One Minute Later by Susan Lewis

Once again I was taken in by an ambiguous blurb on Goodreads. I do not mean to say I did not like the book. I enjoyed it but part of that was overshadowed by my expecting something extremely ‘thriller like’ to jump out at me. This is not a story of secrets although there is one which doesn’t really go the way it appears to say on the blurb that I saw.

This is a tale about people, their bonds and how they come together in times of adversity. It is all about family and all the things that make up families. There is so much in this book and the level of detail of organ donation or heart patients is extensive. We meet Vivienne as a high flying (literally and figuratively since she is always jetting from one country to another) lawyer, she has a group of women who graduated together and are very close. On her birthday everything comes crashing down. Her life is no longer her own and she can in no way control it.Then begins a long process of recovery.

Parallelly we are shown the lives of Shelley and Jack who are farmers building up their life while facing pushback from the local Gentry. Their presence in between the re-building of Vivi’s new life is a little out of place but it is explained at a later stage. Their paths do cross in the present but it is more depressing for her than for their Shelley’s family. The relationships within these pages are very realistic, friends do not go overboard and good friends do not need to justify their emotional attachment constantly, Vivi does not think less about the friend(s) who may not be constantly in touch or always meeting up.

This entire story brings organ donation into strong focus and in a very serious light and amidst all the family drama, there are a lot of positive encouraging ideas which felt good to read about.

This book is set to release next week and I received an advance copy thanks to NetGalley and the publishers.

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