Elizabeth Arnold
After more than twenty years of marriage, Chloe Sinclair comes home one night to find that her husband, Nate, is gone. All he has left behind is a cryptic note explaining that he’s returned to their childhood town, a place Chloe never wants to see again.
While trying to reach Nate, Chloe stumbles upon a notebook tucked inside his antique copy of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Written in code, the pages contain long-buried secrets from their past, and clues to why he went home after all these years. As Chloe struggles to decipher the notebook’s hidden messages, she revisits the seminal moments of their youth: the day she met the enigmatic Sinclair children ane the increasingly dangerous games they played to escape their troubled childhoods; the first time Nate kissed her, camped out on the beach like Robinson Crusoe; and the elaborate plan she and Nate devised, inspired by Romeo and Juliet, to break away from his oppressive father. As the reason for Nate’s absence comes to light, the truth will forever shatter everything Chloe knows—about her husband, his family, and herself. (from Netgalley).
While trying to reach Nate, Chloe stumbles upon a notebook tucked inside his antique copy of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Written in code, the pages contain long-buried secrets from their past, and clues to why he went home after all these years. As Chloe struggles to decipher the notebook’s hidden messages, she revisits the seminal moments of their youth: the day she met the enigmatic Sinclair children ane the increasingly dangerous games they played to escape their troubled childhoods; the first time Nate kissed her, camped out on the beach like Robinson Crusoe; and the elaborate plan she and Nate devised, inspired by Romeo and Juliet, to break away from his oppressive father. As the reason for Nate’s absence comes to light, the truth will forever shatter everything Chloe knows—about her husband, his family, and herself. (from Netgalley).
My Thoughts
When Chloe first meets the Sinclair children, she is just a young girl and the Sinclair family’s life seems idyllic. The Grace, Cecilia, Nate Sinclair are beautiful, their mother home schools them and they play strange games on their secluded property. The only oddity is Mr. Sinclair. Chloe cannot be around when he is home and he has some strange, mystical hold over the whole family. We learn bits and pieces of their growing up years as an adult Chloe, who has married Nate, tries to figure out what circumstance has caused her husband to suddenly disappears.
Each chapters is a different thread that the author has woven into a magical tale. This book really kept me guessing and I was very much caught off guard by what we discover at the end. This is another one of those books to relish in its detail as we watch all the pieces of the puzzle fall in place. Quite enjoyable!
Many thanks to Random House Publishing Group - Bantam Dell, via Netgalley, for allowing me to read this in exchange for an unbiased review.
Publish date: July 2, 2013.