Can a broken friendship be mended again?

Synopsis

A warm-hearted and gripping story of community, secrets and the family we choose that will captivate fans of Lucy Diamond, Cathy Bramley and Jessica Redland.

As young women, Lise and Emma had the kind of friendship people dream about. While Lise’s own family was distant and disengaged, Emma’s was welcoming and warm, and for the first twenty-six years of their life, growing up together in a close-knit community, the duo were inseparable. But when they decide to spend one year living together in Paris, what starts as the adventure of a lifetime becomes a disaster that changes everything. And when Emma returns to Bath the following summer, Lise stays behind in France, their friendship in tatters.

Now, sixteen years later, Lise has come back to their hometown, determined to put things right. But to do so, she’ll have to face up to the truth about what happened in Paris. And with Emma refusing to talk to her, can she get close enough to share her secret?

My review

Lise and Emma grew up as best friends, and they were sure that nothing could ever come between them. Even if their lives were different, with Lise having a distant family, while Emma’s were welcoming and warm, they were absolutely inseparable. They even decided to spend a year together in Paris.
But right there in Paris, is where their close friendship ended brutally, with Emma returning to Bath on her own while Lise staying in France…
Sixteen years later, Lise finally returns home too, and is determined to make things right again with Emma, even if that means coming clean about what happened all those years ago. But when Emma is refusing to just talk to her, is there truly a way that a once so strong friendship, now scattered into a million pieces, can be mended again?

Haven’t we all had childhood friendships we were 100% certain that would never end? And yet when you think about it, many of those friendships haven’t stand the test of time. Of course there are friendships that did, but let’s be honest, many of them just didn’t.
And often there isn’t just a specific reason for it not lasting, just life taking us in different directions. But what when there was a specific reason that the friendship ended? How would it affect it the people involved? And if the heartbreak was so devastating, is there a way to make things right again? That is exactly what this lovely book is about…

I loved seeing young Lise and Emma together, they were ready to conquer the world, always having each other’s back no matter what. It was more like seeing sisters together and not “just” friends, because they just connected so well, and were always there for each other, understanding each other even without a spoken word, offering comfort, wisdoms (for their age at least 😊) and Emma always made sure to let Lise know that Emma’s family was also Lise’s as understanding that Lise’s own family weren’t the warmest kind…

Personally, I admired they courage for living in Paris for a year on their own, even if they did not speak the language. I for sure would never make that choice myself, because let’s be honest, I’m a big scaredy – cat ! 😊
But I liked it how hands – on they were, they took matter in own hands, determined to find jobs, to make things work. Because as long as they were together, it would all work out.

Seeing this strong friendship, I wondered what on earth could have happened to tear it all into pieces. Because I truly believed that their friendship would be indestructible. And it was obvious something truly terrible had to have happened to have this outcome. And to see how they weren’t there for each other in the most difficult moments after that year in Paris, broke my heart.

And even if I didn’t know yet what happened in Paris, reading what happened later on in Emma’s life, without Lise showing her support in any kind of way,  I could understand Emma not wanting to talk to her former best friend when Lise is back in town.
But I also saw the efforts Lise was making to get Emma to talk to her again. Because it was not only Lise’s life at stake here…

There is something about being angry at someone for so long, that it’s easier to hold to that grudge, than letting the past for what it is and start over once again… So much has happened in both women’s lives and I could see how they could be there once again for each other, if only they would let each other back in…

Normally I am rather easy in choosing a side. Who was in the right and who was in the wrong? But in this book, there isn’t a right or wrong side. Because what happened in Paris, wasn’t to blame on either Lise or Emma, but more to blame on the people around them. And those people put an end on a friendship…

And even later on, Emma back in Bath and Lise still in Paris, they both didn’t have it easy…
Emma had to face several and heart – breaking losses, while Lise was living together with a man that made me almost throw up each time he appeared.
Yet I liked to see the resilience in both women, coming out stronger than before.

I truly liked it also how both their daughters got along, even before the huge revelation towards the end. It seemed like history was repeating itself, from mother to daughter. And it was a bit funny to see how the girls were somehow the catalyst of Emma and Lise interacting again.

This book was amazing to read, although I have to say I didn’t expect anything else from this wonderful author.
the story shows us the easiness of friendship, but also the difficulties in it. But most important we see that no matter what happened in the past, or how people fell out, when it concerns real friendship, the love always find a way to bring those people back into our lives. And that with perhaps some persistence, patience, but most of all, forgiveness, that bond that was once so strong, can be found again, and make you forget about all the lost time, as it’s the time that we can now spend back together is what matters!