The Day My Husband Left: An absolutely gripping and emotional page-turner

4.5★s The Day My Husband Left is the second stand-alone novel by British author, Amy Miller. Even after Johnny Eagle’s first heart attack, life for him and Heidi was good: they had two smart, beautiful daughters (Scarlet and Zoe) and a successful upholstery business. When the second one took him from them, in the main street of Poole, they were devastated. Life had to go on, but Heidi felt distracted, at sea. Zoe had to point out that Scarlet was having relationship problems; and Heidi was having trouble focussing on upholstery projects, although their good friend Max was a great help. Johnny’s last, unsent text had her puzzled: a photo of the main street, right before he died. She recognised the shops, the Blackbird Café… Johnny’s ashes, in a glazed green pot, sat on a shelf in the workshop, and Heidi talked to them often, but they didn’t offer an explanation. Finally, a visit to the spot, and a chance sighting: could it be? Should she pursue this? Her mother, Rosalind was inexplicably vehement: the matter was done, and she was furious with Johnny for resurrecting the one thing they had kept unspoken in their marriage. It could cause untold harm. Max was more pragmatic; he believed in grabbing the chance while you can. And he had a theory about Rosalind’s reaction: “‘Perhaps it’s a generational thing or because it reminds her of a difficult time in both your lives,’ Max said. ‘Of course you need to tread carefully, but in my opinion, life is too short to be ruled by your head. (It) might be the most wonderful thing you ever do.’” But the explanation, when revealed, added yet another complication to Heidi’s life. Heidi told her daughters: “I think your dad planned it this way. He gave us something to deal with, something major, to keep us distracted from our grief. It wasn’t enough to leave me with the business to run!” And from there, a cascade of revelations followed, turning all their lives upside down. Miller’s portrayal of grief is insightful: “Heidi slipped the phone into her pocket and sat stiffly back in the Chesterfield, putting her hands over her lips. She had to physically hold in her grief, because if she started to cry, she thought she’d never stop” and “She felt suddenly silently furious with Johnny. Him dying meant she was left to bring their daughters up alone. Make the right decisions. Point them in the right direction. Be a father and a mother. What if she got it all wrong? Suddenly she felt the choking weight of Johnny’s absence bear down on her chest” are examples of this. Heidi is a wonderful protagonist, loving and generous, and the essence of her chosen profession extends into her life philosophy: “Her father Alan taught her everything he knew about upholstery, and working with her hands and seeing the results of hard physical work felt good. Furniture was tactile and practical and beautiful. Over time, her ambitions changed. She wanted to rescue things. Give furniture a new life. She wanted to make tired, sad things beautiful again.” Miller gives her characters wise words and perceptive comments: “Heidi was struck by a thought about wounds: bandages covered cuts and bruises, signalling to others to offer sympathy. But what about the invisible wounds people carried in their hearts? There were no bandages for those, yet the scars ran deep and lasted a lifetime. If there were physical bandages for emotional hurts, perhaps people would be kinder to one another.” “‘The more love there is floating around, the better, in my opinion,’ Walter said. ‘You can never have too much of the stuff. I’m close to the end of my life now and I wish I’d loved more loudly, more expansively, just more. Because before you know it, you’ve run out of opportunities’” and “Things don’t always work out how you want them to. People often aren’t who you want them to be” illustrate this. A delightful, funny, heart-warming read. This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Bookouture.

This book has all the required elements for one that is classified as women's fiction. The most important element, always, is SECRETS! That is followed by relationships, angst, conflict, love and almost always, resolution. In this book, the past creeps up on the present and causes all these elements to fall into place. But, SECRETS!!!!! This has got to be the winner in that department. Everyone is keeping a big secret from everyone else. That can only cause trouble and hurt feelings. It is really hard to say much about this book without spoilers. Parts of the plot seem over the top to me, as in eye-rolling time. It was just too predictable. But, then when things don't work out like a fairy tale, it shows the frailty of human character. We are not all programmed to say and do the right thing at the right time. And, in retrospect, the characters all end up as very believable. When I take the time to try to figure out how I would have reacted in some of these situations, it means the author has been successful. My favourite quote: “I wish I had loved more loudly, more expansively, just more. Because, before you know it, you've run out of opportunities.” ~Walter I wavered between giving 3 stars or 4 stars. Because this book made me think, it is worthy of the 4 stars. I cannot quite reach 5 stars because of the predictability. It was easy to read and in the end, it was relatable.