The First Wife
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Product Description
Product Description
His first wife was everything you're not. But was she everything she seemed?
Lily, a young woman left alone in the world on the death of her grandparents, finds purpose when she befriends Harry Summers, a grieving widower, whose wife Sarah recently took her own life in Barcelona. The pair fall in love and Lily finally finds the security she has never had. But Lily's life takes a darker turn when she realises there may be more to Sarah's death than meets the eye. Anxious to find the truth before she marries her beloved Harry, Lily sets off to Barcelona in search of answers. What she discovers is more shocking than she could ever have imagined...
About the Author
Emily Barr is the well-loved and bestselling author of Backpack, the original backpacking novel, and many other highly acclaimed novels. A former journalist, she has travelled around the world and written columns and travel pieces for the Observer and the Guardian. After living in France, Emily and her husband, whom she met backpacking, have settled in Cornwall with their three children.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Lily Button, abandoned by her parents and brought up by her grandparents who have recently died, finds that not only does she have nobody in the world, she also has no money as the cottage where they lived is heavily mortgaged and debts have to be paid. She is friendless as she has spent the last few years being their main carer and is frightened by the world in which she now finds herself. Almost suicidal she is rescued by Al from jumping off the harbour bridge and he tells her his story and how he had grown up in foster care, ran away, lived in hostels and on the streets and was helped by an old school teacher who took him in and looked after him. He finds Lily a place to stay and she gets a cleaning job at the house of a local celebrity couple, glamorous and exciting. Harry and Sarah Summers appear to have the perfect life and yet, when on holiday in Barcelona, Sarah slips away from her sleeping husband and throws herself into the sea.
After Sarah's death Lily finds herself drawn to Harry as he turns the full force of his charm her way. For the first time in her life she is adored and loved and secure but as their wedding date draws nearer and she realises that things are not what they seem, Lily decides to take a trip to Barcelona to find out what really happened on that ill fated trip. She is in for a nasty shock.
The First Wife is a real page turner and I could not put it down and the ending gripping and full of tension. All the characters are well drawn and believable and there is a second thread running alongside the story of Lily, that of Jack Baker in New Zealand who decides to forge a new life for himself after he finds his wife is cheating on him. He and Lily meet up in difficult circumstances and are both together when the final twist of the book is revealed which had been hinted at, but was still a surprise when revealed.
A really good exciting read and I am now going to hunt out Emily Barr's other books as I enjoyed this one so much.
After Sarah's death Lily finds herself drawn to Harry as he turns the full force of his charm her way. For the first time in her life she is adored and loved and secure but as their wedding date draws nearer and she realises that things are not what they seem, Lily decides to take a trip to Barcelona to find out what really happened on that ill fated trip. She is in for a nasty shock.
The First Wife is a real page turner and I could not put it down and the ending gripping and full of tension. All the characters are well drawn and believable and there is a second thread running alongside the story of Lily, that of Jack Baker in New Zealand who decides to forge a new life for himself after he finds his wife is cheating on him. He and Lily meet up in difficult circumstances and are both together when the final twist of the book is revealed which had been hinted at, but was still a surprise when revealed.
A really good exciting read and I am now going to hunt out Emily Barr's other books as I enjoyed this one so much.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The First Wife is an interesting novel. Like Barr's previous novels, there's an edge of suspense to it. An edge that it isn't all as it seems and there's a certain aura to the novel where you wonder when the bottom is going to drop out and it's all going to go bonkers, it's all going to implode. I thought the initial plot was excellent. I was entranced by Lily Button, entranced that this young girl didn't know life, that her life revolved around her grandparents until they died and she was suddenly thrust into the world. I found Lily's naivete charming, rather than annoying, and I liked seeing how Lily became somewhat smitten with Harry Summers and how their relationship evolved once his wife, Sarah, killed herself in Barcelona.
I admit, I did find the suspense lacking a bit. Don't get me wrong, it was there, and like I said, I was waiting for it all to drop, but it was miles more sedate than The Sisterhood. The synopsis makes a big mention of a `shocking discovery' about Harry's wife Sarah but the action of the novel is relegated to those final 50/75 pages. Up until then, it's a fairly pedestrian novel. Very readable, but not what I expect from an Emily Barr novel. I still enjoyed it, mind, because Lily's story and how she goes from a practical hermit to being out in the world and making her own money is indeed very interesting. I liked the house where she lodged, I thought the family was lovely, and I liked her friendship with Al, and her burgeoning relationship with the Summer's. I also liked the story about Jack, a New Zealander fed up with his life and wanting to break free and visit Europe. It was all done very well, it just didn't make my heart race as much as The Perfect Lie did.
I must admit, I did find the latter stages of the book to be beyond the realms of believability. Lily takes off to Barcelona and I just felt that from what we knew of her thus far, it wouldn't be in her make-up to do that. I found it hard to believe that Lily would survive the bustle of an airport and the flight to Barcelona and the enormity of being in a city where people speak a different language. It might have been necessary to the plot, but it was entirely out of characters for me and it sort of spoiled it a little bit. You don't give us a character who in all of her 21 years has only ever left Cornwall a couple of times and then have her, on a whim (suspicious, or no) head to Barcelona. Nevertheless, the ending was very fast-paced and frantic and everything all sort of spilled out in one long shocking confession. I'd rather guessed most of it, I will admit, about Sarah, about Harry so it was rather anti-climatic in a sense, but still dramatic in others. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed The First Wife. I don't personally believe it was as good as The Sisterhood, but it was good enough and I struggled to put it down!
I admit, I did find the suspense lacking a bit. Don't get me wrong, it was there, and like I said, I was waiting for it all to drop, but it was miles more sedate than The Sisterhood. The synopsis makes a big mention of a `shocking discovery' about Harry's wife Sarah but the action of the novel is relegated to those final 50/75 pages. Up until then, it's a fairly pedestrian novel. Very readable, but not what I expect from an Emily Barr novel. I still enjoyed it, mind, because Lily's story and how she goes from a practical hermit to being out in the world and making her own money is indeed very interesting. I liked the house where she lodged, I thought the family was lovely, and I liked her friendship with Al, and her burgeoning relationship with the Summer's. I also liked the story about Jack, a New Zealander fed up with his life and wanting to break free and visit Europe. It was all done very well, it just didn't make my heart race as much as The Perfect Lie did.
I must admit, I did find the latter stages of the book to be beyond the realms of believability. Lily takes off to Barcelona and I just felt that from what we knew of her thus far, it wouldn't be in her make-up to do that. I found it hard to believe that Lily would survive the bustle of an airport and the flight to Barcelona and the enormity of being in a city where people speak a different language. It might have been necessary to the plot, but it was entirely out of characters for me and it sort of spoiled it a little bit. You don't give us a character who in all of her 21 years has only ever left Cornwall a couple of times and then have her, on a whim (suspicious, or no) head to Barcelona. Nevertheless, the ending was very fast-paced and frantic and everything all sort of spilled out in one long shocking confession. I'd rather guessed most of it, I will admit, about Sarah, about Harry so it was rather anti-climatic in a sense, but still dramatic in others. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed The First Wife. I don't personally believe it was as good as The Sisterhood, but it was good enough and I struggled to put it down!
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Took this book on holiday and enjoyed reading it. It was slightly predicatable in some aspects (won't spoil the story) but worth a read.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
A good enough read, but I prefer some of her previous work
I'll start off by saying that I love a couple of Emily Barr's books, namely Plan B and Cuban Heels, each of which I've read quite a few times. Read more
Published 4 days ago by Francesca Abagnale
Loving the book
Still reading, enjoying every chapter! A little bit of a slow start, but then quite exciting.. Definitely recommend for those who'd like something more than "easy reading"
Published 8 days ago by Irina Y.
Un-putdownable!
Another brilliant, mesmirisg novel from Emily Barr. This one tells the stoy of Lily Button, 20 years old and all alone after the deaths of her grandparents whom she has looked... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Lisa-Scarlet
The First Wife
Really struggled to get through this, only stuck it out to the end in case there was some unexpected surprise twist, there
is n't. Read more
is n't. Read more
Published 4 months ago by sami
Same old
Emily Barr has a regular well tested format with her books and if you have read them before, this book will be somewhat familiar. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Rossi
Brilliant
I read this book in a day and it was PERFECT, I couldn't put it down and really didnt want it to end. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Ms. Cloe Millington
The First Wife
I first read a review about this book in the Daily Mail,and the title did not attract me at all, upon reading the review, I realised, that there were twists and turns in it, which... Read more
Published 7 months ago by Cara Star
Oh Lily!
Lily Button was abandoned by her feckless parents when she was very young. Her grandparents took her in, and gave her a stable, traditional upbringing in the Cornish countryside. Read more
Published 7 months ago by Fleur Fisher
Couldn't put it down
This is one of three novels around at the moment with a similar theme ie a missing first wife as in Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca. Read more
Published 7 months ago by crime reader
Touching!
I found the story very realistic and sad: the young woman protagonist of the novel soon finds herself alone when her grandparents, with whom she had always lived, die. Read more
Published 7 months ago by Viola
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