The Girl You Left Behind

This storyline was unlike anything I'd read before. It's dual POV. First, we begin the story of Sophie Lefevere during World War I in France. Her husband, an artist, is fighting in the war. Sophie's town is taken over by Germans and a Kommandant sees the portrait Sophie's husband painted of her and becomes obsessed. (No spoilers here.) Flash forward and we're now in modern day London with Liv Halston. She is in possession of Sophie's portrait, The Girl You Left Behind, which was a wedding gift from her late husband. She becomes involved in a bitter battle over the portrait once it's found in her possession.

It only took me like three weeks to read this because Depression™. But that shouldn't reflect on the book, because it was beautiful and interesting. So like I said, we start with Sophie's story, which is a harrowing one. Then in the MIDST of it, we're suddenly dropped into modern day London with a totally new character. EXCUSE ME. I was a little upset at first, not gonna lie. I wanted to finish Sophie's story, I had to know what happened. But then I did end up getting interested in Liv's world, so it was okay. The characters in the historical fiction part were real to me and fleshed out and living. The modern day characters were just okay. They felt a little like pawns in the game other than Liv, but eh, whatever.

Here's what I truly think. I think this would have been better as a single POV historical fiction, just totally cutting out the modern day part. BUT I did find it interesting the way she revealed what happened to Sophie. I don't want to give any spoilers, but as the synopsis states, there is a court battle over Sophie's portrait, which brings up a lot of found evidence. I've never read anything like that or the big reveal being made in a modern day courtroom in a historical fiction. So I was really interested in the setting. But I think I would have enjoyed it more without. That's the reason I've rated it four stars instead of five. I also felt the court battle was really drawn out and could have been at least 50 pages shorter. I truly loved Sophie and company and wanted to read about everything they did and what happened to them. It was heartbreaking and beautiful and I freaking sobbed at the end. It's truly a beautiful story of love and loss and the human condition.

Would I recommend?
If you've read anything else Jojo Moyes and enjoyed it, yes. If you like historical fiction, it's worth dual modern day POV. It's worth it.