If I Let You Go: The Heartbreaking, Shocking Richard and Judy Book Club Pick

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Janet is such a great and relatable character - flawed & struggling but so much more than she initially believes herself to be.

The writing is crisp and edgy. The characters are anxious, tormented, and flawed. And the plot is a tense, unpredictable tale full of twists, turns, revelations, insecurities, deception, grief, manipulation, lies, and tragedy. It is both heartbreaking and hopeful - Charlotte writes the most stunning prose and her character observations are both darkly humorous and incredibly insightful. I loved it! -- Nikki Smith author of Look What You Made Me Do Every morning Janet Brown goes to work cleaning offices. It calms her, cleanliness, neatness. All the things she’s unable to do with her soul can be achieved with a damp cloth and a splash of bleach. However, the guilt she still carries about a devastating loss that happened eleven years ago, cannot be erased.bookshelf #bookshelflove #booklove #bookishlove #bookish #booktok #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #bookstagramuk #bookobsessed #booknerd #bookreviewer #bookrecommendations #instabooks

Of course, this isn’t a continual state. If you met me, you probably wouldn’t suspect any of this. Most of the time I even forget I’m like this myself. Until I receive an invitation to something I’d like to attend. If it’s outside where I feel comfortable, I contemplate if it’s manageable. I investigate, gather further information, such as parking and other events happening that would increase traffic. Whereas the average person may think, “Oh yes, I’m meeting such-and-such in half an hour,” I would have to practise beforehand, attempt missions to the destination; some successful, some failed. Then, Janet finds herself involved in a train crash and, recognizing the chance to do what she couldn't all those years ago, she makes a decision. As news spreads of Janet's actions, her story inspires everyone around her, and for the first time her life has purpose and the future is filled with hope. If I let you go follows Janet, a cleaner who has followed the same routine for years going to work and cleaning offices. Her and her husband Colin have been affected by something in the past regarding their daughter Claire. Janet is etched with guilt regarding whatever happened with their daughter. When a train crash happens and Janet is seen as the local hero for saving a little girl, her life begins to change. A story of love, loss, grief. Of blame. Of punishment. Of keeping a memory alive. Of fearing letting that memory go. Until the anniversary of Claires death when Janet rebels against Colin with tragic consequences when Janet is involved in an accident that has her hailed a hero. Janet believes she has been redeemed for Claires death, but as she becomes well known for her heroic act, she starts to remember what really happened that night.

Janet felt so broken that I just wanted to wrap a blanket around her and whisk her away! She is married to Colin who made my skin crawl, I can’t remember the last time I physically felt consistently repulsed by a character to this degree and I wish I could give you spoilers of the ending but I won’t don’t worry🤣 Janet Brown works as a cleaner and she’s a very good one too as she finds gleaming surfaces calming. She’s married to Colin, who seems to punish her for any minor infraction as he sees it. One evening, she’s had as much as she can take and she makes a break for it channelling her inner Thelma or Louise. What follows on has far-reaching consequences she could not have foreseen as things utterly spiral out of control.

Goodreads Librarians are volunteers who help ensure the accuracy of information about books and authors in the Goodreads' catalog. The Goodreads Libra Goodreads Librarians are volunteers who help ensure the accuracy of information about books and authors in the Goodreads' catalog. The Goodreads Librarians Group is the official group for requesting additions or updates to the catalog, including: read #readreadread #readersgonnaread #reading #reader #readingcorner #readmorebooks #readstagram #readersofig #ifiletyougo Thank you so much to pan MacMillan, the author and of course @instabooktours for arranging such a fantastic readalong!In If I Let You Go we meet Janet, a cleaner, a wife and mourning the loss of her daughter eleven years previously. We peek behind the outward face of Janet to see how she navigates life as the day that would have been her daughter's eighteenth birthday.