Book Description:
From the bestselling author of The Girl in the Corner comes a tale of love, loss—and one last extraordinary dance.
Christmas Eve, 2019. Ninety-four-year-old Molly lies in her hospital bed. A stroke and a fall may have broken her body—but her mind is alive with memories.
London, 1940s. Molly is a bright young woman, determined to help the war effort and keep her head up despite it all. Life becomes brighter when she meets and falls in love with a man who makes her forget everything with one dance. But then war forces her to make an unforgettable sacrifice, and when she’s brought to her knees by a daring undercover mission with the French Resistance, only her sister knows the secret weighing heavily on Molly’s heart.
Now, lying in her hospital bed, Molly can’t escape the memories of what she lost all those years ago. But she is not as alone as she thinks.
Will she be able to find peace—and finally understand that what seemed to be an ordinary life was anything but?
My Thoughts:
We first meet Molly as a 94 year old lady who is in hospital after having a fall at her home. We are then whisked back to the 1940’s when Molly was much younger with so much life in front of her with lots of hopes and dreams.
Amanda Prowse is an author whose books I pick up without looking at what they are about. They have always been great reads that I know will be emotional yet uplifting and this one was no different. I really enjoyed the historical aspect of this story as it’s not something that common in the authors novels but was so well researched and I felt like she had picked me up and transported me back in time.
Molly was a wonderful character. I had so many hopes for her myself as we follow her life as a young woman and over the years until we are back to the present day with her being in hospital. She endures so much and I really didn’t know how she managed to hold it all together at times. In so many ways she was so strong but at the same time, vulnerable. In one respect, how everything pans out in her life, felt right, yet at the same time, unfair. It’s hard to say too much about the story itself in fear of ruining it for others.
An Ordinary Life will grab you by the heart and squeeze it so tight! So many times I found myself being over whelmed with what was going on in Molly’s life and wondering whether I would take the same steps as she does. Family are everything in this story and my heart kept breaking that little bit more as the years passed and the secrets in Molly’s life were still very much that. A powerful read that will pull your heart in different directions!
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