I imagined Paul strutting home, a girl on each arm, somehow sporting a moustache and a foot of extra height. Moustachioed imaginary Paul would look down at me as he glided past with his harem.
‘Who’s she?’ the girls would chirrup.
‘Her?’ Paul would laugh. ‘Oh, she’s nobody.’
Kate and Paul have been married for nearly ten years and have two beautiful children—Isabel and Harry. Paul works in advertising and Kate spends her time looking after the kids. However, despite the appearance of happiness, Kate and Paul are both dissatisfied with their relationship.
As they’re preparing for their anniversary trip to Cornwall, Kate stumbles upon a letter, carefully hidden inside a book in their library. What she reads in it will change her life, and marriage, forever. But, now that Kate knows, she needs to tell Paul. Before she’s able to muster the courage to do so, she tries to discern the emotional truth of her marriage. She thinks back over her history with Paul—they grew up together in Somerset, and were best friends during childhood and adolescence, before separating to go to university. It was only after he moved to London, for work, that they started a relationship.
Told in first person, from Kate’s perspective, and alternating between her past and present, Seddon delivers a story brimming with suspense as she paints an empathetic portrait of a relationship in jeopardy.
Having thoroughly enjoyed Seddon’s first two novels, I was looking forward to reading her third. I was not disappointed. If anything, I enjoyed this novel even more. While Seddon’s work falls into the thriller/suspense categories, her stories focus primarily on character—how a specific character came to be who they are and what makes them act as they do. It’s this well-considered interplay between her characters’ motivations and her plot that makes her work such a joy to read. In Love Will Tear Us Apart, there’s also a romantic element, which enhances the story further. It was this last aspect that particularly stayed with me after finishing the book. As always, Seddon raises some interesting questions that resonate beyond the bounds of her story. I can’t wait to read her next novel!
Love Will Tear Us Apart is published by Corvus and available from Amazon UK and Amazon US.
Visit Holly’s website to learn more about the book and her writing.
Kendra Olson 