Having enjoyed books by Lisa Jewell before I was delighted to be offered an ARC of her new book out later this summer. Here’s the blurb:

“Celebrating her 45th birthday at her local pub, podcaster Alix Summers crosses paths with an unassuming woman called Josie Fair. Josie is also celebrating her 45th birthday. They are, in fact birthday twins.
A few days later, Alix and Josie bump into each other again, this time outside Alix’s children’s school. Josie has been listening to Alix’s podcasts and thinks she might be an interesting subject for Alix’s series. She is, she tells Alix, on the cusp of great changes in her life.
Alix agrees to a trial interview. Josie’s life appears to be strange and complicated, and although Alix finds her unsettling, she can’t quite resist the temptation to keep digging.
Slowly Alix starts to realise that Josie has been hiding some very dark secrets, and before she knows it Josie has inveigled her way into Alix’s life – and into her home.
Soon she begins to wonder who is Josie Fair? And what has she done?“

Ooh – this is a fabulous book – and as twisty and turny and exciting as you’d expect!

Whilst Alix and Josie might be ‘birthday twins’ there aren’t many similarities in their lives. Alix and her husband Nathan have primary school aged kids, live a seemingly ‘insta perfect’ life with lots of family and friends around, and whilst Nathan is a commercial property letting agent – Alix has a successful podcast. Josie, on the other hand, lives with her very much older husband and one of their grown up daughters – the other daughter having left home suddenly a few years before. Apart from her little dog, and a job as a seamstress, and a slightly odd obsession with denim, Josie doesn’t appear to have much going on in her life.

After initially bumping each other in the pub on their respective 45th birthday – Josie then ‘accidentally’ bumps into Alix again – and offers herself up as a potential interviewee for Alix’s podcast series.

The book is told from both Alix and Josie’s points of view, interspersed with recordings of the podcast and then also descriptions of a Netflix series made from the podcast series. You therefore know something ‘big’ is going to have happened.

The twists and turns keep you speculating as to what this could be – and I’m not sure you’d guess at all – and I’m not going to give any clues – you need to ride the journey for yourself!

I think social media – and particularly podcasts – have given everyone the opportunity to tell ‘ their truth’ – even if it’s not necessarily what everyone would consider THE truth. Recollections may vary and all that – and that is very much the vibe of Josie sharing ‘her’ story. But you also look at the back stories of the other characters and realise that you never really know what’s going on behind closed doors and in other people’s relationships.

A big thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my ARC – and I’d highly recommend you all pre order it ready for release in July 2023.