This is the first book I've read by Amanda Prowse, though I've seen her a lot on TV and always liked the sound of her stories. In person (on TV, I mean) , she has the ability to draw people in and captivate them with her account of  even the most mundane thing, so I had high hopes. I wasn't disappointed.

The Day She Came Back tells the story of Victoria (about to turn 19), her grandmother, Prim (who raised her), and Sarah, the mother Victoria never knew. 

Victoria's world falls apart when her grandmother passes, but with the help of her best friend, Daksha, she plans Prim's funeral and the ensuing wake, only to meet a familiar-looking woman in the grounds of Rosebank (the home bequeathed to her by Prim) when she escapes for some fresh air.

The woman, Sarah, claims she is Victoria's mother, and the story takes off in a whirlwind of sorrow, anger, pain, but above all, love, as the secrets of the past are revealed. The author never overwhelms the story with unnecessary detail; instead she sprinkles snippets of information about them as the story unfolds, enabling the reader to get a slow, but complete impression of their personalities. Sarah, who now lives in Oslo, shares letters between her and Prim with Victoria, so her daughter can a contemporaneous account of how things turned out the way they did. Through the letters, you see the pain, sadness, anger, frustration, and love that  kept Prim and Sarah, and ultimately Victoria, apart. 

But, Victoria has questions, lots and lots of them, and decides to visit Sarah in Oslo. It is the start of a beautiful relationship for  them both, and paves the way for Victoria's "happy ever after".

It's a quick read, as once you're drawn in, you cannot stop reading. Stunning locations, believable people, and a bucketful of emotion. Highly recommended to fans of intense women fiction where family is at the heart off the story.

Secrets come to light once Victoria’s grandmother passes away. What will this do to Victoria’s future? What follows is a very emotional and heartbreaking journey for Victoria. Family secrets, hidden truths and learning to forgive are encountered along the way.
Thank you to NetGallery, the publisher and author for the opportunity to read and review this book for my honest opinion.

When her loving, free-spirited grandmother Primrose passes away, Victoria is bereft, yet resilient—she has survived tragedy before. But even her strength is tested when a mysterious woman, Sarah, attends Prim’s funeral and claims to be the mother Victoria thought was dead.

The story then follows Victoria's search for the truth and her struggle to trust and forgive to live a full and happy life,

This book is a powerful family drama filled with grief, guilt, love and forgiveness. While I loved all the characters my absolute favourite was Victoria's best friend, Daksha.

Overall an enjoyable and easy read. While this is my first read by this author, I am definitely looking forward to read more from her.

Thank You to NetGalley and Amazon Publishing UK for this ARC!!

An easy read but one that covers tricky situations - particularly the lengths we go to to protect our loved ones and what ‘home’ means. I found Victoria’s story a little hard to connect with as it didn’t pack the usual emotional punch that I’ve come to know and love from Amanda Prowse. But there were elements of this when Victoria reads the letters between her mum and Prim, especially as the letters progress. One thing I would have liked would be more Prim.

For most of the reviewers this was obviously a 5-star book – the praise was glowing and people had really enjoyed reading it. I think I have read other books by the author which I enjoyed, so I was drawn to this one. Ms Prowse is clearly a professional writer (something which cannot be said for all the books I read from Net Galley!) and the prose was well constructed with good editing, punctuation & none of the things that irritate me! There were some beautiful passages, which created the atmosphere perfectly:

“…..she lay still taking in the sounds that to most, would have seemed quite unremarkable..…. For Victoria they were like music, a composition just for her. She listened to Sarah open and close cupboard doors, click switches, clatter crockery and the metallic rattle of items ferreted from the dishwasher. She heard her hum and laugh softly, cough twice and chat in both English and Norwegian.”

I thought Ms Prowse wrote with a sense of place too: the descriptions of parts of Oslo made me want to visit a city that seems to be important to the author.

It was a believable, heart warming story with well delineated characters, and yet…

While I believed in Victoria’s sorrow, and shock at the revelations, I didn’t particularly warm to her, and so some of her actions made me think “Don’t be so stupid/ pathetic/ wet/ irritating…” (delete as applicable to the action) BUT I tended to forget that she was only 18, and so – as is the fact with many teenagers – her stupidity/ patheticness/ wetness/ irritating behaviour (delete as applicable etc) was entirely reasonable in the circumstances! Perhaps this was the author’s intention; as I found the other, more adult characters reasonable and likeable, then maybe Victoria was so well written as to evoke those emotions in me!!

Yes, I’d happily give the book 4 stars – mostly because I rarely give 5 stars unless I’ve been blown away by a book. I’d recommend it to those looking for a relatively easy read, but something with a bit of bite to it.

I always enjoy reading a book by Amanda Prowse and The Day She Came back was no exception.

This is a story of the importance of family and of love and loss, not necessarily in that order! I could imagine being like Daksha, a supportive friend of Victoria’s when her life began to change, and things began to spiral out of control. Whilst reading Victoria’s story I cried and laughed in equal amounts.

To me, it seems that Amanda Prowse puts a little of herself in each of her books. Her beautifully written descriptions of life in Oslo transported me there and I now long to visit Ekeberg,, Acker Brygge, and the Ekebergparken Sculpture Park. (after lockdown and Covid-19). My favourite paragraph, however, could have been written about anywhere, and I could hear the sounds as I read:
“…..she lay still taking in the sounds that to most, would have seemed quite unremarkable..…. For Victoria they were like music, a composition just for her. She listened to Sarah open and close cupboard doors, click switches, clatter crockery and the metallic rattle of items ferreted from the dishwasher. She heard her hum and laugh softly, cough twice and chat in both English and Norwegian.” “These were the sounds of family” wrote Amanda Prowse.

I really didn’t want The Day She Came Back to end and I give it 5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and Amazon Publishing for this arc and give an honest review.

I enjoyed this book because Victoria is such a mess, but in a good way. She is just out of school with her whole future ahead of her. She has a crush on a popular boy. She and her best friend are going to travel for a while. Then, her grandmother passes away and Victoria’s life turns upside down.

I felt a connection with Victoria, even though my life was really nothing like hers. She was just very easy to relate to.

I would recommend this book to anyone who likes a coming of age story. This book made me smile and laugh and reminisce about being young and thinking that I knew it all.

Amanda always delivers an emotional read which gets me really involved with the characters. A super book. Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for letting me review this book.

Thanks to netgalley for the chance to read this book.

When Victoria’s grandmother dies she thinks she is all alone, but a secret that has been kept from her for years changes her future.

Another fantastic saga from the pen of Amanda Prowse, which examines the relationship of Victoria with the mum she never knew was alive. Love, lies, loyalty and conflict are all dealt with in Amanda’s usual sympathetic style, along with a very satisfactory ending . I think this is one of her best books and I have read them all!

Delightful coming into age or into one's self story.

Victoria has just hit adulthood with plans to travel the globe with her best friend. Her grandmother, Primrose, is fully on board with her experiencing life that way and encourages her to that end.

Life seems to be good.

Then Prim dies, leaving Victoria alone in the world.

Only she learns that her mother never really died.

So now Victoria is grappling with grief over the death of her grandmother (and only parent she knew) and the fact that something so foundational to her life (dead mom) was a lie.

Overall, a good story. Although I was about ready to hop into the book and slap Victoria with her silly girl blind spot for a boy out to use her. Thankfully, it concluded quicker than I was dreading. And then the story of her learning about the past and healing could begin.

Thanks Netgalley and the Publisher. This author is one of my all time favourites and this was up there with the best that she has written. It is a thought provoking and emotional read and I absolutely loved it.

This is my first read of a book written by Amanda Prowse. I very much enjoyed it and will definitely look Into her other work.

This is the story of Victoria. Her grandmother passes away and she is devastated by the loss. During the funeral, a stranger reveals to her, that she is her mother. Victoria doesn’t know how to take the news. This book is that journey into understanding, acceptance, forgiveness, love reconciliation and family.

This was a quick read for me! I definitely recommend it for anyone looking for their next book! I want to thank NetGalley & Lake Union published for the ARC and the chance to read this novel and provide a review.

A delightful story of loss and love, which held my attention throughout.

Victoria is living a happy life with her beloved Grandmother Prim in their lovely home, Rosebank, which she has been in all her life. Prim raised Victoria giving her a wonderful childhood yet Victoria feels someone is missing and that’s her dead Mum Sarah. Sarah was a studious girl guaranteed to go on to good things, which was until she was introduced to drugs. Unfortunately the love of her next hit was the only thing keeping her will to live. Prim desperate to spare her granddaughter this sort of life struck a deal with Sarah and took responsibility of Victoria to raise and cherish.

After the shock death of Prim, Sarah suddenly re appears sending Victoria into a spin. Reading how Mother and Daughter learn to reconnect was a joy but fraught at times. I totally related to the characters in this book as they come across as realistic and honest. My favourite quote in this book is that they will always share the same moon – how true and thought provoking.

My thanks to Net Galley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

The Day She Came Back is my first Amanda Prowse book. I felt that I have to read something from her as I read so many positive feedbacks.

This book was an emotional rollercoaster with Victoria, Primrose and Sarah. Victoria recently lost her beloved grandma, Prim who was the mom in her life. As an unexpected turn she meets with a woman, who claims to be her mom, on her grandmother’s funeral. She can’t believe it and takes it in a really sceptical way.

A very impulsive and touching women’s fiction novel about family love and loss.
Thank you for NetGalley and the Publisher for the copy.

This book is top form Amanda Prowse. A couple I read previously didn’t make me feel much but this is up there with my other favourite ‘The Food of Love’.
An emotional easy read that you can escape in for a while, highly recommend.

Prowse writes a good story. Victoria is very close to,her grandmother, Prim, but is unprepared for her death. Then she discovers a lie her gran,other told her, which will upend her life. She goes off the deep end for a bit, but gradually grapples with reality. I thought the ending was really good.

I have read and enjoyed many books by Amanda Prowse as she tells a wonderful story and this was no exception. Wonderful characters- Prim, Sarah and Victoria.
No spoilers but you will need tissues for this one. Although tissues are standard for most of Amanda’s books!
Many thanks to the author and Netgalley for the opportunity to read an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I throughly enjoyed this book, we’ll written. You actually could put yourself in the characters position. A woman who gives up her child to her mother. Having no contact with her daughter for 19 years. The mother and child go through a lot in those 19 years until they finally come together and tell each other their story. Heartbreaking to go through.

Yet another amazing book by Amanda Prowse. . I was so honoured to receive an advance copy of this book. I'm in awe of how she manages to do it time after time.