For a very long time now, Amanda Prowse has been a favourite author of mine whose new books I always look forward to and whose books are always heartbreaking yet at the same time beautiful, powerful and inspiring. That was most certainly the case with Amanda’s latest book, The Idea of You, which is worth so much more than just five stars. It was a truly stunning masterpiece!
Within The Idea of You we meet Lucy Carpenter who is quickly approaching forty and seems to have it all, from a successful career to her wonderful new husband Jonah. However what they are missing, something that would really make their world that little bit more perfect is a baby of their own. Indeed, knowing that she is ready for motherhood and that she would make a good mother with so much unconditional love to give, there is nothing that Lucy wants more than to hold her own baby in her arms. But as is so often the case in life, as we accompany Lucy on an unforgettable journey through loss, grief and hope, we see that this isn’t going to be easy.
Amanada Prowse has an incredible talent for writing stories with characters that seem so real and believable, characters who you really can’t help but fall head over heels in love with and this is something which allows you to become so much more invested in the novel. Lucy was one of these characters who I warmed to right from the very start of this novel and as things got harder and harder for her, it broke my heart to read of all she was experiencing. Although I couldn’t, I wanted nothing more than to be able to make things better for Lucy and for Jonah to have acted slightly differently to how he did on more than one occasion. I think the most inspiring thing about this novel is the way in which it demonstrates the characters getting through what life throws at them, no matter how difficult it is.
As I have come to expect from all novels written by Amanda Prowse, The Idea of You deals with a difficult theme, this time of miscarriage, in what can only be described as a beautiful and sensitive manner. Even without the deeply moving note at the start of the novel, from reading it I could tell just how much honesty had gone into writing it, that it was based on something that Amanda like many of her readers had personally experienced. This was something which left me with even more admiration and respect for the author than I already had from reading her previous novels. From beginning to end it was written in a way that I found to be entirely captivating and was a book that I found to be deeply touching.
Discovering Amanda’s books was one of the best discoveries I ever made and I feel so incredibly lucky to have been able to read yet another wonderful novel by her. In fact as I’ve read more and more of Amanda’s books over the years I’ve found that they seem to get better and better, and The Idea of You was absolutely no exception to this. Upon finishing The Idea of You, my only hope is that Amanda will continue writing for many more years to come and that I will have the privilege of reading much more by her in the future.
If you’re looking for a new domestic tale to get stuck into by an author who really does know what she’s doing, then The Idea of You is most definitely for you!
