Thursday, 3 December 2020

Coleen Hoover (2016) It Ends With Us. London, Simon and Schuster. 978-1-4711-5626-7

 


Colleen Hoover’s book tells the story of a young woman concerned she may be repeating the cycle of being abused from one generation to her own.
 
[Trigger Warning: Domestic Violence]
[Spoiler alert].
 
Lily was brought up with an outwardly successful father who controlled and physically abused her mother. While Lily is at home she secretly befriends and supports a boy, Atlas, who is squatting in an abandoned house and as he discovers what is happening in her home, he supports her and a relationship develops.
 
Eventually Lily moves away for college and stays in Boston, working successfully in marketing. Her father has recently died of cancer and her mother moves to be closer to her. She decides to use the freedom provided by her father’s death to leave her marketing role and fulfil a Long-held ambition to open her own floristry business.
 
Around the same time she meets the wealthy neurosurgeon brother of her old flatmate and the attraction between them is instant. They are a good match and friends and family are pleased. Until Ryle hits her. The relationship goes through the typical abusive cycles of violence, regret and apologies on Ryle’s part.  Lily loves Ryle but knows that apologies and regret will not be enough to stop the relationship remaining abusive, and to stop the cycle of domestic abuse she painfully calls an end to it. Having met up with an older Atlas, who she is able to trust, he helps her move on.
 
This was a hard read for me as my daughter bought me the book, having read it herself. Also being the daughter of a controlling and abusive (although thankfully not physically violent) father, she found the book particularly moving and rang me to thank me for leaving when we did.

It has been suggested that the story is drawn from the author’s own experiences.

Awards:

Goodreads Choice, Best Romance Novel 2016
The Rights to the film have been optioned by Wayfarer Entertainment (2019)


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