I feel this is a book I really shouldn't have read during the pandemic. Full of trauma with a woman whose mother is a bully and then succumbs to dementia . The other character is unhappy at having to live in Dubai for her husband's job.. The writing was beautiful but I found it difficult to read and I didn't engage with it overall.

It took me a little while to adjust to the way of writing but once there I was hooked! Two different stories - Connie who lives with her family in Dhubai and who is persuaded by her husband to take on a housemaid and then Stella who is writing to Connie in her head! The connection between these two women is totally unexpected, incredibly poignant and very emotional. Sensitively written and psychologically revealing!
I totally believed in both women and felt quite emotionally drained by its conclusion. Very different and very readable!

Two women in different countries are linked by traumatic events. Stella narrates her own story, telling it in her head to Connie. Connie's version is told in the third person, making it seem more objective. The link between them is only confirmed towards the end. Stella has been facially disfigured. She lives alone and hides in her house, afraid of people seeing her. Connie reluctantly lives a life of luxury with her family in Dubai, due to her husband's job. What makes this book such a pleasure to read is the way the lead characters are so well-drawn, so that you feel you would recognise them if they walked down the street. I enjoyed Blackberry and Wild Rose by the same author and this is just as good.

It's not often that I'm surprised by a book but this one took a turn that I was really not expecting. Stella and Connie are great characters and richly drawn so that you are totally engaged with them and their lives.
A well written, well researched book and completely compelling. One of the very few 5 stars I give.

Two women, worlds apart, share a connection that doesn't become clear until the very end of this unusual novel. We get to know Stella, homebound in the UK, constantly in conversation with Connie, a housewife in Dubai, who has no Stella in her social circle. What's going on here?
Meanwhile the story shares plenty of background information about the lives of these women, each heartfelt in its own way. Both are carers, both are pretty much on their own in dealing with life's daily struggles. In the end they come together in the most amazing way.

The Image of Her held me tight, impressed me deeply and gave me a lot of food for thought.

Thank you Netgalley and Quercus Books for the ARC.

I really enjoyed reading ‘The Image of Her’ by Sonia Velton. The books was thoughtfully researched and this showed through the writing and descriptions of Stella’s day to day existence. The connection between the two women, although not explicit, is established quite early on in the novel. Nevertheless the backstory of the two characters keeps your interest.

I thought that Sonia Velton's previous novel, Blackberry and Wild Rose, was wonderful. I was really looking forward to her next book! It's not an historical novel this time, but a contemporary domestic drama with a hint of thriller. The writing was excellent and the story was so compelling that I read it within 24 hours.

The book follows two narratives, that of Stella, who is writing to Connie (whose side of the story is told in the third person). You know that they are linked together in some way, but not how. The surprising and tragic details are gradually revealed. The novel has a strong emotional resonance and you'll be thinking about it for long afterwards. I liked the setting too - English families living in Dubai, with Filipina housemaids. The way that the novel incorporates humanitarian themes and examines the nature of memory, while also creating believable characters and keeping the pace going, is so impressive.

Well done, Sonia - I look forward to whatever you write next!

[This review will be published on my blog on 11th July]

I loved Blackberry and Wild Rose so jumped at the chance to read this, Sonia Velton’s second novel. This is such a unique read. I’m giving this one ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️. This is a book that once I picked up, it totally consumed me. I ended up reading it in one evening as I was so absorbed by what was in front of me and I had to see how everything was going to end… An absolute must-read!

It's very rare that I give a book 5 stars but The Image Of Her is such a cleverly written and thought-provoking book, it deserves all 5 without question.

This story of the lives of 2 women, living thousands of miles apart and in very different circumstances but with an unexpected bond, is so fast paced and compelling that I couldn't put it down.

It was totally different from Blackberry and Wild Rose, which I did not expect, and I cannot wait for Sonia Velton's next book.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC in return for an honest review.

What a clever book. The idea is so original and I was gripped from the outset. It tells the story of two women, Stella and Connie who have never met, but who have the most unusual bond.

Stella is trying to piece her life back together after a harrowing accident. She is also exhausted from time caring from her mother who suffered from dementia. Now that she finds herself living alone, she reflects on past life decisions. She has cut herself off from the outside world with little contact other than through the DPD delivery man and a neighbour. But she reaches out to Connie through Facebook, fascinated by Connie's photos and posts.

Connie lives in Dubai with her husband and children. She has been torn from a life and job she loved, to support her husband in his move to Dubai and finds herself unfulfilled. She and her husband become more distant and a visit from Connie's in-laws only increases tensions. She struggles to connect with the other expat mothers in a meaningful way and feels increasingly isolated. She posts happy family photos on Facebook but to a keen observer Connie is not fully present in these scenes.

The story is told in the present tense with chapters in turn narrated by Stella (in the first person) and Connie (in the third person) which creates an interesting change of emphasis. I found the book to be fast paced, but this didn't detract in any way from the author's ability to create very believable characters.

Sonia Velton manages to create a wonderful tension in the book. I guessed the link between the women some time before the end but knowing what the link was just raised more questions in my mind and kept me reading even faster. The stories of both Stella and Connie were equally gripping so the suspense didn't let up. There were definite parallels in the lives of the two women, with Stella having given up much in her life to care for her mother and Connie having given up much to support her husband in his career. Although their lives are very different they are both lacking love, support and fulfillment.

I don't want to give away the reason Stella and Connie's lives become linked, but the story certainly leaves you with a lot to think about afterwards.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a fast-paced story with strong characters and a twist which leaves you wanting to join a book group so you can discuss it with others.

My thanks to the publisher and to NetGalley for a review copy of this book.

I loved Blackberry and Wild Rose so jumped at the chance to read this, Sonia Velton’s second novel. The premise could not be more different. Set in the present day, chapters alternate between the stories of Stella and Connie. While Stella narrates herself, events in Connie’s life are told in the third person. This creates a definite difference in tone and I found it really effective. While some of the major events, including Stella’s trauma and Connie’s relocation, take place before the book’s timeline, there are plenty to come. Both stories are really compelling, interesting enough to sustain a book alone.
I guess a question that will be asked of many books published in the next few years is how they were affected by the pandemic: written before, during or after? Stella’s isolation at home has distinct echoes of lockdown – never going out, only seeing the delivery man. Stella’s bitterness is blistering although not surprising given what she’s had to deal with. Good grief, her mother is vile: ‘It was just that lack of empathy, insensitivity and rudeness weren’t easy to spot as symptoms in my mother’. Another awful mother character to join the literary pantheon.
I’m not quite sure how Sonia Velton did it, but the tension was near unbearable at times (it was like watching the opening scenes of an episode of Casualty and you know something dreadful is on the way). Was something going to happen to one of the children? Was Stella going to take her wilful neglect of self-care too far? I twigged the connection between Stella and Connie about halfway through the book, but rather than that spoiling the rest or lessening the tension, it ramped it up. How would it happen? Where? Who might be to blame?
I really enjoyed this book and will be looking out eagerly for Sonia Velton’s third. Who knows where she’ll take us next?

Thank you for the opportunity to read 'The Image of Her'.

I was pleased to have the chance to read another book by Sonia Velton, having enjoyed 'Blackberry and Wild Rose' a couple of years ago. 'The Image of Her' is a completely different style of book set in the modern day, but just as good.

The story cleverly leads you down one path and then the reader discovers that all of the assumptions that have been made are incorrect. Without giving anything away, I thought this was a clever, thought-provoking book and highly recommend it.

Velton’s multilayered follow-up to her historical fiction debut is a sophisticated thriller that charts the lives of two disparate women, separated by thousands of miles and circumstances, and the collision course that unites their destinies. Whilst the setting is firmly contemporary and the subject matter intrepid, the real triumph is the exquisite characterisation and the compelling journeys of both women ahead of impending tragedy that generates remarkable tension, regardless of whether the reveal is known in advance.

Stella is the only daughter of a narcissistic, manipulative mother and at thirty-nine finds herself socially isolated and increasingly ground down by life as a full-time carer to a dementia sufferer who has spent a lifetime belittling her. With her mother now dead Stella spends her days reframing her memories of their fraught relationship and reflecting on how it has coloured her perspective. Stella’s narrative is underpinned by the failings of human memory and the realisation that her memories are not quite as crystal clear as she once believed, thus enabling her to unpick the lies and acknowledge the toxic influence of her mother. Recovering in the wake of a harrowing accident there is only one woman whom Stella feels close enough to share her experiences with, a woman she knows through the lens of social media alone.

Married mother of two, Connie James, has uprooted her children and left behind a career to accompany her structural engineer husband, Mark, to Dubai with a job opportunity. Life on a compound of homes occupied by expats, practically all with migrant domestic workers, isn’t quite the culturally enriching experience that socially conscious Connie had hoped for, and the realities of full-time motherhood leave her unfulfilled. Conceding to Mark’s wish to hire a live-in housemaid gives Connie time to job hunt and furthermore an insight into the exploitation of the hired help that she struggles to ignore, much to Mark’s chagrin. As their marriage begins to crumble, not helped by visits from her passive-aggressive in-laws, flashbacks follow Connie’s refusal to turn a blind eye in the face of the inequity that surrounds her and so begins a relentless slide with harrowing consequences.

Stella’s first person narrative is extraordinarily emotive as she processes how her mother has impacted her life and is juxtaposed with the third person perspective of Connie as she finds herself disillusioned by the aimless expat life, at loggerheads with Mark and infuriated by the casual attitude to the exploitation around her. Whilst their circumstances might be poles apart Stella and Connie are each becoming progressively more isolated from the support they so desperately need. Both women are deftly drawn with compassion and subtlety and Velton excels at allowing her characters to tell their own stories, thus giving her readers an unparalleled insight into the issues they are facing. Velton is clear-eyed on the double-edged sword of expat life and refreshingly honest on the actuality of full-time motherhood. This change of genre makes apparent Velton’s versatility and talent but also her capacity to deliver a thought-provoking novel with meaningful social commentary. Woven throughout both narratives are themes of identity and self, as the novel touches on everything from motherhood, one’s self-worth to the image we present to the world. A tremendous novel and a huge achievement.

My thanks to Sonia Velton, Quercus Books and Net Galley for the ARC of THE IMAGE OF HER.
Two women with utterly different lives. Stella who lives with her mother who suffers from dementia and is adamant that Stella will not leave her to have a life of her own. They have lived together for years after Stella's father leaves them to work on cruise ships, and as her mother ages Stella feels trapped by her mother's increasing demands and her bullying treatment of her.
Connie lives in Dubai with her husband and two children. Dubai wasn't a place she wanted to live but it was important for her husband's career, so she gives up her own and agrees to go and make the best of it. She feels undermined by her in-laws who seem to visit quite frequently, and misses her own mother who she lost. Gradually, Connie feels her husband is slipping away from her. He's the more adventurous one and some of their social relationships cause Connie anxiety. Two very different woman who don't know each other and live miles apart, yet there is something that joins them in a way that is unique to them.
A very unusual premise for this novel that kept me hooked. Yes, I gradually worked it out but I cared about both of these women so I wanted to read until the end. Recommended.

A stunning read which draws you in from the first page and doesn't let you go.
What is the mystery? Is Mark, the link between Stella and Connie, a bigamist, an abuser? How can you stop reading even though you feel you are being cleverly manipulated by the author..
The writing is of such a high literary standard that I have marked so many beautiful passages of description, of emotion.
Stella, the main protagonist, feeds you with cameos of her childhood where she basked in the love of her father while giving you hints of the malignancy of her beautiful mother. It is the relationship with her mother that drives much of Stella's narrative - a narrative that she shares with the mysterious Connie.
Connie becomes better known to us by the literary skill of Sonia Velton. As Connie shares details of her life as a mother, a wife to Mark, a daughter-in-law, we as readers become 'Team Connie' as we realise what an impossible task she has to keep everyone happy, and rarely succeeding.
There are so many twists and turns - even as the mystery is solved, there are still major revelations to keep us reading.
An outstanding book which will surely be on the list of the top books of 2021. Impeccable research has produced a novel which needed writing.