Critics' Opinion:
Readers' rating:
Published May 2016
416 pages
Genre: Literary Fiction
Publication Information
In one moment, two lives will be changed forever ... and forever ... and forever.
The one thing that's certain is they met on a Cambridge street by chance and felt a connection that would last a lifetime. But as for what happened next ... They fell wildly in love, or went their separate ways. They kissed, or they thought better of it. They married soon after, or were together for a few weeks before splitting up. They grew distracted and disappointed with their daily lives together, or found solace together only after hard years spent apart.
With The Versions of Us, Laura Barnett has created a world as magical and affecting as those that captivated readers in One Day and Life After Life. It is a tale of possibilities and consequences that rings across the shifting decades, from the fifties, sixties, seventies, and on to the present, showing how even the smallest choices can define the course of our lives.
BookBrowse Review
Although the premise of exploring multiple possible outcomes from a simple moment is compelling, the actual events, and characters were far too ordinary to keep track of the changes. The different versions felt remarkably the same, despite the different choices made. I expected great romance and a big exploration of fate and destiny, but found neither.
Other Reviews
"Starred Review. Barnett's evocative presentation is a masterly romantic study of love's choices and consequences, leaving wide open just what constitutes a perfect ending."- Publishers Weekly
"...[T]his debut work, like three snowballs running downhill, gathers the old-fashioned Newtonian momentum of a good yarn. We see the consequences of small choices echoing through the years. Fans of the novel One Day and the movie Sliding Doors will want to pick up this debut." - Kirkus
"Truly enthralling - the spirit of The Versions of Us has lingered with me... I simply adored this wonderful novel." - Jessie Burton, author of The Miniaturist
"Where to begin? With the fluid and effortless prose? The poise and control of the author? The tenderness - but never sentimentality - which permeates the characterization? The cleverness of the plot device? The Versions of Us is both brilliant and astonishingly good." - Elizabeth Buchan, best-selling author of Consider the Lily
"I absolutely loved [The Versions of Us]. It's so elegantly and beautifully written ... I was equally enthralled by each of the three versions ... A really wonderful book." - Esther Freud, author of Lucky Break and Mr. Mac and Me
"A triumphant debut ... A thoughtful, measured book about the interplay of change and destiny in our lives. In addition to its original structure, the novel offers candid insights into the effects of status on love ... Barnett's willingness to look beyond romance to the mechanics of relationships bodes well for her career as a novelist." - Sunday Telegraph (UK)
"Its very scope is a joy, the technical achievement seamlessly done, and the ending- all the endings- suitably affecting." - Guardian (UK)
"Barnett renders an irresistible concept in sweet, cool prose - a bit like a choose-your-own-adventure book in which you don't have to choose." - Observer (UK)
"Like Kate Atkinson's Life After Life or the film Sliding Doors, The Versions of Us, a fine debut by Laura Barnett, offers multiple 'what ifs?' .... Involving and poignant." - Sunday Times (UK)
"Maeve Binchy's death left a gap in the market for stories simply told with no literary affectation. Barnett's promising first novel reads like early Binchy ... The tantalizing 'what if?' theme keeps all three stories going at a cracking pace. It is to her great credit that youthful Barnett invokes the power of love and loss among both the young and old with equal tenderness." - Daily Mail (UK)
"Big and ambitious - spanning decades, cities, and countries - The Versions of Us is also an intricate, intimate book ... a story of romantic love, but also a story of family ... All three versions of Eva's and Jim's lives could work as stand-alone stories, but together they work magnificently." - Bookseller (UK)
This information about The Versions of Us was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Laura Barnett is a writer, journalist, and theatre critic. She has been on staff at the Guardian and the Daily Telegraph, and is now a freelance arts journalist and features writer, working for the Guardian, the Observer and Time Out London, as well as several other national newspapers and magazines. The Versions of Us is her first novel. She lives in London.
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