The One I Was by Eliza Graham- 319 pages
Book Blurb:
Restless, troubled Rosamond Hunter has spent most of her life running away from the past, filled with guilt about her involuntary role in her mother’s death. When her nursing job brings her back to Fairfleet, her childhood home, to care for an elderly refugee, she is forced to confront the ghosts that have haunted her for so long.
Her patient, Benny Gault, first came to Fairfleet, England, in 1939, having fled Nazi Germany on a Kindertransport train.
As his health fails, he and Rosamond begin to confide in each other. At first their tentative friendship revolves around the love they both shared for Rosamond’s glamorous grandmother, Harriet, but as their trust in each other grows, guilty secrets are exposed and history is turned on its head.
My Review: 4 stars
Wow! The One I Was was an engrossing and satisfying read that will ensnare readers at once. With a cover and title that give the impression of the doldrums, the pages will otherwise convince you of a story worth telling.
There are two main storylines being woven together from the start that are equally engaging. Both involve secrets from the past that once shared, need forgiveness; one before dying and one before living. The book encapsulates the Yiddish word Bashert, meaning, “meant to be” on so many levels.
Without giving away a spoiler, I’ll just hint that Benny’s love interest seemed very unnecessary. The story didn’t need that addition. I would’ve loved a picture of the house on the cover as it held so many secrets for so very long. Would’ve loved to see how the author imagined it.
Quotes I liked:
I suppose I’m like a kind of midwife for the dying. Rather than help them arrive, I help them leave.”
-“There’s none so blind as those that cannot see, Clarissa.”
-“The world depends on some of us refusing to be the same as everyone else.”
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