Today I’m joining the blog tour for The Woman Who Met Herself. My review is written with thanks to Rachel Gilbey at Rachel’s Random Resources for inviting me on the tour and to Boldwood Books for my copy of the book.

Blurb:

What would you do, if you met your double?

Debbie Jones thinks life is an adventure. Even having lost her husband a year ago, she’s ready for whatever the world might throw her way. Being in her sixties doesn’t mean it’s all over for her yet, and she loves her new job doing neighbourhood support for a charity. Then she knocks on a stranger’s front door.

Ruth Waverley doesn’t like surprises. Her life isn’t perhaps all she once dreamed off, but what other options are there for a woman in her sixties? She’s proud of her home and children. And she likes her life well enough. Then she hears someone knocking at the door.

As the door opens, both Ruth and Debbie get the shock of their lives. As their eyes meet – the recognition is instant. Not because they’ve met before. But because they have the same face. They’re completely identical.

And everything is about to change, for both women. In ways they couldn’t possibly imagine…

Review:

I’m always delighted to hear about a new novel from Laura Pearson, and The Woman Who Met Herself. At the beginning, I wasn’t sure where it was going, but it exceeded my expectations in so many ways and I really loved reading this story. 

The Woman Who Met Herself works so well because Laura Pearson has created such wonderful characters and I connected with most of them almost straight away. Ruth and Debbie have very different personalities, but I could also see the similarities between them and it is credit to the author that these nuances shine through. The supporting characters – the family and neighbours of Ruth and Debbie – are also multidimensional, and I loved the dynamics between them all. There are some chapters in between the main narrative which are letters between two unidentified characters written in the past. This gave me some insight into what had happened in Ruth and Debbie’s past, but also provided a lot of intrigue which kept me engaged in the story.

Laura Pearson is a wonderful writer, and she writes very sensitively about issues of identity, mental health, grief and relationships. The emotional aspects of this story come through the pages in swathes, and I loved the journey that the characters went on together, which I found so poignant.

This author is quickly becoming one of my “must read” writers and I can’t wait to see what she does next!

The Woman Who Met Herself is available from Amazon.

You can follow the rest of the blog tour here: