Book Review – In Her Shadow

by Louise Douglas (Transworld) ISBN: 9780593070215

It’s not a good idea to interfere in other people’s relationships. Hanna Brown experienced this first-hand as a conflicted teenager. Twenty years later, she still misses her childhood friends.

The ghost-like appearance of one of them brings back memories. In alternating chapters we follow both the teenage and the adult Hanna.

Hanna had a wonderful childhood with great friends: Jago, a neighbourhood boy who becomes like a brother and Ellen, the daughter of a German concert pianist and her possessive husband who come to live in the big house. Initially, Jago and Ellen only seem to be connected via Hanna. Their relationship changes over time leaving Hanna feeling insecure and betrayed. She makes some disastrous choices changing the lives of everyone involved.

The adult Hanna believes Ellen follows her, or at least her ghost does because she has been told that Ellen has died. She teeters on the brink of a mental breakdown. Her colleagues support her and convince her to take a business trip to Germany. This brings her close to Ellen’s past and interesting discoveries.

During the trip Hanna also needs to decide whether to interfere in another relationship, this one of the colleague she fancies. Has she learned her lesson?

This is an enjoyable well-paced read.

Josine Overdevest
3/5