This book was recommended to my by my son-in-law, Chris, as a good book to bring with me on my holiday, lounging by the pool in Cyprus. He was not wrong! I was enthralled by the story and kept talking to my (longsuffering) husband about things that it was making me think about.
It is a book that is both thoughtful and thought provoking. It’s very cleverly written without being inaccessible, with beautiful prose and while the story is so relatable to so many lives and so ‘normal’ it still manages to be gripping.
It’s basically the story of a marriage, told from the perspectives of the two partners both as young adults, meeting and getting to know each other, interspersed with their older selves dealing with a relationship after the warm glow of newness has worn off.
It’s a book about perspectives – the wife works in the science of placebo – how what we believe can have a real and profound effect on our health and wellbeing (or ‘wellness’) and the husband is an artist who manipulates photos at the development stage to change and obscure what they show.
It’s about what we chose to portray about ourselves to others and what we chose to believe about the people we love – fooling each other and ourselves, or just creating the necessary narrative?
It’s funny, and tragic, and heart-warming and mind-expanding and I thought it was great!
Sarah Wray Writer 