Boon's Bookcase

 Somewhere Only We Know

by

Cathy Bramley

When Magnolia Jones finds her daughter's travel journal, she can think of no better way to honour her life than setting off on the gap year trip that twenty-three-year-old Brontë had dreamed of taking.

It was meant to be Brontë's adventure, but perhaps following her daughter's footsteps around the world is exactly what Magnolia needs to piece her broken heart back together and begin to heal.

As her travels take her further away from home, memories of a long-ago summer come flooding back. Magnolia barely recognises that girl she used to be - the dreams she had, the freedom ahead, the midnight kisses on the beach with curly-haired, brown eyed Jackson.

Maybe, just maybe, in this magical place that is somewhere only they know, Magnolia is about to discover that her journey isn't over - it's just about to begin...

REVIEW

Maggie (Magnolia) lives with her daughter Brontë and things are going along nicely when Brontë says she wants to go on a gap year after just landing a fantastic job. Maggie does not take it well, but when tragedy strikes and Brontë is killed by hit and run driver, Maggie finds Brontë's gap year book and once opening it, she decides that the only way she can honour her daughter's memory is to go to all the places that Brontë wanted to visit, including Bali where Brontë was conceived to try to find her father.

Once Maggie starts her travels she has memories of when she went travelling herself to Bali and met the love of her life Jackson. Little did she know that when she got back to the UK she would be pregnant, but that would be the last she saw of him for a very long time. 

Although the trip is difficult for Maggie, the people she meets along the way will influence her life forever and the little signs she gets, she knows that Brontë is with her on her journey.

This is such a lovely, heart felt and sometimes heartbreaking read. I loved the characters and really felt the grief that Maggie had, but her strong will to also move on with her own life was there throughout the book, she just had to push herself to find it. 

I loved this book and would thoroughly recommend it.