Book info

• Title The Girl You Left Behind
• Author Jojo Moyes
• Year 2012
• Genre Contemporary

France, 1916. While her adored husband Edouard fights on the front, all Sophie has of him is the beautiful portrait he painted for her. But when the picture catches the eye of the village Kommandant, he cannot keep away from its subject, and Sophie is forced to make a terrible decision... Almost a century later, Sophie's portrait hangs in the home of Liv Halston, a wedding gift from her young husband before he died. A chance encounter reveals the painting's true worth. But will its troubled history turn Liv's life upside down all over again?

Thoughts

The second book in a row that I thought was going to be one thing but turned quickly into something else. It started with a glimpse of some characters during the First World War, but then quickly moved into the modern day and was your basic love story… until it wasn’t! Suddenly, it was a court case about the provenance of a painting and highlighting the issue of restitution. Unexpected but very interesting, and a good effort at debating two sides of the situation.

Rating: 3 / 5