Love, Alice by Barbara Davis
Berkley Publishing Group
Publication Date: December 6, 2016
Date Read: November 27, 2016
Source: First to Read
★★★★☆
From the author of Summer at Hideaway Key comes a sweeping new Southern women’s fiction novel about forgiving the past one letter at a time…
The truth lies between the lines…
A year ago, Dovie Larkin’s life was shattered when her fiancé committed suicide just weeks before their wedding. Now, plagued by guilt, she has become a fixture at the cemetery where William is buried, visiting his grave daily, waiting for answers she knows will never come.
Then one day, she sees an old woman whose grief mirrors her own. Fascinated, she watches the woman leave a letter on a nearby grave. Dovie ignores her conscience and reads the letter—a mother’s plea for forgiveness to her dead daughter—and immediately needs to know the rest of the story.
As she delves deeper, a collection of letters from the cemetery’s lost and found begins to unravel a decades-old mystery involving one of Charleston’s wealthiest families. But even as Dovie seeks to answer questions about another woman’s past—questions filled with deception, betrayal, and heartbreaking loss—she starts to discover the keys to love, forgiveness, and finally embracing the future…
I decided to read this book up because the synopsis sounded interesting. I really had no expectations since I have never read any of this author’s work before and really hadn’t heard anything about this book. I am glad that I decided to pick it up because it turned out to such a nice story. I was pulled into the story right away and really was eager to see everything work out for the characters. I was able to predict some parts of the story but I still really enjoyed the journey.
This was a book that was told in two timelines that focus on two women, Alice and Dovie. Dovie is trying to move on after her fiance committed suicide. She spends a lot of time at the cemetery trying to come to terms with her loss. She happens to see an older woman leave a letter at another grave and feels compelled to take the letter to read. Her life soon becomes intertwined with the older woman and learning the events of the past.
Alice’s story is told through her letters. Alice wrote a series of letters prior to her death that were left at her grave in the cemetery where Alice’s fiance is buried. These letters eventually come to be in Dovie’s possession and she shared them with Alice’s mother slowly over a period of time. As Alice’s story unfolds, my heart broke for her and everything that she went through.
I think that the dual timelines worked well in this book. I really liked that letters were used to tell the story of the past and thought that it made the book flow nicely. Dovie and Alice both were wonderful characters. Dovie learns not only about Alice’s past but some truths about her own as the story moves forward. By the end of the book, Dovie was almost like a new person. She had really come to terms with a lot and had helped her new friends do the same.
I would recommend this book to others. The story was one that has stayed with me. It was a book full of pain and grief but also of friendship, love, and learning to move forward. This is the first book by Barbara Davis but I look forward to checking out some of her other work in the future.
I received an advance reader edition of this book from Berkley Publishing Group via First to Read.
About the Author
Photo: © Lisa Aube After spending more than a decade as an executive in the jewelry business, Barbara Davis decided to leave the corporate world to finally pursue her lifelong passion for writing. Love, Alice is her fourth novel, following Summer at Hideaway Key, The Wishing Tide, and The Secrets She Carried. She currently lives in Rochester, New Hampshire, with her husband Tom, and their beloved ginger cat, Simon, and is working on her next book.
I can see why the blurb drew you in. I'm intrigued by half the plot told through letter, too.
The blurb has definitely hooked me too so I was really excited to see this review so I could see what you thought of it! It sounds like it lived up to its potential and definitely a book I need to read. Great list!
Oh, this sounds wonderful. Just wonderful. I might have to put in a request.
Dual timelines can be something which is difficult to get right from time to time, but I am glad it worked out so well here. I sometimes don't mind a book being a bit predictable from time to time as long as the journey to that point is worth it. Which it sounds like it is here.