I absolutely loved this book. I haven't stopped thinking about it ever since I finished it. Addiction is so cruel, on the person who succumbs but also on all of those intertwined in their web of connections. Too much stigma and social judgement still exists today in relation to addiction. Nobody chooses that path, yet so many suffer once the begin to walk that way. This book was such an honest portrayal of the love of two successful artists, who suffered dreadfully due to the hypnotic and crippling effect of alcohol. It's a must read for everyone.

This is a beautiful book that pulls you further into it as you read. Open and honest in ways that will both break and warm your heart. It is a real insight for those of us who don’t have lived experience of similar situations.
A very well written book that I would highly recommend.

Louisa young met Robert Lockhart when they were teenagers (17). This a brutal insight into alcoholism. It helps change your perspective on addiction. Not the self sabotaging desire to drink but the illness that it is and the need to drink.

The fly on the wall effect this book has means you feel Louisa’s and Roberts intensity whether it be good or bad. If you are looking for a traditional love story with a happy ever after then this is not for you, however it is a love that last decades.

This is an often harrowing and brutal insight into the devastating effects of an addiction. In this case, it’s alcohol. It’s Lousa Young’s story of her relationship over many decades with Robert Lockhart, a gifted and singular individual whose life became subject to excess alcohol.

It’s compelling reading, but in quite a disturbing way. The detail is often unsparing and as I knew the story wasn’t going to end well, it was difficult to keep positive. It’s often heartbreaking although there are moments of warmth and compassion. It’s partly a triumph and partly a disaster. I have very mixed feelings about both the author and Lockhart. A searing account.

My thanks to the publisher for a review copy via Netgalley

Effie's is an alcoholic her reasoning and excuses of why she drinks are well explained, her inadequate qualities make her seem very real. Although I did not warm to her, a few chapters in Effie's character develops, and I found myself understanding her.
The relationship between her and Theo is well written, at times, tearjerking. The story is about Effie and Theo's lives and the way their closeness changes each other.
I really enjoyed this book.
Hannah Sunderland's writing style is similar to Jojo Moyes, whose books I also really enjoy.
I thank NetGalley, Hannah Sunderland and the publishers for allowing me to read and review pre-publication in exchange for my honest review.

Novelist Louisa Young writes beautifully about her relationship with composer Robert Lockhart and both of their relationships with his alcohol addiction.
She paints such a touching but realistic picture of Robert and how their love could never be enough to save him.
It’s a warts and all portrait and that’s what makes it so compelling. He is an unique, larger than life character until his death.
What this isn’t is a happy-ever-after story of redemption. It isn’t an easy read but it is the story of a great love affair.
I would recommend it: life is not perfect, humans are not perfect, and the honest telling of our stories is the very best we can do.

This book at first I didn’t think that I could get away with it. However I felt that I was drawn into it with every page. It’s about respect love and addiction. But it’s more than that it’s about loving someone for who they are and not blaming them for who they are loving regardless. Alcoholism is an illness and it’s not not self inflicted. Brilliantly written fabulous descriptive words used. Definitely recommend this book and author.

I really enjoyed this memoir. Beautifully written, with compassion, insight & sensitivity. It reminded me of a shoebox full of memories each chapter a different shapshot. Some places were slightly overwritten for my personal taste but it is a moving complex account of love & addiction. Note: listen to the pieces of music listed in the book whilst reading!

What a stunning book. An unflinchingly honest look at life with an addict, a study on how art can save us and above all a soaring love story. I got to the last page and read it again through tears. Wonderful.

This is a beautifully written book. The author told the story in a totally honest and heartbreaking way,

Possibly the most beautiful love story I have ever read. Brave, incredibly honest, full of humour and liveliness, and utterly heartbreaking. A portrait not only of a man who was larger than life, but also of a strong woman who loved him as one should always love, unconditionally. A book that will resonate especially with readers who love someone suffering from any kind of mental illness, let alone alcoholism.

You Left Early is a beautifully written, honest, and deeply personal memoir that tells the lifetime Louisa Young spent with Robert Lockhart. It's a love story, and also a story about Lockhart's battle with alcoholism and the devastating impact this had on everyone around him. The reality of alcoholism portrayed in this book is deeply moving.

So raw and honest, this is real life with an alcoholic. I hung on every word, searching for answers and hope. It is a beautifully written memoir of life with a charismatic, talented, flawed man that will make anyone think again about the power of addiction. Louisa is so honest I found it hard to read at times but I found her clear information on how alcoholics become so, and how they so often live, invaluable. Having painful experience of living with 2 generations of alcoholics - which must surely make it my fault - this made me cry, laugh and lift my head up with some understanding. Bravo.

Trigger warning - alcohol abuse, addiction, death.
Raw, transcendent and beautiful, this novel about addiction and the effects of it on the people involved and in relationships the addict. Trigger warning because it does deal with addiction and there were points that I found very hard to deal with myself, but still, a very worthwhile read, because it shifts societal expectation from blame to something beyond that, or could.

This is an honestly written memoir about love and loss and alcoholism. It is raw and full of emotion and heartbreaking.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy.

I absolutely loved this. I'd read Louisa's fiction before and enjoyed it but this memoir is something else. The writing is incredible and the story is so moving. She handles a difficult subject with dexterity. I'll be pushing this into the hands of lots of people!

What a powerful , heartbreaking, raw and brutally honest read. This is a very real honest book. It is not an easy read- there are part within the book that are so raw and real that it is difficult to read.
Lousia tells the story of the life she had/shared with her partner Robert Lockhart.
Lousia gives the reader and very unsugar coated honest outlook of the effect that alcoholism has on every aspect of life and the lives of not on,y the alcoholic but also their family and friends.
It is a book that I found interesting and heartbreaking in equal measure.
It is so well written and honest which is a rare gift on times.
A must read
Thank you to both NetGalley and Harper Collins UK for my eARC in exchange for my honest unbiased review

You Left Early is a memoir about love, grief and being the partner of someone who is addicted to alcohol.

Having read Louisa Young’s unsentimental, very moving First World War novel ‘My Dear, I wanted to tell you’ and the follow-up ‘The Heroes’ Welcome’, I expected her memoir ‘You Left Early’ about her decades’ long relationship with the brilliant composer, Robert Lockhart, to be an unflinching examination of life with an alcoholic, and I was not wrong.
At times, the writing is almost too painful to read. Young is extraordinarily honest about the ways in which alcohol slowly destroys the addict: physically, mentally, emotionally. And not only the addict but also the addict’s loved ones. In periods of sobriety Lockhart reflects on his damaged relationship with his son, his ex-wife, his father and his demanding and selfish behaviour towards Louisa. He regrets this terribly; at heart the man is not a monster, though he does monstrous things. Louisa Young also highlights the carer’s propensity to kid themselves that all is going well, that the truth is being told, that alcohol no longer occupies the ‘love of my life’ spot.
This memoir documents the wasted years unflinchingly. Perhaps the reader feels particularly distressed because Lockhart and Young are two prodigiously gifted people who could have been so much happier had addiction not been their ever-present unwanted guest. However, that is not to forget the less well-known thousands more who continue to live with this disease. It robs the individual of their best self, their future possibilities, their fulfilling present, leaving only a foul-smelling past. Beautifully written, thoughtful and honest, this is not a book to read quickly. Too much at once hurts too much.
My thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins for a copy of this book in exchange for a fair review.

An extraordinary memoir chronicling the relationship between the author, her partner Robert.... and alcohol, which despite not directly causing his tragic death at the age of just 52 certainly was an overpowering presence in their 30 + year relationship. Although not ro mantically onvolved for all of that period the love they had for each other is so evidently displayed throughout.

This is a memoir overwhelmingly one of love and loss, and the loss felt throughout Roberts life as his life at times ravaged by the effects of severe alcoholism, and Young so often powerless to stop it. Quite possibly the most humanly devastating insight into the effect alcoholism has on the person the self but also the family, the friends and bystanders.

Incredibly powerful, striking the perfect tone. A devastating essential book.