Synopsis
What would you do, if you met your double?
Debbie Jones thinks life is an adventure. Even having lost
her husband a year ago, she’s ready for whatever the world might throw her way.
Being in her sixties doesn’t mean it’s all over for her yet, and she loves her
new job doing neighbourhood support for a charity. Then she knocks on a
stranger’s front door.
Ruth Waverley doesn’t like surprises. Her life isn’t perhaps
all she once dreamed off, but what other options are there for a woman in her
sixties? She’s proud of her home and children. And she likes her life well
enough. Then she hears someone knocking at the door.
As the door opens, both Ruth and Debbie get the shock of
their lives. As their eyes meet – the recognition is instant. Not because
they’ve met before. But because they have the same face. They’re completely
identical.
And everything is about to change, for both women. In ways
they couldn’t possibly imagine…
My Review
I am delighted to be taking part in the blog tour for The Woman Who Met Herself. Laura Pearson has written some wonderfully heartwarming novels. The last two novels have had a slightly mystical theme, with The Woman Who Met Herself the author is firmly back to reality.
The reader is quickly introduced to the two protagonists. Debbie Jones and her husband Richie relocated to Loughborough and then Richie died of a heart attack. Feeling lonely she's signed up to work for a mental health charity trying to encourage people to make regular donations. Ruth Waverly is also sixty-two, is married to Nigel and has two grown sons. Ruth runs a small bakery business from her own home.
It's the knock on the door that sets everything in motion. When Debbie knocks on Ruth's door both women are shocked to see their own faces looking back at them. Unable to process what she is seeing Ruth closes the door, leaving Debbie floundering.
The women are obviously related, and when we learn that Ruth's sons are twins it is clear that the two women must also be twins. The big questions are why didn't they know about the other's existence and why were they separated? It's impossible to turn to family for answers, Debbie's mother died when she was a teenager and she never knew her father. Ruth's father is dead and her mother has Alzheimer's. Working together Ruth and Debbie unearth the mystery of their past and find out about each other.
The Woman Who Met Herself is a story about motherhood and identity. It is easy to understand the confusion both women feel as they wonder about the mothers who raised them. My heart went out to Debbie who didn't have an easy childhood and looks at Ruth with a hint of, understandable, jealousy. Ruth seems to have it all, a comfortable home, a loving husband, healthy and happy sons, and a family she knows. Meeting Debbie forces Ruth to question her life, realising that she can do more, be more. It was encouraging to see each woman inspire the other to step out of their comfort zone.
The Woman Who Met Herself by Laura Pearson is available in paperback, ebook and audio format. My thanks to Boldwood Books and Rachel's Random Resources for a review copy.
Author Details
Laura Pearson is the author of the #1 bestseller The Last List of Mabel Beaumont. She founded The Bookload on Facebook and has had several pieces published in the Guardian and the Telegraph.
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