If I Were You - Lynn Austin

1950. In the wake of the war, Audrey Clarkson leaves her manor house in England for a fresh start in America with her young son. As a widowed war bride, Audrey needs the support of her American in-laws, whom she has never met. But she arrives to find that her longtime friend Eve Dawson has been impersonating her for the past four years. Unraveling this deception will force Audrey and Eve’s secrets—and the complicated history of their friendship—to the surface.

1940. Eve and Audrey have been as different as two friends can be since the day they met at Wellingford Hall, where Eve’s mother served as a lady’s maid for Audrey’s mother. As young women, those differences become a polarizing force . . . until a greater threat—Nazi invasion—reunites them. With London facing relentless bombardment, Audrey and Eve join the fight as ambulance drivers, battling constant danger together. An American stationed in England brings dreams of a brighter future for Audrey, and the collapse of the class system gives Eve hope for a future with Audrey’s brother. But in the wake of devastating loss, both women must make life-altering decisions that will set in motion a web of lies and push them both to the breaking point long after the last bomb has fallen.

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If I Were You is another book dealing with complicated relationships. It’s a fantastic read and this period is perennially popular.  The story begins with Audrey, a widowed young mother, arriving in America in 1950 to meet her GI husband’s family.  But she is stunned to find her childhood friend Eve is already there and has stolen her identity!  

 

Audrey is a reluctant socialite.  Awkward and introverted, she meets village girl Eve who is her polar opposite, and the girls begin a friendship which will wax and wane through their childhoods and into their adult lives.  We follow their friendship through the 30’s and through the war – which is powerfully described and involving.  The scenes around the returning soldiers from Dunkirk, and in London during bombing raids are particularly memorable.  What happens afterwards, and why, ties directly to the book’s title.

 

Lynn Austen is an expert storyteller and this is a compelling read, dealing with family, friendship, love and loss.  It’s a big book at over 400 pages, but the pace never lets up for a minute, and the story kept me reading well into the small hours!  

 

On the down side, while I understand the use of American words in novels written for a largely US audience, I do find this particularly grates when used in text which is conversation between two English people. I also get irritated by things like references to ‘Westminster Abbey’s spires’, when Westminster Abbey does not have spires.

 

Despite this I would recommend this as a book which has much to offer any reader who likes big and involved stories set in and around the WWII period.

9781496437303, Tyndale House

For transparency, I was sent an advance copy of this book, but I was not required to write any specific or favourable review. All views herein are my own.