The Girl You Left Behind, Jojo Moyes
The Girl You Left Behind, Jojo Moyes
34 Rating(s)
List: $17.50 | Sale: $12.25
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The Girl You Left Behind

Author: Jojo Moyes

Narrator: Clare Corbett, Penny Rawlins

Unabridged: 13 hr 29 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Penguin Audio

Published: 08/20/2013


Synopsis

Look out for Jojo’s new book, Paris for One and Other Stories, available now.

Another New York Times bestseller by the author of Me Before You, After You, and One Plus One—a spellbinding story of two women united in their fight for what they love most.

Jojo Moyes’s word-of-mouth bestseller, Me Before You, catapulted her to wide critical acclaim and struck a chord with a wide range of readers everywhere. Now, with The Girl You Left Behind, Moyes returns with another irresistible heartbreaker—a breathtaking story of love, loss, and sacrifice told with her signature ability to capture our hearts.

Paris, 1916. Sophie Lefèvre must keep her family safe while her adored husband, Édouard, fights at the front. When their town falls to the Germans in the midst of World War I, Sophie is forced to serve them every evening at her hotel. From the moment the new Kommandant sets eyes on Sophie’s portrait—painted by her artist husband—a dangerous obsession is born, one that will lead Sophie to make a dark and terrible decision. Almost a century later, Sophie’s portrait hangs in the home of Liv Halston, a wedding gift from her young husband before his sudden death. After a chance encounter reveals the portrait’s true worth, a battle begins over its troubled history and Liv’s world is turned upside all over again.

About Jojo Moyes

English author, Pauline Sara Jo (Jojo) Moyes was born in London, England, UK in 1969. She grew up in London, attended London schools and colleges, then had a career in various writing venues. She still writes articles for The Daily Telegraph, but her Romantic Novel career began in 2002, with her first book, Sheltering Rain. She has won the Romantic Novel of the Year award twice.

Moyes novel, Me Before You, was one of the novels that garnered her the award mentioned above. It has sold more than 8 million copies across the world. In June of 2016, after it was adapted to film, Me Before You was released starring Sam Claflin of The Hunger Games, and Emilia Clarke of Game of Thrones. Jojo wrote the screenplay. The adaptation was written by Michael H. Weber and Scott Neustadter.

Jojo Moyes currently lives on a Saffron Walden, Essex farm with her husband, Charles Arthur (who is a journalist), and their three children.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Diane on October 06, 2013

I'm probably done with this author. The storyline about Sophie and Eduoard during WWI kept me interested. The details and complications of the German Occupation seemed realistic and were thought provoking. The painting of Sophie deeply affected all who viewed it and I liked the way it linked the two......more

Goodreads review by Maria on April 02, 2017

Se puede decir que estoy sin palabras! Sin respiración! No hace muchos días una compañera de GR me dijo que Jojo Moyes era una apuesta segura, y qué razón tenía. Es, son, dos historias tan fascinantes, duras y trágicas que... ufff! Sin lugar a dudas, una de las mejores novelas que he leído este año......more

Goodreads review by Zarina on August 15, 2012

This is an astonishing novel which beautifully connects present and past in a tale of war and love. The Girl You Left Behind has a dual time-frame narrative; the first part is seen through the eyes of a woman in occupied France in 1916, the second through one living in modern day London. I'm not gene......more

Goodreads review by Barbara on April 12, 2023

A satisfying read! “The Girl You Left Behind” is the title of a portrait painted in Paris, 1912. In this novel, Moyes weaves a WWI historical fiction story with a current London suspense/love story. In both stories, the themes of passion, art, love, commitment and trust are explored. In the London s......more

Goodreads review by [~Ami~]♥Sexy Dexy♥ on January 26, 2015

5 stars I wasn't planning on writing a review for this book I thought my 5 star rating spoke for itself. But its been 9 days since I read this and I can't get this book out of my head. I love JoJo's writing. This is my favourite of hers to date (out of the 4 books I have read). BTW I love the way......more


Quotes

"Vibrant and gripping.”
People Magazine (***)

"Jojo Moyes expertly weaves a bittersweet tale in this irresistible novel, taking careful interest in the dark corners that exist within great love stories, and the trickiness of simple happy endings. A-"
Entertainment Weekly

“Moyes writes delicious plots, with characters so clearly imagined they leap off the pages in high-definition prose. . . . Clever plot turns make for a satisfying ending . . .  Moyes brings fresh strokes to this story about the power of art and love to transcend what imprisons us. Romantics looking for a story set amid the politics of plundered art couldn't do much better than The Girl You Left Behind.”
USA Today (3 1/2 stars)

"Jojo Moyes builds on her strengths in this moving and accomplished new novel. As she did in the best-selling Me Before You, she asks readers to think in fresh ways about a morally complex issue. . . . The Girl You Left Behind is strong, provocative, satisfying fiction."
The Washington Post

"'In this moving paean to daring, determination and perspicacity, Moyes keeps the reader guessing down to the last hankie."
Los Angeles Times

"Good storytelling."
New York Daily News

"In her latest heart tugger, Jojo Moyes deftly weaves the story of newlyweds in WWI France with that of a young widow in today’s London."
Parade

"Lovely and wry, Moyes’s newest is captivating and bittersweet."
Publishers Weekly (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 (starred review)

"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