Book review of The Half-Life of Hannah by Nick Alexander

The Half-Life Of Hannah by Nick Alexander is one of the (many) books that I found for free on Amazon Kindle. I downloaded it a while ago and have finally got around to reading it. I find there are always too many books and not enough time. Please note, this book is not free all of the time.

The Half-Life of Hannah

In the book we are on holiday in the south of France with an extended family. Hannah aged 38, her husband Cliff, their 11 year old son Luke, Hannah’s sister Jill, her 13 year old daughter Aisha and Tristan, a family friend. There are tensions in the group from the outset and I have to say to begin with it was a little confusing to follow. It took me quite a few chapters to get who was who and even then I found I had to wait for the story to unfurl to understand a lot of what is running just underneath the surface. It was worth sticking with though, as towards the end I got totally lost (and lost track of time) in it.

Hannah is looking forward to a relaxing family holiday in the rented villa with pool, hammock, garden with stream and all the people she loves around her. However her safe life with her safe husband seems to be under threat when someone from their past walks back into their lives. There is a lot of confusion of feelings between the family members, add to that bottled up emotions and sibling rivalry and the situation threatens to reach boiling point. I have a degree in sibling rivalry from the good old university of life, so I could feel the anger that was playing out uncomfortably on the pages.

When the years of lies are uncovered it is up to Hannah to decide what comes next and how the second half of her life will play out. There are also some nice little vignettes of the France they visit scattered amongst the turbulence of the family drama that unfolds.

I am so glad that the sequel Other Halves will be published on 12th December 2014 as despite this book coming to a satisfactory conclusion, I want to read more.

Also by Nick Alexander with a French theme is The Case of the Missing Boyfriend and it’s sequel The French House. Both are waiting patiently on my kindle.