The Girl You Left Behind by Jojo Moyes - Paperback

The Girl You Left Behind is a very sweet story. Like all of JoJo Moyes' books, I enjoyed every page and devoured it in a very short period of time. Having said that, I think some of her other works are more compelling.There are two parts to The Girl You Left Behind--the story about Sophie, a woman running a bar/hotel, in small-town France, during World War I; and the story about Liv, a widow struggling to survive following the unexpected death of her husband, in current time. What unites these two woman who are living 100 years apart? Liv is now the proud owner of a painting made in Sophie's likeness, which was painted by Sophie's husband, a Matisse-inspired artist.The problem? The two stories don't really mesh. It's truly like reading two different novels. Beyond that, there are several little piddly things that really bothered me. For example, a big deal is made about a baby pig during Sophie's section of the book. They hide it from the German soldiers so it will grow and provide sustenance for them and their neighbors. The problem? Where in the world are they getting the food to feed this pig? These people are surviving on some atrocity called black bread, a food which likely tasted as atrocious as it sounded. There were no leftovers. And it's not as if the pig could roam free, finding truffles in the yard. It had to be hidden from the Germans.That's one of many minor oversights I found in this book. Am I being picky? Perhaps. But if an author chooses to write historical fiction, accuracy equals success. Anything less isn't acceptable to readers.Overall, if you've enjoyed Moyes' previous books, you'll enjoy this one as well. It's worth reading.3.5 stars rounded to 4.

THE GIRL YOU LEFT BEHIND was a disappointment for me. As one who loved ME BEFORE YOU, I found the characters shallow and the plot both contrived and predictable. Oh, the woman with the painting and the man looking for the painting meet and fall in love by accident? - how convenient. Oh, Sophie kept journals? - how convenient. Oh, the little girl who knows what happens is still alive 90 years later? - how convenient.The courtroom scenes and the crazy publicity for an ownership case were laughable. The only character that seemed to have any depth was the Kommandant. I did read it all the way through, hoping for a twist that would make me change my mind, but it never came together. It is as if this was written by a different, and significantly less skilled, author.

This was my second Jojo Moyes novel but certainly not my last. Set during the German Occupation of France during WWI, it paints a vivid picture of life in a small French village dominated by the presence of a German army under the leadership of a Kommandant who is trying to be ethical man in an unethical situation. He has been away from his wife for three years and has a son he’s never seen. He strives for some human connection with one of the sisters, Sophie, who owns and manages the local hotel, and she is the protagonist of this story. Their encounter haunts him for the rest of his life, but it is the trials and tribulations of Sophie as she strives to be reunited with her husband that make for the spine of the story.Years later, a vivid portrait of Sophie painted by her loving husband falls under disputed ownership in 20th Century London, and is now in the hands of a young widow, Liv Halston. Distant heirs of Sophie’s are claiming the painting, known as The Girl You Left Behind, was confiscated during the war and must be returned to them. Liv loves the painting because her deceased husband gave it to her as a gift and suspects Sophie’s relatives are after it for the money it will fetch. The dispute is further complicated when Liv and the male partner of the finding firm develop a mutual attraction. Ms. Moyes’s novels have unusual plots, unanticipated twists, a clear sense of place, and believable dialogue. The reader is sucked into the story and ejected again on the last page, bereft at being left behind because surely these characters continue on, don’t they? They must....

I really liked this book in terms of the writing style and characters. However, there's a few things that bothered me as far as not making sense. I won't go into the detail of the plot in case someone hasn't read it. However, when the main character is so obsessed with holding on to a valuable painting, she has already stopped paying her bills and ran up her credit cards. What did she do? She takes out another mortgage on the house. Anyone who knows ANYTHING about finances, KNOWS a person getting a loan depends on their INCOME (she barely scrapes by as a freelance writer) their credit score ( since tl she ignored bills and not paying any, her credit score would be down the toilet) and DEBT. Obviously, Since she charged her credit card to the Max, she would be in debt. So when she tells the man she seeing that she's taken out mortgage on the house to hire a very expensive lawyers which could end up costing her close to a half million dollars if she lost, the whole idea was so ridiculous it bothered me until I could get past it to another section in the book.