Everything She Forgot

Ballantyne, Lisa. Everything She Forgot. New York: HarperCollins. 2015. Print.

First Sentences:

Margaret Holloway wrapped her scarf around her face before she walked out into the school parking lot.

Description:

Granted it's not the most electrifying first sentence, but still it sets the tone for how the writing style and narrative will unfold: simple, straightforward, calm. And you keep reading Lisa Ballantyne's Everything She Forgot because the plot and characters soon reveal themselves to be equally solid, real, and so very conflicted. 

What had happened to Margaret had sculpted the space between each of them, the way grief sculpts the soul, so that the unspoken took on a tangible shape, defining their family.

It is a thriller and mystery, as well as a sensitive portrayal of current and past lives. I don't want to give too much more and spoil the intricate twists of plot and overlapping characters. The book includes an awful car wreck involving a teacher who escapes physically unscathed but now has long-forgotten memories bubbling to the surface. There is a lost bag of thousands of ill-gotten dollars. Then there is a kidnapping of a 7-year-old girl by a man with only good intentions. There are gentle people growing up in violent environments, people longing for love, for relationships, and for a better future - longings that are sometimes resolved and sometimes end badly.

Enough of that. It is a compelling narrative that jumps between the present day and 30 years in the past. It is a car ride of discovery, a mystery of long-lost relationships, a story of love, of parents and children, and yes, even a little violence. 

In the end, it is a story of human nature vs. human nurture, both the good and bad. Only in the final pages are the different people and plot lines finally brought together for a satisfying, highly emotional ending.

And who cannot enjoy a book that offers so much depth of character and plot, one that keeps you hanging until the last sentences? Certainly not me.

Happy reading. 


Fred

www.firstsentencereader.blogspot.com

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If this book interests you, be sure to check out:

Ballantyne, Lisa. The Guilty One

A criminal lawyer must defend an 11-year-old boy accused of murdering his 8-year-old playmate on a playground. But the lawyer, following the twists and turns of the case, begins to relive his own troubled childhood. Great narrative, characters, and plotting switching from present case to past memories. 

Watson, S.J. Before I Go to Sleep

Every morning Christine wakes up without knowing her name, her face, the man lying in bed next to her, or anything from her past. She desperately wants to learn why her memory is erased each night while she sleeps, what her life is about, and who she can trust to tell her the truth. Fantastic. (previously reviewed here)