Our Life In A Day by Jamie Fewery

• Format: Kindle Edition
• File Size: 910 KB
• Print Length: 288 pages
• Publisher: Orion (27 Dec. 2018)
• Sold by: Amazon Media EU S.à r.l.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B0791HKVWH

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Synopsis

The rules are simple: choose the most significant moments from your relationship – one for each hour in the day.

You’d probably pick when you first met, right?
And the instant you knew for sure it was love?
Maybe even the time you watched the sunrise after your first night together?

But what about the car journey on the holiday where everything started to go wrong? Or your first proper fight?

Or that time you lied about where you’d been?

It’s a once in a lifetime chance to learn the truth.

But if you had to be completely honest with the one you love, would you still play?

For Esme and Tom, the game is about to begin. But once they start, there’s no going back . . .

 

Review

Our Life in a Day is the debut novel from Jamie Fewery, and the story of Tom and Esme. The night before they are due to go away for their anniversary Esme challenges Tom to pick important moments from their relationship that relate to each hour of the day. The book takes us on the journey of their relationship, the good and the bad, as we are voyeurs to their most private moments. This is such a beautiful book, in regard to the writing and the plot line, and was such a pleasure to read.

What I really enjoy about this book was the honesty the author employed in terms of the relationship; it wasn’t all hearts and flowers and wonderful memories, there were some incredibly sad and tense moments.  In life it is the rough and the smooth that makes real relationships and Tom’s most significant moments certainly encompassed that.  Yes, there are the romantic parts, the night they met, their first Christmas together, but there were also the arguments in the car on the way to their first anniversary away, the disastrous camping trip etc.  One important thread that ran through these memories for Tom was his inability, or avoidance, of telling Esme about his past with depression.  This secret, that comes up at several points, is always lurking in the background and as we all know huge secrets like that have a habit at coming out when least expected.

As characters, I loved Esme and Tom, they came from very different backgrounds, and represented the hope and fear we all have in starting new relationships. Esme is an independent character, with a great career, but in terms of relationships she doesn’t want marriage.  Tom is a musician, we learn he went to university but left early, and has fantastic friends who are there to look out for him after an unknown event  (revealed later in the book).  Tom’s battle with depression is very topical with a lot of attention being on mental health issues especially in young men.  Tom is obviously ashamed by his depression as he doesn’t want to discuss it or let Esme find out. Jamie Fewery’s writing on this subject is very compassionate, and he deals with the subject with great sensitivity and understanding.

One Day in a Life is an honest and heartfelt look at the dynamics in relationships.  It certainly isn’t a slushy sentimental read; it has some difficult moments but there are also some humorous memories.  The writing of the characters and story drew me straight in with the feeling of intimacy in relation to the characters and the easy flow of the plot line; it is hard to comprehend that this is Jamie Fewery’s debut novel.   This is an emotional rollercoaster of a read that you won’t want to get off, a fabulous read!

 

I would like to thank Orion Books and Tracy Fenton for providing me with a copy of the book to read and review as part of the blog tour.

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