Anna and Will’s relationship ended years ago and they both moved on with their lives. Now he is going through a divorce and she is unhappily married. A chance meeting between the pair makes them both reconsider their own happiness and future…
The Girl I Used To Be is an emotional and uplifitng novel about making the most of life’s opportunities.
I became totally absorbed in this novel and the lives of Anna and Will. Most of the book is told from their perspectives in the present day but there are also flashbacks to their relationship through the years: the hope and missed opportunities for happiness. My emotions were torn to shreds!
The main pair have been kept apart by circumstances out of their control. However I did feel that Will’s immaturity in pushing her away was perhaps a sign that he wasn’t as invested in their initial relationship. In the present day, Anna’s husband is so selfish and thoughtless whilst Will’s ex wife is just awful. This made me want Anna and Will to find fulfilment and the happiness they (and each one of us!) deserve.
The Girl I Used To Be is a warm and enjoyable novel with an important message about keeping our hopes and dreams alive.
The Girl I Used To Be book description
Marie Kondo for the soul.
Anna and Will have been passing in and out of each other’s lives since they were just kids.
Now 20 years later, Anna is married – she has a lovely house, a step daughter in university and a husband with a good job.
What she doesn’t have is joy. When she runs into Will it sparks something in her, a longing for the Anna she used to be.
Together they embark on a journey to find what brings them joy, to discard what doesn’t and to become the people they always wanted to be.
But in finding themselves, can they also find each other?
Debbie Howells’s first novel, a psychological thriller, The Bones of You, was a Sunday Times bestseller for Macmillan. Four more bestsellers followed, including most recently The Vow, published by Avon. Fulfilling her dream of writing women’s fiction, she has found a home with Boldwood and her first title with them, The Life You Left Behind was published in February 2022.