Book Review: The Love We Left Behind by Katherine Slee
Rating: ★★★★
In Summary
Genre: Fiction
Publication Date: Thursday 1st August 2021
No. Of Pages: 333Keywords: Friendship, Love, Heartbreak
Content Warnings: Grief
Format: Paperback, E-Book, Audiobook
REVIEW
This story follows the lives of two best friends, highlighting Niahm’s perspective of their time together as Oxford University students, to Erika’s experience as a London Girl working in the city. Katherine Slee has carefully crafted the story to jump between these timelines, teasing us throughout on an unknown event that weighs heavily on Erika in post-Oxford life.
As a university graduate who’s been on the road of working adult life for 7 years, there was a real element of nostalgia to some parts of the book. The friendship between Niamh, Erika, and Duncan reminded me of my own university friends and how deeply I miss those days. And whilst the cliché almost-perfect university love story between Niamh and Leo is not something I experienced, it brought up the aching feeling that I had as a 19-year-old wishing it would happen to me.
It may be a romantic and dramatised version of university life, but a welcome fictional escape nonetheless.
Erika’s chapters involved more filling in of gaps, and there was a point partway through when I feared the character development felt a little thin. But, let me assure you, there’s a juicy, satisfying twist that pulls everything together in the end.
THE ROUND UP
Read If: You want to escape into a character-driven book that keeps you hooked by the promise of a great twist.
Similar books: ‘The Flatshare’ by Beth O’Leary
Last Impressions: It’s easy to get lost in this book – both from the sense that it’s hard to leave, but also hard to remember where exactly you are in the timeline. Don’t let the latter put you off. I finished it in two sittings and was sad when it was over.
Written by Pippa Moyle
Disclaimer: We were given this book for review by Amazon Publishing UK and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
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