Due to a sudden, unexpected passing in the family a few years ago and another more recently and my subsequent (mental) health issues stemming from that, I was unable to download this book in time to review it before it was archived as I did not visit this site for several years after the bereavements. This meant I didn't read or venture onto netgalley for years as not only did it remind me of that person as they shared my passion for reading, but I also struggled to maintain interest in anything due to overwhelming depression. I was therefore unable to download this title in time and so I couldn't give a review as it wasn't successfully acquired before it was archived. The second issue that has happened with some of my other books is that I had them downloaded to one particular device and said device is now defunct, so I have no access to those books anymore, sadly.

This means I can't leave an accurate reflection of my feelings towards the book as I am unable to read it now and so I am leaving a message of explanation instead. I am now back to reading and reviewing full time as once considerable time had passed I have found that books have been helping me significantly in terms of my mindset and mental health - this was after having no interest in anything for quite a number of years after the passings. Anything requested and approved will be read and a review written and posted to Amazon (where I am a Hall of Famer & Top Reviewer), Goodreads (where I have several thousand friends and the same amount who follow my reviews) and Waterstones (or Barnes & Noble if the publisher is American based). Thank you for the opportunity and apologies for the inconvenience.

This is a very difficult read at times, Corry writes about some very difficult subjects. However, these are written sensitively and are not there for shock value. I was gripped by this book and the harrowing events will remain with me.
Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Books UK for an advance copy.

This was a very good read, there are plenty of twists and turns throughout. The characters were great, the story itself was intriguing and the style of writing was perfect. I have read many books by this author in the past and have enjoyed them all. I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys reading this genre. Thank you netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this in exchange for a honest review.

An absolute gripping story from start to finish, following the narrative of two women, Ellie and Jo.
Jo is homeless, making ends meet and surviving hand to mouth and Ellie is a housewife with a controlling husband Roger. At first glance you imagine these women have no similarities but yet they are both running from something and searching for a future.

This story gripped me from the first page to the last. The characters are so wonderfully rounded they feel like people in your community and my heart at times felt all the emotions of stress and fear that these characters experienced. I actually for once enjoyed the flashback moments to past times as it was done well and helped drive the story on, whilst giving you everything needed to understand characters motivation for specific responses to certain situations.

Highly recommend

This was a brilliant read. As soon as I started reading this book I just knew I was going to love it. Highly recommended

I looked away is told via various narrators based on the characters of Ellie and Jo and it is only as the book unfolds that you discover how the two characters are related. The book open with a tragedy and then we meet Ellie in prison. It is not made clear why Ellie is in prison at the beginning but I was definitely keen to ind out!

I found this an interesting read. It delves into many different social issues such as homelessness, the idea of charity - both giving and receiving, mental health issues, fidelity, parenthood, grand parenthood, childcentredness and so much more. These issues were considered and covered in a tolerant and thoughtful manner and certainly left me thinking about how I can help out more within the community of people who may find themselves without a roof for the night.

I enjoyed reading this book and felt compassion towards the main characters. I don’t want to give anything away so I will recommend that you read this book which has been crafted to hold your attention throughout. The characters are well developed and realistic whilst the storyline contains some unexpected plot twists!

Definitely worth a read if you enjoy reading family saga thrillers.

Thanks to the author, the publisher and Net Galley for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I love psychological thrillers. This book runs through 2 time lines switching back and forth, the accident being the defining event.

This was an emotional book and I highly recommend to anyone who loves this genre.

A cleverly crafted thriller. The background of the two main characters are slowly revealed leading to a current day tragedy. A good read.

What a fricking book! I had no idea how this book would all work out, what the heck was happening but I was hooked!!!!!!!!

Just wow.

Ellie’s storyline damn broke my heart. She had endured so much and I feared for her. Jo, she was the same. But I couldn’t quite work out how she slotted in. Then I began to doubt something and I figured out a twist. One I wasn’t sure if I was correct in doing so but man what a clanger! Such an awesome reveal.

This story is not easy to listen to/read, mental abuse is something I have experienced and I thought that Jane handled this so well. Ellie was mentally abused and coerced and just trodden on, but she fought for everything she believed in. She is a true heroine! She needed to forgive herself for some things though! Her stepmother Shelia, oh my god! If I ever wanted to climb into a book and give a character a good slap – it would be her! She was toxic and vile and everything in between. She made me so angry. I loved the narrator for this book because she gave Shelia such an annoying voice that it just made you hate her more!

God, so many emotions with this one, but definitely a book I would recommend. It is such a character-driven story and you become so protective of Jo and Ellie. Their struggles and lives, become your own, along with the frustrations and pain.

When you read this, do be sure to read the entry at the end by Jane. She discusses the book but more importantly the amazing and important work she does to help the homeless. This book is an eye-opener for sure and I will not hesitate to pick up a book by Jane again, in fact, I want to see what to get next!

I have been put through the wringer, this story may haunt me for a little longer. So much pain and heartbreak and none, none of it should have happened. That is the hard thing about this book. The bits of information you find out after the event and in the last third of the book, well my jaw dropped as I was shouting Noooooooooo. I was shocked and saddened. This is a powerful book but I love that in the end, no matter what you are left with hope. And who doesn’t love a book with hope?

Great novel which revealed its storyline through interaction with the characters. 2 seemingly disparate themes which were joined together successfully

I Looked Away by Jane Corry was a very emotional story of Ellie who has been hiding from a traumatic incident she was involved in as a child. She is now married to a controlling husband who cheats on her. She has two grown up children and a small grandson. Whilst babysitting her grandson one afternoon he disappears and Ellie's life is changed forever.

This book took me some time to get into, mainly because the blurb gave the impression of a very differnet story. It did feel a bit of a slog too as it was so long.

I received a digital arc of this from netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I had been putting off reading this due to the length of it! At almost 500 pages it's not a short read, but saying that I flew through it and didn't want to put it down. The story follows Ellie with a narrative of her childhood and then her married life. We also are introduced to Jo who is homeless and we follow her experiences. Only much later in the book is the connection between these two revealed. I was surprised! This was a really good book which focuses on mental health issues and highlights what kind of impact one event can have on your whole life. I do enjoy reading books by Jane Corry and will always look out for them in the future. Definitely recommend this.

The task of repopulating the senior library has been an exciting and daunting task aS in a boarding school our aim is to encourage all members of the community to read. Because of this, I have been searching down a wide and diverse range of books to read that will entice a wide cross-section of the school to come in, browse and find books that they love.
Books like this will ensure that the senior students in the school see the library as a diverse, modern and exciting place with books that speak to them and they want to recommend to their friends, classmates, teachers and tutors.
It is an engrossing and exciting read with fully-formed characters and a plot that ensures that it's hard to look away. It is as far from formulaic as it is possible to be and kept me up far too late in order to finish it. I immediately wanted to read all of this writer's other books as I loved their voice and found that it really drew me into the story and made me think about it even when I'd stepped away from this tale.
This is a thought-provoking read which I'm sure will be a popular and well-read addition to our new library; I'm grateful to have had the opportunity to read it and I know that the students are going to absolutely love it too!

I found both the characters and the plot unbelievable and disappointing - not for me sadly! Everyone else seems to have loved it, so maybe it is just me.

A huge thanks to Penguin Books UK & NetGalley for gifting me a copy in return for an open & honest review.

⭐⭐

I always enjoy books from this author, a very twisting tale as usual. Keeps you second guessing throughout with some surprises along the way!

I struggled to get into I Looked Away. I tried to persevere but I was quickly bored, it did not hook me into the story so I gave up on it. Sorry not for me.

Really enjoyed it - in fact it's a 4.5 - I wish we could give half marks to help differentiate!

Everyone has secrets in their past but Ellie has more than most. This excellently written novel really explores PTSD and the effect it can have on lives decades after the initial event. But all within the confines of a great story with well-developed characters.

I've not read this author before but I will definitely look out for more.

Thank you to Net Galley for a review copy.

Really interesting to see a topic like homelessness form the basis of a thriller and it worked really well. I kept wondering where Jo played into the story and I was surprised at the reveal. I was hooked from the start and couldn't stop reading.

This was a little of a surprise to me; the tagline and blurb for this book seemed to indicate that it was a thriller, possibly in the vein of Harlan Coben: a person goes missing, something must be done to get them back/they appear years later, something dreadful has happened in the main character’s past… a cliché I quite enjoy!
But that is really not the story at all. It turns out to be not so much a story of disappearance as much as a three-stranded story touching on love, loss, mental illness and homelessness; the strands of which draw together at a certain point in the narrative so making sense of the whole.

For such a serious and underexplored and indeed risk-filled topic, the biggest difficulty I had with the book was what felt like a lack of risk – everything is a little too sentimentally presented and a little too neatly resolved.
That being said, I was gripped from the beginning through to very close to the end.

Even if aspects the plot and specific details required to make sense of the narrative are occasionally not particularly believable, there is however much to be praised in this book. The author obviously cares greatly about the subject and her characters, and this carries the reader through these problematic parts of the novel. I could see many readers investing a lot in these characters and getting much from this book.

But the most important truth of this novel is how it is too easy for virtually anyone, no matter their background or social standing or age to end up living on the streets. Mental illness and homelessness are tough and important topics which are rarely tacked in any meaningful way in popular fiction. And in this case, the care and sensitivity with which the subjects are handled make this a worthwhile and challenging and on occasion, quite a moving read.

This is not a story most readers will have heard too often and for the author to approach it in a significant way in the form of a thriller is interesting and unusual choice and is really very well done.