MY LOVER'S LOVER by MAGGIE O'FARRELL

MY LOVER'S LOVER

BY MAGGIE O'FARRELL

THE BLURB:-

When Lily moves into Marcus's flat, she is intrigued by signs of his recently departed ex-lover. A single dress left hanging in the wardrobe, a mysterious mark on the wall, the lingering odour of Jasmine.

Who was this woman? And what exactly were the circumstances of her sudden disappearance? It doesn't take long for Lily's curiosity to grow into an all-pervading obsession.

THE REALITY:-

At just over 300 pages long, this was typical Maggie O'Farrell fodder- easy to get through and interesting and paced enough to be a page-turner. But... I don't know why but it didn't move me and wasn't her best offering. I'm a fan of 'big' words in novels as I'm all for expanding my already higher than average (so I like to think!😉) vocabulary and I make a point of learning anything I don't already understand, but it got to a point where too many were popping up. I don't know why that should irritate me- maybe it's because I haven't really had the time, at present, for any further self-educating. But I shall make the effort to schedule that. Even so, the prose seemed more mealy-mouthed than any of her later offerings. Oh well, it was Ms. O'Farrell's second book- maybe she needed to prove herself, too.

Lily walked into a tricky situation that she would have done well to walk straight out of, and she knew that. She just refused to listen to her intuition; silly girl. This book is a good study in what imagination can do versus fact. Without knowing the full truth, Lily thought up a really overblown scenario which led her down the route of playing detective. It was extremely unhealthy, and we then had to question whether she was seeing the actual ghost of Sinead or whether her overactive imagination was seeping into her time with Marcus (it was the latter). The reason Marcus's previous relationship permeated Lily's time with him is because he was a total shit- a person who couldn't be bothered to be faithful to- spoiler alert!- the 'love of his life'- Sinead, and who jumped into a new relationship with Lily way too soon, then referred to her in an extremely disdainful fashion. Both women are better off without his total cunt of a man. This novel perhaps clearly prescribes why we should get to know someone before falling into bed with them, and how a lack of communication can be the death knell of a love relationship.

This novel is supposed to be about Lily, and the imprint of her man's former lover, but it's also about Sinead too, and we learn a lot about her, her heartbreak, and also about the changeable character of Aidan. I love the idea of the warehouse where they lived, but found the descriptions a bit lacking.  It wasn't that easy to visualise, which is an important thing for me. Also, we know they lived in London, and some locations were mapped, but others a bit vague. This didn't harm the story, but I like to kind of tie loose ends up.

A strange ending. Maybe Sinead and Lily's lives are destined to be entwined or maybe the ending really was a full stop. Give this book a go, but I think the author has written better.