⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Lucy Clarke’s novels are brilliant and this one makes a complete set for me as I have now read them all. The story revolves around two boys and their mothers. Jacob and Marley were best friends and their mothers, Sarah and Isla (also best friends) had beach huts next to each other where they would spend the summers.
On Jacob’s tenth birthday the boys were seen out at sea and only one was rescued. Jacob and his parents were as devastated that Marley didn’t make it back as his mother, Isla was. Isla was a free spirit and the disappearance/death of her son left her with so many unanswered questions which eat away at her but begin to reveal themselves as the story continues.
Seven years later, on the anniversary of the death and Jacob’s seventeenth birthday he disappears, and Sarah is beyond help. However, Isla has already left for her vacation in Chile leaving Sarah desperately calling her to find out if she knows anything.
The story is told from the viewpoint of Sarah and Isla and, as usual, Lucy Clarke nails it. There were beautiful descriptions of the beach with the brightly coloured huts and how the summer days and evenings faded into each other.
Another brilliant ending as well. What a read!
