The Art of Hiding by Amanda Prowse

From Goodreads

What would you do if you learned that the life you lived was a lie?

Nina McCarrick lives the perfect life, until her husband, Finn, is killed in a car accident and everything Nina thought she could rely on unravels.

Alone, bereft and faced with a mountain of debt, Nina quickly loses her life of luxury and she begins to question whether she ever really knew the man she married. Forced to move out of her family home, Nina returns to the rundown Southampton council estate—and the sister—she thought she had left far behind.

But Nina can’t let herself be overwhelmed—her boys need her. To save them, and herself, she will have to do what her husband discouraged for so long: pursue a career of her own. Torn between the life she thought she knew and the reality she now faces, Nina finally must learn what it means to take control of her life.

Bestselling author Amanda Prowse once again plumbs the depths of human experience in this stirring and empowering tale of one woman’s loss and love.

My thoughts

My thanks to the Publishers and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this in exchange for an honest review. I gave this a 4 star or 8/10.

This story relates the life of Nina and her two sons following the death of her husband, their father who was killed in a car accident. As Nina's life unfurls in front of her eyes, she begins to realise that she had been living her life as a lie. Nina needs to become the strong one in the family know, the person to hold the family, what's left of it as a unit.

I do not want to say too much about the book as I don't want to spoil it for others. As I was reading the book I was ambivalent about it, it was similar in lots of ways to others that I've read in the past not in content as such, but it wasn't completely gripping me. However, as I neared the end events began to happen that piqued my interest and I found that I didn't want to put it down as it had drawn me in.

I would recommend reading this story with tissues to hand as you might need them. I found myself sat on a local supermarket car park crying as I read to the end of the story. I then felt the need later that night to tweet @MrsAmandaProwse to let her know that I hated her for making me cry!!

Overall this was a bittersweet tale, that will make you wonder what you'd do if you found yourself in Nina's shoes. Don't get me wrong at times I felt like slapping her for the way she'd acted while her husband was still alive. If you like thought provoking contemporary reads then this is the book for you.

Feel free to tweet Amanda Prowse if you hate her too for making you cry. :-)