#BlogTour – #BookReview of #TheDaySheCameBack by Amanda Prowse @MrsAmandaProwse @BOTBSPublicity #BooksOnTheBrightSide

From the bestselling author of The Girl in the Corner comes a story that asks: how do you forgive the family that lied to you, and love the mum you never had?

When her loving, free-spirited grandmother Primrose passes away, Victoria is bereft, yet resilient—she has survived tragedy before. But even her strength is tested when a mysterious woman attends Prim’s funeral and claims to be the mother Victoria thought was dead.

As the two women get to know each other and Victoria begins to learn more about her past, it becomes clear that her beloved grandmother had been keeping life-changing secrets from her. Desperate for answers, she still struggles to trust anyone to tell her the truth.

To live a full and happy life, Victoria knows she must not only uncover the truth, but find a way to forgive her family. But after so many years, is trusting them even possible?

About the author:

Amanda Prowse is one of the UK’s most prolific and loved storytellers with global sales of 8 million copies and legions of loyal readers.  Based in the West Country, Amanda is the author of 25 novels and 7 novellas with books sold in 22 countries and translated into 12 languages– no mean feat when you consider her first novel was only published in 2012!

A passionate reader since her first visit to the local library aged 6, Amanda would read everything and anything and – armed with her precious library ticket – would spend hours reading loved Enid Blyton, Anna Sewell, Judi Blume, Nina Bawden while scribbling short stories of her own. As time passed, she moved onto the more risqué delights of Lace, The Thorn Birds and A Woman of Substance; gritty, emotional stories that would inform her writing.

A powerful storyteller and a master of the addictive plot, Amanda’s rich imagination and prolific writing talent has seen her write over 20 bestsellers with millions of copies sold across the world. She often writes for 15 hours a day and sees her plots like movies in her mind that she’s compelled to get down on paper. These heartfelt human stories have made her one of the most successful female writers of contemporary fiction today and she has become a regular interviewee on TV and radio as well as a successful journalistic writer.

Amanda’s ambition has always been to create stories that keep people from turning the bedside lamp off at night; great characters that stay with you and stories that inhabit your mind so you can’t possibly read another book until the memory fades. She is also a passionate supporter of military charities and those that support women’s causes and holds regular ‘Evenings with Amanda’ events as fundraisers for her chosen charities.

Twitter – @MrsAmandaProwse

https://www.facebook.com/amandaprowsepage/

My Review:

The Day She Came Back by Amanda Prowse is a beautifully written and moving tale that tells the story of eighteen year old Victoria as she tries to come to terms with the devastating loss of her larger than life grandmother, Prim, who has raised her since she was a baby following the death of her mother.

But to her shock, on the day of Prim’s funeral, Victoria encounters a woman who claims to be her dead mother, sending her life spinning into turmoil. Is this woman really her mother? And if so, why did Prim lie about her mother’s death for so long? Struggling to come to terms with not only Sarah’s presence, but also the fact that her whole life has been based on a lie, Victoria is unable to bring herself to trust anyone, least of all this stranger who has come into her life.

Amanda’s writing has an authenticity to it that brings these characters vividly to life, resonating with me so much that I felt every emotion right alongside them. And even in the short time we had with her, Prim was a character who struck a chord with me, reminding me of my own grandmother who I never ever saw without a hair out of place, remaining beautiful right up until the day she died. My Nan also used to eat every last bit of a piece of fruit like Prim did (core and all!), which as a young child impressed me far more than it probably should have! So I felt Prim’s loss as keenly as the young Victoria did, especially as I was the same age as she was when my own grandmother died.

So the tears began to fall early, with the story taking hold of my heart and refusing to let go until the final page had been turned. The Day She Came Back is a book that will cause your heart to ache, with a strong cast of supporting characters who you can’t help but fall in love with. Victoria herself is often immature and doesn’t always do the right thing, but in spite of all that, I felt for her and the predicament she found herself in through no fault of her own.

The story moves from England to Norway, a place the author obviously knows well, the city of Oslo brought so vividly to life it almost felt as though I was there. As the truth of the past is slowly revealed, Victoria and Sarah try to pick up the pieces of their lives so they can move forward to a better future. But will Victoria ever be able to forgive not only Sarah but her beloved Prim for hiding the truth from her? And is it ever possible to forgive a family who has lied to you for your whole life?

I don’t know how she does it, but Amanda Prowse’s writing blows me away with how she somehow manages to get deep into the core of each of her characters, empathising with them in ways not many authors are capable of. She has written yet another beautiful, emotionally resonant and poignant read that will stay with me for a long time to come.

The Day She Came Back is a powerful story of love, loss, family secrets and forgiveness. A sometimes dark, often emotional, but ultimately uplifting read that I would highly recommend.

The Day She Came Back by Amanda Prowse is available to buy now: Amazon UK

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