Another Life by Jodie Chapman Blog Tour

 Now I have read my fair share of debut novels, many are good but there are the odd few that really impress me and all I want to do is tell everyone to read them.

One such book is Another Life by Jodie Chapman.

This is a story that hits you right in the heart!

Nick and Anna work the same summer job at their local cinema. Anna is mysterious, beautiful, and from a very different world to Nick.

She's grown up preparing for the end of days, in a tightly-controlled existence where Christmas, getting drunk and sex before marriage are all off-limits.

So when Nick comes into her life, Anna falls passionately in love. Their shared world burns with poetry and music, cigarettes and conversation - hints of the people they hope to become.

But Anna, on the cusp of adulthood, is afraid to give up everything she's ever believed in, and everyone she's ever loved. She walks away, and Nick doesn't stop her.

Years later, a tragedy draws Anna back into Nick's life.

But rekindling their relationship leaves Anna and Nick facing a terrible choice between a love that's endured decades, and the promises they've made to others along the way.

You cannot help but feel things when you read this novel.

I guess you could say this is a love story or more accurately a story that is about love and not just the one experienced when you are in a relationship. The love from family, friends, acquaintances and even strangers. Definitely not one of those typical romances. This is a tale with a lot more depth and grit to it.

Everything was laid out. The good, the bad and the ugly.

It was emotional, it was real and it was raw.

Told through the course of varying timelines, going from the present day all the way back to the eighties, we get to know Nick, his family, his most nearest and dearest, all those memorable moments. 

Everything is interwoven together seamlessly, warts and all.

“You are and always will be more than a month”

Jodie takes the subject of love and essentially puts it under a magnifying glass. Exactly what does it mean to love and to be loved? 

It is funny how something that should be simple and effortless can be so different for every person.

We are given such a fascinating insight into Nick's life. As the timeline shifts seemingly unsystematically, we are taken through Nick's childhood, his love affair with Anna, and onto the more serious moments of his adult life. 

Each fragment of his existence a necessary piece to the puzzle of his life and where his wanderings will lead.

Just when I thought I understood her, she would melt away and become a completely new person, and I'd have to start all over again.

I absorbed every element of this story.

Refreshing literature.

Another Life didn't rely on major twists and turns to make it a page turner. Instead what was written was palpable, genuine and authentic.

Jodie has written a debut story that made me instantly want to read it again as soon as I had finished it.

Heartbreakingly hopeful. A stunning novel filled with devastating love.

If you want to read more about the book before you buy it (I know you'll want to) then do check out the rest of the blog tour featured below: