RATING: VERY GOOD
SPOILERS!!!
I really loved the novel, and its end was just great. Everything is tied up and explained.
After Nell leaves their family home, Callum tries to reason with her and explain the reasons why he tried to sell the farmhouse behind her back. Yet, Nell won’t listen to his reasons. They talk a couple of times on the phone, and then one day while Nell is busy making changes in the house to turn it into the restaurant, she sees Callum walk to the door with a parcel, and then he leaves. When she retrieves the parcel, she finds a notebook with a note from young Malik. He tells her that Hadi has died, and since he had no one, he thought of sending the man’s journal to Nell, who had taken a liking to the old man.
In the journal Nell discovers a bunch of secrets. As I had suspected, Bethany was Nell’s mother, and Hadi is Glenn. We get to read the last parts of Glenn’s journal. So we learn that after a year living with Mustafa and his wife, he thinks that he should try to find Bethany in England. Mustafa persuades him to spend a couple of days in Essaouira with him, and in the city he runs into Howard. Glenn is reluctant to talk to him, but he eventually agrees to have a drink with him. Howard gets drunk, and the alcohol loosens his tongue. Glenn learns that Bethany was pregnant when he left. Howard is totally hideous when he tells him that Bethany wanted to get rid of the baby because she didn’t know whose the baby was, Glenn’s or his. Naturally, Glenn punches him in the face. It is after this exchange that Glenn decides to stay put and continue his life in Morocco.
Years later Glenn sees Gizmo, and from what he tells him, Glenn understands that Howard lied to him in many of the things he told him. Gizmo tells Glenn that Bethany only had eyes for him (Glenn), and it was Howard that had a thing for her. Gizmo also reveals that Howard had been married before, and in one of their conversations he had let on that he had the snip because he couldn’t cope with responsibility. So after this conversation with Gizmo, Glenn understands that during the trip to Paris Howard must have assaulted Bethany, and he remembers how cold and vulnerable she had looked after that, but she never knew about Howard’s vasectomy, so she must have been very hurt because she feared the baby could be Howard. After all these years, Glenn thinks it is too late for him to find Bethany, and he can see that Howard always had it in for him because of his attitude towards the Vietnam war. Howard had a brother who went to the Vietnam War and when he returned, he was not the same and ended up dead, and that is why he was always so nasty to Glenn.
The last part of his journal is shortly after Nell and Abby visit, and Glenn is dying of cancer. We learn that at some point he wrote to his mother and father, but he never got a reply from either of them. We later get to know that Lillian never got the letter because Ted might have torn both letters. When Nell visited Glenn, he guessed that she might be his daughter, and that is why he was so taken.
This is all Nell reads in the journal. On Christmas Eve, Callum comes to the house and they talk. They admit their mistakes, and Nell tells him that she is pregnant and wants to try with him again. I think it was a nice moment between them, and even though I didn’t like Callum much, he redeemed himself when he finally accepts what his wife wants and supports her in her plans.
The day that is the opening for Amy’s exhibition, Nell and Callum go. After the exhibition, Nell finally tells her about the journal and who she is. Nell is Lillian’s granddaughter and Amy’s second cousin. The two young women go and talk to Lillian, and tell him about Glenn and the journal. Lillian is sad, but she is also happy that she has gained a granddaughter. I would have liked to have seen a moment between Lillian and Nell. What we get to see is Lillian telling Abby about what happened with Ted. It was Lillian telling Ted about her sister never being serious with boys what caused their break-up. Then Lillian got to know that Ted got pregnant and then left her because of what Lillian had told him. That evening Mary had intended to break up with Johnny, her boyfriend, and it was Johnny who stood by her and married her when Marry found herself pregnant, but then she lost the baby. Lillian always felt guilty for her role in her sister’s truncated love life, and I think that is the reason why she always accepted how Ted treated her. I also like how Amy doesn’t say a word of disapproving, and then Lillian is surprised when Celia, Amy’s mother, comes to see her. Lillian always thought that Mary had told her daughter about what Lillian had done, but she was wrong. It is Amy, who tells her mother the truth, and when Celia visits her aunt, she thanks her for keeping Mary for her father, or otherwise, she would never have been born. This is something Lillian had never considered, and after her conversation with her niece, Lillian feels less lonely and happier.
The last chapter is the first night for Nell’s restaurant, and Amy goes there to take some photographs. What Amy doesn’t expect is for Jake to be there, and she is nervous. Amy had been disappointed during the opening of the Moroccan night because she had thought that the woman he had brought along was his ex-wife, and they had made up. Now weeks after that night, Jake and Amy talk, and Amy is still defensive, and he finally clarifies that the woman was his sister, and he is only interested in Amy. So they kiss and we understand that this is the happy ending for Amy.
I really enjoyed the book. I guessed some of the things, but it was interesting to see these two women uncover the truth about their families.
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