Trope!’ Goodreads Reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

‘Once I started this book, I couldn't put it down. It was that good. It was definitely emotional, and left me guessing until the end.’ The One Where She Blogs, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

‘Page 1, I was hooked and couldn’t put the book down… So enthralling.’ Goodreads Reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

‘Loved it!… This is my third book by this author and they have all struck gold!... As soon as I picked it up, everything around me faded to grey… The author is a great storyteller and she enchanted me.’ B for Bookreview, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

‘5 stars! Nicole Trope continues to be one of my favourite authors! While her books aren't often easy to read due to their content, I'm always left amazed at her ability to tell a story so well… Very gripping and I found myself race through it. I think this one will stay with me for a while.’ Goodreads Reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

‘Superbly written… Well worthy of 5 stars.’ Goodreads Reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

‘Wow what an emotional book a rollercoaster of emotions… Definitely my number one book of the year.’ NetGalley Reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Ratings and reviews

4.6

22 reviews

Marianne Vincent

December 2, 2020

The Life She Left Behind is the eleventh novel by Australian author, Nicole Trope. Rachel Flinders has a perfect life: a loving husband, a sweet daughter and their beautiful new dream house. At least, it should be perfect. But her beloved mother is dying, the house stands alone in a new subdivision, and her husband seems tense, edgy. And then, an intruder, who doesn’t take anything, but leaves something that strikes fear into Rachel’s heart. When Ben Flinders gets a late-night call from his distressed wife, he rushes home; the police are there, but Rachel ascribes her alarm to a possum, and there are no signs of forced entry. Perhaps the stress that Rachel is under with her mother, and the isolation, has affected her perception and equanimity. Himself, Ben is stressed about leaving his young family vulnerable in this empty suburb, in a house that has overextended his means, just when his work situation is looking tenuous. Little Bird is what Daddy calls her, and she tries very hard to do everything exactly as he tells her, because when they don’t, her (often nasty) older brother Kevin feels the effects of Daddy’s anger; Mummy, even when she does everything right, seems to end up with her skin blue with hurting flowers. Dr Amanda Sharma’s latest patient on Lyndon Public Hospital’s psychiatric ward knows he has to tread carefully if he wants to avoid a transfer to prison. He got drunk and almost beat a man to death, so he has the twenty-one days of his involuntary admission to prove to her that he belongs here. The system, the doctors, the nurses are all easier to manipulate than the bunch of sadists that run the prison. Trope’s depiction of life with a psychopath is believable and downright scary: the physical, emotional and psychological abuse that leads to difficult choices and long-held secrets certainly attract the reader’s empathy, although some are bound to find the violence confronting. And those creepy troll dolls will send a shiver down many a spine. An engrossing read. This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Bookouture.

Wendy Marsh

March 13, 2023

I have never read a Nicole Tropebook I didn't thoroughly enjoy and this oneizno exception. Absolutely could not put it down. I loved the relationship between Veronic and Rachel. The twist is something I always look forward to in Nicole's books. Highly recommend.

DJ Sakata

July 2, 2020

This wasn’t an easy read, it was a painfully realistic, intensely insightful, and cringe-worthy tale of family drama with long-held secrets, shame, guilt, anger, violence, emotional battering, mind games, and regrets. The storylines were well scaffolded and cleverly paced with powerful and emotive word choices. There were times I wanted to scream at the characters in disgust for allowing and enabling a long standing pattern of abusive and violent behaviors, and other times I wanted to comfort them, ease their pain, and assuage their confusion. I despised the male contingent of the family in near equal measure as they were vile and heinously twisted, while the females were nearly inert in their learned helplessness, until they weren’t. I fell into this challenging read and had a hard time resurfacing as while my experiences were paltry in comparison to the horror of this monstrous family, Ms. Trope’s strong word voodoo resurrected and stirred some uncomfortable feelings and memories that left me more than a bit rumpled.

5 people found this review helpful

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