So…I don’t 100% know how I feel about this book. Not because it’s poorly written, its mainly a personal preference of the use of unreliable narration. Lisa Jewell has crafted an excellent story here that was deeply enthralling, the only issue I had was with the ending, and it goes back to the unreliable narration.
The story is set in England and follows two women, Alix Summers and Josie Fair, who meet at a pub while out celebrating their birthdays and discover that they are birthday twins: they were born on the same day, at the same hospital. Alix is a successful podcaster, her interviews mostly conisting of telling the stories of accomplished woman who has gone through a personal struggle but were able to preservere and find success in their life. Josie is a stay at home mom and parttime seamstress who becomes obsessed with Alix after their fateful meeting and binges her podcast before deciding that she should be Alix’s next subject. After an awkward second encounter, they decide to create a multi-episode podcast detailing the events of Josie’s life, including being raised by a narcissistic mother, meeting and begining a sexual relationship with her current husband when she was 16 and he was 40, and raising her two daughters, one of whom has ODD and the other has ASD. Josie wants to begin her second act in life, and it’s all going to start by telling her story on Alix’s podcast.
With each passing recording session, Alix is drawn more and more to Josie, becoming truly sympathetic to the plight she has been through in her life. She wants to help Josie break out of the arrested development with which she carries herself and start anew with more confidence and maturity. This isn’t just a podcast anymore, she wants to become a sort of mentor and friend to Josie so she can transition into the new phase of her life.
But then Josie starts behaving oddly. First, Alix begins running into her while out when they had never crossed paths in the past. Second, she catches Josie digging through her garbage via her doorbell camera while she is out. Third, she realizes that Josie is drawing strange parallels between them which Alix does not share nor does she feel are appropriate, especially with regards to comparing their marriages. After a series of very strange and concerning events, Alix realizes that she may not actually the know the woman she has been interviewing for the past several weeks. Sure, they have had indepth discussions both on and off the podcast, but she only has Josie’s version of events to go by. But now Josie’s behavior has become bizarre and Alix realizes she put her trust in someone who she truly may not really know.
Again, I really enjoyed the story but the direction that the last quarter went in really threw me for a loop and I was left a little bit unsatisfied, not because it was a bad ending but because I was left holding my breath, in so many words. I’ll finish this by saying, I am really hoping that there is a part 2 of this story. I need a resolution.