Book Summary and Reviews of The Girl You Left Behind by Jojo Moyes

The Girl You Left Behind by Jojo Moyes

The Girl You Left Behind

by Jojo Moyes

  • Critics' Consensus (3):
  • Readers' Rating (9):
  • Published:
  • Aug 2013, 384 pages
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About this book

Book Summary

Jojo Moyes's bestseller, Me Before You, catapulted her to wide critical acclaim and has struck a chord with readers everywhere. "Hopelessly and hopefully romantic" (Chicago Tribune), Moyes returns with another irresistible heartbreaker that asks,"Whatever happened to the girl you left behind?"

France, 1916:  Artist Edouard Lefevre leaves his young wife, Sophie, to fight at the front. When their small town falls to the Germans in the midst of World War I, Edouard's portrait of Sophie draws the eye of the new Kommandant. As the officer's dangerous obsession deepens, Sophie will risk everything - her family, her reputation, and her life - to see her husband again.

Almost a century later, Sophie's portrait is given to Liv Halston by her young husband shortly before his sudden death. A chance encounter reveals the painting's true worth, and a battle begins for who its legitimate owner is - putting Liv's belief in what is right to the ultimate test.

Like Sarah Blake's The Postmistress and Tatiana de Rosnay's Sarah's Key, The Girl You Left Behind is a breathtaking story of love, loss, and sacrifice told with Moyes's signature ability to capture our hearts with every turn of the page.

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Reviews

Media Reviews

"Starred Review. Lovely and wry, Moyes's newest is captivating and bittersweet. " - Publishers Weekly

"Moyes (Me Before You, 2012) writes with such clarity that one can almost see the eponymous 100-year-old painting at the center of her wonderful new novel... an uncommonly good love story." - Booklist

"Starred Review. Moyes (Me Before You) has created a riveting depiction of a wartime occupation that has mostly faded from memory. Liv and Sophie are so real in their faults, passion, and bravery that the reader is swept along right to the end. This one is hard to put down!" - Library Journal

This information about The Girl You Left Behind 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.

Reader Reviews

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Leah L.

JoJo strikes again!
JoJo Moyes has a unfailing gift of creating characters who get under your skin, staying with you long after you finished reading her books. Sophie is a deliciously warm, kindhearted person who goes to all ends to help her family and fellow townsmen during the German occupation of France during World War I. The reader will have a special place in their heart for Edith, a "fallen woman" who is more three-dimensional than most of the people in town. Modern-day Liv, whose own circumstances are rather individual as she is a young widow, is at a crossroads in her life. She nevertheless stands by her principles as did Sophie and Edith decades earlier. And who would think that a child to whom Sophie gave a home holds the cards in the end? Well-written, JoJo Moyes paints a picture of little known details about World War I. Keep them coming, JoJo!

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Author Information

Jojo Moyes Author Biography

Photo: Phillis Christopher

Jojo Moyes is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Giver of Stars, Still Me, Paris for One and Other Stories, After You, One Plus One, The Girl You Left Behind, Me Before You, The Last Letter from Your Lover, The Horse Dancer, Night Music, Silver Bay, The Ship of Brides, and The Peacock Emporium. Also a screenwriter, Jojo lives in London, England.

Author Interview
Link to Jojo Moyes's Website

Name Pronunciation
Jojo Moyes: moyz

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