The Gentle Art Of Forgetting

This is a strange and fascinating book. It's one of those books that starts with lots of different strings, and part of the interest is seeing how Easter is going to bring them all together, alongside the big question: what is going on?
Jane Dawn finds herself Here - a clearing in a strange forest, filled with snow - a place where she has to work out why she's there, and choose where to go next. The book unfolds in this timescale and in the story of her life. Easter is good at playing with time, and good at building in small details that eventually reveal their significance.
This is not a conventional thriller, but it pulls you in with its own mystery and its own questions.

Apparently it links in with "The General Theory of Haunting", which I read a while ago. I'm going to have to go back and re-read now, and look for the connections. This is definitely not a sequel, it's very much a stand-alone book, but I'm interested to see how Easter builds those links in. He's good at connections. and odd twists.

Thank you, NetGalley, for letting me read this.

This novel (and the previous in the series) is unique in it's structure and approach, and in good ways. It's also genre defying since it can be put in multiple categories. Easter shows a lot of talent, and does a great job of keeping interesting by making it a bit of an intellectual read. Recommended.

I really appreciate the advanced copy for review!!

An easy read with amazing depth. A tale of family love and commitment, of human endurance, personal strength and recovery from catastrophic circumstances. How do we deal with emotional difficulties and pain? How does the mind deal with massive trauma? How does a family survive when things go wrong? A surreal story full of coincidences and twists of fate, of the strength of love, and of recovery.
⭐️ ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This story is intriguing with the narrator inviting the reader to come along on a journey and cleverly weaving together the significant events in Jane's life that lead to the final outcome. These can be as monumental as a death, as tiny as a dripping tap.

Two very different styles are used. The chapters located in the place called Here are fragmented and even the page layout is disjointed.. Being new to NetGalley, I did wonder if this was a deliberate device to enhance the fragmentation of the narrative, or perhaps it is a symptom of this being a version of the text which has not had its final proof-read.

The chapters written in what I will call the 'real world' are altogether different, with events, emotions and relationships described with great clarity and insight. Here the narrative flows and grips, getting right to the heart of emotions ranging all the way from grief to love, and as Jane's life story comes together, so she comes to life.

This is an intriguing book with an original structure. It held my attention to the end, with hints of what was to come which kept me wondering where the narrator and I were going.. However, for me the flaw in the narrative is that we are told on a few occasions that Jane has killed people, which is misleading and surprising in a book where a major theme is that of unavoidable random happenings determining our path through life. At the risk of giving too much away, I will say no more!

This story is captivating and very thought provoking. I was propelled forward to the final chapter but the book is unforgettable and will stay with me for a time.
Many thanks to BooksGoSocial and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.