‘Holly Wright has had a difficult few years. After her mother’s death, she’s become expert at keeping people at a distance – including her boyfriend, Rupert. But when Holly receives an unexpected letter explaining that an aunt she has never met has left her a house on the Greek island of Zakynthos, the walls she has built begin to crumble…….. and (she) slowly begins to uncover the truth about the secret that tore her family apart.’
My Map of You is the debut novel from Isabelle Broom & is due to arrive in the shops on 21st April 2016. I was lucky enough to get an advance copy from Penguin Random House UK in return for an honest review.
What an absolute pleasure it was to read this book. From the offset I knew I could shut out the world & be transported to a sunny destination.
Holly is portrayed as a young woman trying her hardest to forget her past & move on. She puts forward an image of calm, an image of close on perfection but the reality couldn’t be any more different. She is like that image of a duck, moving serenely through a lake, but it’s legs are moving like crazy to stay afloat!!! Holly has learnt that in order for her continued survival in the rush & madness of London, she cannot be who she really is but rather an expected image of what she thinks people want to see. From the beginning she admits her difficulty in dealing with relationships, men & women. She never has had any true friends, as the life she lead as a teenager didn’t allow for it.
However, all this changes the day she receives a letter, very unexpectedly, from an aunt she didn’t know. Her aunt has passed away & for reasons, completely unknown to Holly, everything has been left to her. She reluctantly packs her case & heads to Greece on her own, to discover the truth.
As soon as Holly stepped off that plane, I felt I had stepped off with her. The descriptions of the place, the people, the food are all just so beautifully depicted on every page. Holly’s journey of discovery results in her crossing paths with some wonderful people who have loved the island & made it their home but also she discovers the real Greece and the real people, born & bred to the island.
‘You have to love the Greeks. You could drop ten million euros out of the sky and they’d still finish their coffee before they bothered to pick any up’
Of course we mustn’t forget the love interests in Holly’s life. We have her boyfriend in London, Rupert and Aidan , the rugged Irish vet, who happens to be her Greek neighbour. Rupert is wealthy, reliable & everything Holly thinks she needs. Aidan, on the other hand, is quite the opposite, with a very relaxed approach to life. Throughout the book, Holly struggles with both these, so different, relationships. In the end, only one can win her heart!!
As Holly searches through her aunt’s trinkets & things, she finds a case under a bed.
‘Yanking off the lid, she gasped out loud as a polished and gleaming sewing machine greeted her. It was a genuine thing of beauty and Holly felt a wave of real affection for her late aunt’
Now, this was an unexpected treat for me in the book. Sunshine & Sewing 🙂
Holly rediscovers a hobby she had left behind. A hobby that had been a good friend to her when she needed one and now is there for her again. It reawakens passions within her, ones she explores through the novel.
Holly makes some major life changing decisions throughout but she also goes on a journey of discovery, not just of the island of Zakynthos, but of herself.
You’ll have to pick up a copy of this novel to go on this journey with Holly. For readers of Victoria Hislop, I think this is a perfect book. For any readers who are looking to escape the daily stresses this is a book that will take you there. It is a lovely, rolling, gentle read that has at it’s core a very heartwarming story of a girl named Holly Wright.
I would give it a 4* rating and would like to thank Penguin House Books UK for allowing me the opportunity to review.
