The Man I Loved Before

De: Anna Mansell

Narrado por: Ella Lynch

"Dear Ben, I can only write you this letter because I know you’ll never read it...."

When Jem writes to her ex, Ben, it’s to explain everything. All the secrets she kept from him - from the little lies she’d sometimes tell about how new those shoes really were, or how many glasses of wine she’d had that evening...right up to The Big Thing that happened on the night that changed everything. But she never expects he will actually see what she’s written.

She is just writing because she thinks it will help to get the words out. Later, she resolves, she’ll burn the letter, and then the past will be in the past for good.

Because Jem is doing fine now. She’s busy: working, spending time with her best friend, and looking after her mother, who’s in remission from cancer. She’s even dating again and has just met a guy who she thinks she could actually fall for. At long last, Jem is really, definitely somewhere close to happy.

But her mum finds the letter and thinks she’s doing Jem a favor when she posts it to Ben. And Jem’s new, carefully rebuilt life begins to unravel in ways she could never have imagined. Then, when her mother gets ill again, she finds herself asking who has the key to her future. The man she’s falling in love with now? Or the man she loved before?

A heartbreaking, beautifully honest novel that will stay with listeners long after they finish it. Perfect for fans of Diane Chamberlain, Amanda Prowse, and Susan Lewis.

©2020 Anna Mansell (P)2020 Bookouture

Beautiful Growth

"The Man I Loved Before" was beautifully written and pulled my heart in so many directions. The characters flaws just made me ache to my core. I felt like I was witnessing a friend struggle with her self worth and second guessing so many of her life choices. I was just rooting for this woman who, from the onset of the novel, had declared herself broken.

This was a story of growth, but only after wilting away. A story of being put back together only after the pieces have shattered to unthinkable tiny slivers. I was so frustrated and so upset through the whole thing, but I grew in my understanding of the character as she grew in her own understanding.

As usual, I am in love with the performance by narrator Ella Lynch. 13 seconds into the story, her tone was tugging at my heart strings and entwining an even more intense connection to the novel. Such a great book and I would highly recommend.