What Alice Forgot. Liane Moriarty

What Alice Forgot
Liane Moriarty
Publisher: Bolinda
Date: 2010
Format: Audiobook
Length: 15 hours 35 min
Narrator:  Caroline Lee
Genre: Women's Fiction
Source: Own audiobook

Alice Love is twenty-nine years old, madly in love with her husband, and pregnant with their first child. So imagine her surprise when, after a fall, she comes to on the floor of a gym (a gym! she HATES the gym!) and discovers that she's actually thirty-nine, has three children, and is in the midst of an acrimonious divorce.

A knock on the head has misplaced ten years of her life, and Alice isn't sure she likes who she's become. It turns out, though, that forgetting might be the most memorable thing that has ever happened to Alice.

What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty  is the second book I have 'read' - listened to and I liked it very much.  The narrator does an excellent reading and enhances the whole experience.  I am going to actually read my next book by this author in paperback. I am wondering how that will stack up against the audio experience.  

Alice hits her head at the gym and when she comes to, she has lost the last 10 years of her memory, so now she thinks its 1998.  A lot of water has gone under the bridge since then!  Most of the book is about Alice trying to grasp who all these unknown people are in her life.  First of all her children - she thinks she is pregnant with her first child - but no, she has three!  She has a friend that it appears she has lost touch with and a friend who has died - and she has no memory of her.  She finds that her husband Nick and herself are separated, heading towards divorce.  The house they bought is now all perfectly renovated.  And that's not all, her mother has done something very unexpected, and Alice seems to have a man friend - Dominic the local Principal.  Elizabeth, her sister seems a little estranged and is dealing with her own problems of infertility.

So, the Alice of ten years ago meets the life she is now living ten years later.  She finds there are many changes in her life, she is no longer the woman she once was.  There are a lot of hard edges that the younger, softer Alice would never have dreamt of developing.  Who is Alice now?  As she unravels her life, she has choices to make.  No more, so as not to give the plot away - although as I have come late to this book, most readers probably know!

There are so many heart wrenching issues explored in this book - infertility, divorce, children, marriage, friendships, death and family.  It could be a serious, depressing book but its not.  There is humour and exploration of what could be and might have been.  Like any good author Liane Moriarty keeps you guessing until the epilogue,  and she left one satisfied reader behind.

The Husband's Secret. Liane Moriarty

The Husband's Secret
Liane Moriarty
Published: Bolinda. 2013
Format: Audiobook
Narrator: Caroline Lee
Length:  13 hours 48 min
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Source: Own book.

The Husband's Secret is a funny, heartbreaking novel of marriage, grief, love, and secrets. When her husband announces he's in love with her best friend, painfully shy Tess picks up her young son and returns to her mother's house. There she begins an unexpected affair with an old flame.

Rachel is a woman in her 60s consumed by grief and anger at the loss of her daughter 20 years earlier. When her son announces he is taking her beloved grandson overseas, Rachel begins a descent into deeper bitterness and pain.

Cecilia is the quintessential "I don't know how she does it" woman. A devoted mother to three daughters, she runs her household like clockwork, is President of the P&C, owns an extremely successful Tupperware business and is happy in her 15-year marriage. Until she discovers a letter in their attic labeled: "To my wife Cecilia, to be opened in the event of my death".

My goodness, this book was every bit as good as many of the reviewers in the blogoverse have said. I listened to the audio version and really enjoyed it.  Caroline Lee did a marvellous narration, her voices worked well, and it added to the pleasure of a good book.

At first I was a little confused and at sea, as the main characters were individually introduced, however once they were and then all connected the story gripped me.  A clever plot with twists and turns that kept me following carefully.

It is the inner thoughts of the main characters that make this book what it is, in my opinion.  Every character was so human, and so honest.  I could easily sympathise with each of them, and could readily identify with their thoughts and feelings.  Tess, Cecilia, Rachel, John Paul, Felicity and Tess's husband were all so believable, I was with them all the way.  What a tangle it was. 

As some other reviewers have said you can't say too much about this book because it is to give away the plot, and I know I would not want it spoilt for me.  Love, family, heartbreak, rage, blame, acceptance are all found within.  A book that can speak to our own lives  - while never in the situations of the characters,  I could still identify the real feelings and false steps taken and say - yeah me too.