The Girl You Left Behind: A Novel
From the New York Times bestselling author of The Giver of Stars and the forthcoming Someone Else's Shoes, a sweeping bestseller of love and loss, deftly weaving two journeys from World War I France to present day London.
Paris, World War I. Sophie Lefèvre must keep her family safe while her adored husband, Édouard, fights at the front. When their town falls to the Germans, Sophie is forced to serve them every evening at her hotel. From the moment the new Kommandant sets eyes on Sophie’s portrait—painted by her artist husband—a dangerous obsession is born.
Almost a century later in London, Sophie’s portrait hangs in the home of Liv Halston, a wedding gift from her young husband before his sudden death. After a chance encounter reveals the portrait’s true worth, a battle begins over its troubled history and Liv’s world is turned upside all over again.
Paris, World War I. Sophie Lefèvre must keep her family safe while her adored husband, Édouard, fights at the front. When their town falls to the Germans, Sophie is forced to serve them every evening at her hotel. From the moment the new Kommandant sets eyes on Sophie’s portrait—painted by her artist husband—a dangerous obsession is born.
Almost a century later in London, Sophie’s portrait hangs in the home of Liv Halston, a wedding gift from her young husband before his sudden death. After a chance encounter reveals the portrait’s true worth, a battle begins over its troubled history and Liv’s world is turned upside all over again.
BUY THE BOOK
Community Reviews
I logged this as historical fiction, with a grain of salt. Yes, it was war, and war makes people do things they wouldn't do otherwise. Yes, there was art involved. Those were probably the two things that led me to read this book. However, I just didn't buy the romance between the initial main character and her captor and the attempt to weave a modern plot within a historical war fell entirely flat for me. More than a quarter of the way through the book and I simply did not care about any of the characters because they were not written in a way I could care about. I admittedly abandoned this novel because it was far to Stockholm syndrome for me. Jojo-I love Me Before You, yet that may be where our love affair ends. I doubt I'll pick up another work by this author.
I'm not a big fan of historical fiction, but Ms. Moyes won me over with this book! Very cleverly constructed to weave the old in with the new! I think I'll give more of her books a chance in the future!
See why thousands of readers are using Bookclubs to stay connected.