- Paperback: 288 pages
- Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC; New edition edition (7 Jan 2002)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0747558698
- ISBN-13: 978-0747558699
- Product Dimensions: 19.2 x 12.8 x 2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 471,224 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Review
'An astonishing mix of the warm, complex and frightening ... the stuff of real life that is rarely conveyed in fiction' Mail on Sunday 'Like Joanna Trollope, Miller is a fine artist of the domestic' Sunday Telegraph 'A beautiful and frightening book ... Many readers will find it difficult to forget' New York Times Book Review 'Miller weaves her themes of secrecy, betrayal and forgiveness into a narrative that shines' Time
Product Description
Thirty years ago Jo Becker's bohemian life ended when she found her best friend brutally murdered in the house they shared in Cambridge. Now Jo has everything: work she loves, a devoted husband, three grown daughters, and a beautiful home. But when an old friend settles in her small town, the fabric of her life begins to unravel and Jo hesitantly enters a relationship that returns her to the darkest moments of her past, imperilling all that she loves.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Ordinary life, but so moving,
By A Customer
This review is from: While I Was Gone (Paperback)
I tried another book by this author, 'For Love', and I couldn't get into it at all, so I was a little dubious before starting this one. However, I oughtn't to have worried, because I found the style of writing so soothing and the gentle, restful expression of everyday life so easy to relate to. Jo had been a teenager in the late sixties. She shared a house with several others, including her best friend, Dana, and (one of the least noticed of the group) Eli Mayhew. Jo had joined the household after running away from reality - her marriage to someone she hardly knew and the relentless pressure from her parents to conform. Upon making her escape, Jo had invented a new identity and a new 'past' for herself, keeping the truth from everyone, including Dana. However, one fateful day, Jo returned to the house to find Dana dead in a pool of her own blood, still warm, but with stab wounds to her face and body. Jo's grief was profound and her real identity became public in the face of the newspaper reports.Years later, in the midst of a happy marriage, a face from the past appears in her life, jolting her back to those heady days before and up to Dana's death, making her reassess her feelings and drawing her into a situation that would change her life from that moment on. This is a story of love, trust, the fragility of fidelity and how one instant in your life can alter its course forever.
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
slow, tense and moving,
By
This review is from: While I Was Gone (Paperback)
I was given this book as a gift and did not, at first, think I would like it, however I was won over by the beautiful writing and the unusually slow pace that still kept me interested. Sue Miller is a master at making the mundane, everyday tasks of life from walking the dog to a mother/daughter argument, sound interesting and special. Throughout the book I could not understand why Jo would want to jeopardize her happy marriage but in the end I found that to be the strength of the book as for once, the protagonist was not perfect, yet her husband was. Best of all I liked the fact that a Church Minister could be portrayed as someone so human and normal. This was definitely a page-turner and I plan to read more of Sue Miller's books.
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
I plan to read more by this author.,
This review is from: While I Was Gone (Paperback)
The main character is a sensible, cautious middle-aged woman. She's been through a traumatic experience in her youth, but has successfully moved on and created a full and happy new life for herself. She has a career with animals that she loves, and has a family with a good man whom she still loves. So, I agree with the other reviewer; that does make her self-destructive and short-sighted decisions quite irritating and it is hard to sympathise with the character! The woman she is would think things through more! However, the story itself was engaging, so despite my exasperation with Jo, I still read on eagerly to see to what extent she would jeopardise her comfortable existence. So many books I've read deal with the mother/daughter relationship from the daughter's point of view, that I enjoyed reading about a mother's thoughts on her 3 grown-up daughters. I will read her new "other World" when it comes out in paperback in Ireland/UK. I may not warm to Sue Miller's characters, but I know will be absorbed by the story.
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