Her Best Friend’s Secret by Anna Mansell
Genre: Literary Fiction | Women’s Fiction
Pages: 384
She deserves the truth. But it will ruin her life. What would you do?
Emily was meant to be the girl who escaped their small Cornish town. She was going to be the success story. But it didn’t work out the way she’d dreamed it would. And now she’s back home. With a secret that’s even bigger than her failure.
Emily thinks she can just hide away. But then she runs in to Lolly, her one-time best friend from school, who spontaneously suggests a small reunion with their once close-knit group of friends. Jess and Amanda still live nearby, though none of the four women have spoken in years now.
But after so much time, everyone’s lives have changed. Nothing is as easy as it was in their schooldays. And everyone’s got secrets. One of which is big enough to ruin not just the fragile friendships, but one woman’s whole life…
A big thank you to Bookouture and Net Galley for allowing me to have an advanced readers copy of this book.
This book is about a group of four women, all in their 40’s, who reunite after 20 years. Some of the characters are a little apprehensive about this, others excited. The thing is, this reunion could either make or break one of their friends lives. I’ll let you read the story to find out why!
The story is told from the point of view of Emily, Amanda, Lolly and Jess. I loved reading about each of their own personal lives, background history, and personal opinions on the whole “big secret”, although after getting so far through the book I realised that there are a couple of other little secrets too. Each character has their own flaws and wrongdoings, however you can’t help but love them. Reading about the way they feel towards one another despite their misgivings is so touching and heart warming. It makes you wish you had a group of friends like these!
To me this book felt like a ‘coming of age’ story.. Or perhaps a ‘coming of middle age”, since these women are already grown up. Despite the drama within the book, it was a nice, light read, and I am going to miss each and every one of these characters.
I rate this book 3 hearts, and would definitely recommend to other female readers. It makes you realise that even in the world of books, women are still having drama and experiencing day to day problems. Totally relatable.
SophieClaire 