A missing boy. A missing book. A missing husband. A woman who must find them all to find herself.

On the night Bernadette finally has the courage to tell her domineering husband that she’s leaving, he doesn’t come home. Neither does Conor, the little boy she’s befriended for the past five years. Also missing is his lifebook, the only thing that holds the answers. With the help of Conor’s foster mum, Bernadette must face her own past, her husband’s secrets and a future she never dared imagine in order to find them all.

Exquisitely written and deeply touching, The Mountain in My Shoe is both a gripping psychological thriller and a powerful and emotive examination of the meaning of family … and just how far we’re willing to go for the people we love.

My thanks to Karen at Orenda for my review copy and the chance to join the blog tour.

I’d seen so many glowing reviews for The Mountain in my Shoe that before I had even picked up my copy I had high expectations. I was not let down, this was a powerful read and a story which will stick with me for some time to come.

The Mountain in my Shoe was, for me, the story of watching a child grow up through the eyes of other people. It is all done through a lifebook, Conor’s lifebook. It is his story as told by the people responsible for him as he grows up.

Conor’s mother cannot look after him when he is born but she is not willing to put him up for adoption so Conor is placed into foster care.  His lifebook is his story, it is updated by social workers, foster parents, his mother, teachers and so on – everyone that plays a significant part in Conor’s life updates the book in some way and we chart how he grows.

Bernadette had Conor’s lifebook but she has lost it.  She has also lost her husband (misplaced may be more accurate, as when the story begins he hasn’t come home when she had expected) which is unfortunate as she had planned to tell him she was leaving him. Thus begins Bernadette’s trauma, by the time the book draws to a close a lost lifebook is going to be the least of her concerns.

Many reviews you will read of The Mountain in my Shoe will focus on the emotion, the character love and the relationships angles. I loved the mystery. The missing husband, the secrets, the shocking twist in the tale.  It is a wonderfully layered story – a great domestic thriller and a powerful tale of relationships and family.

Eye-opening, traumatic and totally engaging…The Mountain in my Shoe should be on your reading list.

The Mountain In My Shoe is published by Orenda Books and you can get your copy by clicking through this link: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Mountain-My-Shoe-Louise-Beech/dp/1910633399/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1476742416&sr=1-1&keywords=the+mountain+in+my+shoe