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I Found You

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I Found You

May 2017

There are times when I find a new author and wonder how I never read his or her books before. That is what happened when I picked up Lisa Jewell’s I FOUND YOU. I read a very early manuscript last summer, before we awarded it to a group of our early readers in the fall (I just reread their comments; they loved it). I still can remember exactly where I was when I read it --- floating in the pool, for hours --- completely immersed in the story.

It opens with free-spirited Alice Lake finding a man sitting on a beach in the rain. She does not know him, and he has been struck with amnesia and can tell her nothing about his past. But something beckons her to invite him into her home, where she lives as a single mom with three children and three dogs. Sounds irrational, and it was, but somehow Alice chose right. A bond forms between them and, yes, romance blossoms…so sweetly.

In the second storyline, we are introduced to a woman named Lily Monrose, whose husband Carl has gone missing. Police quickly learn that the passport of the man she thinks is her husband is a fake. So who did Lily follow to the UK from the Ukraine? I know, you, like me, are thinking that Alice’s guy is Carl. That would be simple, right?

But ah, wait, there is a third thread, and this one keeps you guessing again. It takes you back to 1993, and again we are in the beach town of Ridinghouse Bay where Alice lives, and a family of four is on vacation --- a mother, father, son and daughter. They meet a young guy there, and suddenly their vacation takes a very dark turn.

There’s family, life, love and loss. I am not going to tell you more. I want you to enjoy unraveling the tale for yourself. Set aside time to savor it.

Oh, one more thing. The setting reminded me a lot of the British television series “Broadchurch.”

And note, after finishing it, I immediately went on to read Lisa’s THE GIRLS IN THE GARDEN, which I also enjoyed enormously. For me, the bigger strength of I FOUND YOU is that there are fewer characters than in THE GIRLS IN THE GARDEN, thus each was able to be developed more and it was easier to follow. After reading just one of Lisa’s books, you will want to explore her backlist immediately!

I Found You
by Lisa Jewell