The author knows how to trigger an emotion from a mom like me. Lydia’s life from an abusing husband, losing her children and do whatever it takes to find her kids no matter what how difficult it is really a bit traumatic. This book might have been a bit slow in the beginning but definitely worth it. The title fits the story well.

Two lonely, needy people don’t always mesh well. In this case, the result is a disaster. I wondered about the title and understood it when I finished the book. Fate had it in for these characters. The dark history of apartheid in South Africa forms the basis for much of the trouble, but Lydia is clueless.
She has her reasons for ignoring the bad patch she and her husband of almost a decade are going through. His lack of support for her problems doesn’t help. What she doesn’t know about the man she married hampers her efforts to find her children when he packs them up and escapes in the dead of night. The plot has quite a few twists, and it kept me reading. There may have been one too many coincidences, a notion which didn’t strike me until the end.
Still, it was a good read, well written and entertaining. If you’re looking for a romance, this isn‘t the book for you. There is a hint at the end of the book of something to come in Lydia’s future.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a free review copy of this book in exchange for my honest unedited feedback.

This is the first book I’ve read from Susan Wuthrich and I wasn’t disappointed. A great read. Great writer. It was easy to read and a story I felt interested enough in to follow.

Fate is definitely a hunter as you will appreciate when you read the book. The story is about a South African, Doug, who meets and marries Lydia in the UK. They have two children. Then one day after 9 years he abruptly leaves his wife and takes his children without Lydia, his wife, their mother having a clue. Once she recovers from the initial shock and turmoil and affect this has on her life, she relentlessly tracks him down.

This involves betrayal, family issues, prejudice, intrigue, adventure, war, dangerous encounters, murder and horrific experiences. All of this as well as humanity and romance. And in the end it all comes together.

The plot has two timelines 1996 and 2006, bringing South African and Cuban history to the fore and the here and now. The fragility of history and life - heroes, brutality, love, jealousy, fear, lies, deceit, heartbreaking details and the love of a mother who will stop at nothing to find her children.

Susan Wuthrich has succeeded in portraying the human element and the way this is written, in such simple language, it is effortless to read, have empathy and think yes, I’d do that....

The characters and their motivations were interesting and I particularly took a liking to Thorne and his aunt. What a great pair, in particular Thorne, and the revelation at the end, which was no surprise as fate has a huge part to play, was quite heart wrenching.

Susan Wuthrich has lived in South Africa for 25 years, which I didn’t know about at the time of reading. When I researched and took a look at her profile I then appreciated why South Africa and understood how she seamlessly brought the country and its culture and challenges to life in these pages.

Most definitely 5* from me.

i Really fancied this book when I first read the blurb about it and the writing style is good so no complaints there. However I struggled a lot to get through the book and whilst I have no experience of depression the opening chapters failed to interest me or seem very believable. .

The author's writing makes this such a good read. I was invested in Lydia's journey to reunite with her children because of the great writing. The sensitivity given to the abuse Lydia suffered and the depths she would go to in order to find her children and get them back from her ex kept me invested. Sometimes when authors write novels dealing with abuse it will come off as unrealistic or over the top. This author did a great job of covering what life is like for a woman that loses her children to her abuser.