Avon Books-Published 17th May 2018

A fascinating insight into a close group of friends. On the outside their lives all seem pretty average but behind closed doors they’re all struggling to keep a lid on a myriad of secrets.

Will’s wife, Penny, is secretly suffering with mental illness and this comes to a head at Nick & Lisa’s wedding where she appears to attempt suicide by jumping from a hotel bedroom window. The others are stunned & this seems to induce an outlet for the others to examine themselves more closely.

It’s here that Caroline England takes us by the hand & allows us to learn what everyone else is hiding; all their problems different but all somehow inextricably linked. How does she do that? Well quite brilliantly actually.

The way she writes makes me sympathise (and in some cases empathise) with many of the characters, even though I probably wouldn’t have in the ‘real world’ and that is because her characterisation is meticulously detailed, as is her description, so it is impossible not to feel what these characters are experiencing.

Without giving anything away-it’s bloody hard!-think this is particularly evident in the relationship with Dan & Seb. Initially, I really wanted to dislike both but the way it was written, I thought, was incredibly sensitive. I’ve never come across characters in a book before which focuses on their particular story, maybe that says a lot about the types of book I read, but I honestly thought it was so skilfully done and I felt really emotional reading it.

Often, I read a book where I can’t turn the pages quick enough, where I find myself so tense I’m holding my breath & trying to anticipate what will happen next; occasionally, I read a book where all of the above happens AND when it finishes it affects me in such a way that I need to talk about it with someone. ‘My Husband’s Lies’ is one of those books.

A captivating, emotive read. 5⭐️