📖 Pick a shelf Book Review ~ Waiting to Begin by Amanda Prowse

 

It's my mission to read the books which have been left undisturbed on my book shelf for several years, however, with so many current reads dropping through the door or landing on my e-reader, it's not always possible.

Determined to rectify this I have adopted the pick a shelf, seven books along theory and this time my eye spotted the distinctive cover of Waiting to Begin by Amanda Prowse...

Lake Union
2021

My thanks to the publisher for my copy of this book

1984. Bessie is a confident sixteen-year-old girl with the world at her feet, dreaming of what life will bring and what she’ll bring to this life. Then everything comes crashing down. Her bright and trusting smile is lost, banished by shame—and a secret she’ll carry with her for the rest of her life.

2021. The last thirty-seven years have not been easy for Bess. At fifty-three she is visibly weary, and her marriage to Mario is in tatters. Watching her son in newlywed bliss—the hope, the trust, the joy—Bess knows it is time to face her own demons, and try to save her relationship. But she’ll have to throw off the burden of shame if she is to honour that sixteen-year-old girl whose dreams lie frozen in time.

Can Bess face her past, finally come clean to Mario, and claim the love she has longed to fully experience all these years?

📖 My Review..

We meet first meet Bessie when she is on the cusp of her sixteenth birthday when she has the whole world ahead of her and plans for a sparkling future however, the fickle finger of fate shows just how tenuous this ambition can be. When we next meet Bess she is again celebrating a birthday but this time she is is turning fifty-three, married to Mario and her life seems to have been something of a disappointment to her. Over the course of this lovely story we delve into Bessie's past, learn about her mistakes and discover the secret she has kept hidden for such a long time.

I was very quickly emotionally involved in the story and enjoyed the dual timeline. Going back to 1984 when Bessie was a naive and impressionable teenager is done with great insight into what it was like to be filled with a zest for life only to have it knocked away by life's circumstances. Equally the author brings the rather jaded fifty-three year Bess to life, filled with remorse, self doubt and guilt over past secrets. I read the book quickly as it soon becomes one of those lovely immersive stories which really grabs your attention and I wanted to see how this complicated family drama would play out. I wasn't disappointed and closed the book with a great deal of satisfaction of a story well told.

This talented author never fails to disappoint and I have no idea why this lovely story has languished on my book shelf for such a long time as it deserved to have been read long before now. 

About the Author

Amanda Prowse is an International Bestselling author whose novels, non-fiction titles and  novellas have been published in dozens of languages around the world. Published by Lake Union, Amanda is the most prolific writer of bestselling contemporary fiction in the UK today.

Website

Twitter @MrsAmandaProwse #WaitingToBegin