Lost Innocence [Import] [Paperback]

Susan Lewis (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 11, 2009

When Alicia Carlyle returns to the home of her childhood after the tragic death of her husband, she is hoping to put the past behind her. But first she must come face to face with the woman who nearly destroyed her marriage and tore her family in two—her sister-in-law, Sabrina. Their enmity runs deep, but Alicia is determined to make a fresh start for herself and her two children, Nathan and Darcie, and to heal her fractured relationship with her beloved brother. However, just when it looks as if they might have a chance at a brighter future, Sabrina's fifteen-year-old daughter, Annabelle, accuses seventeen-year-old Nathan of a crime he insists he didn't commit. And once more the two families are locked in a battle that is fraught with mistrust, betrayal, and lies—a battle that threatens to destroy them all.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Alicia Carlyle and her children, Nathan and Darcie, are still reeling from the sudden, tragic death of husband and father Craig six months earlier. Alicia is also suffering from the fallout after she discovered Craig had been having an affair with her sister-in-law, Sabrina. Hoping to put the past behind her, Alicia moves her family to her childhood home in, unfortunately, the same village in which Sabrina resides. Alicia believes she can at least be civil to Sabrina or try to avoid her and, hopefully, heal her relationship with her brother, Robert. Then suddenly, Annabelle, Sabrina�s 15-year-old daughter, accuses 17-year-old Nathan of an awful crime he didn�t commit. Nathan and Alicia maintain his innocence, but Annabelle�s accusation drops a bomb among the families that threatens to tear apart the fragile reconciliation that Alicia had forged with Sabrina and Robert. The prolific Lewis� latest dramatic, emotional novel is for fans of Jodi Picoult and Penny Vincenzi. --Hilary Hatton --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Review

"Get lost in this powerful novel."  —Woman & Home

"Expertly written to brew an atmosphere of foreboding . . . an irresistible blend of intrigue and passion, and the consequences of secrets and betrayal."  —Woman

"Spellbinding!"  —Daily Mail

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 480 pages
• Publisher: Random House UK (August 11, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 009952564X
• ISBN-13: 978-0099525646
• Product Dimensions: 6.1 x 1.4 x 9.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,673,019 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Emotional roller coaster, November 3, 2011

By 

Susan Smith (A small rural village in the English Midlands) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lost Innocence (Paperback)

As the editorial review states, this is a book about betrayal and, as the title suggests, lost innocence. When in the opening pages of this story Alicia's highly successful lawyer husband, Craig, drops dead in their car, a whole back story is unleashed which is the driver of current events. Alicia moves back to her childhood home with her young daughter and 17 year old son. Living there also is her brother, Robert, and her sister-in-law, Sabrina, and Sabrina's 15 year old daugher Annabelle. These are the characters who drive the story. Briefly, Annabelle is an ill-mannered and dangerous girl mixing with the wrong types, into drugs, alcohol and illegal and indiscriminant sex. When at the crisis point of the book she tells Craig (on whom she is fixated) that her mother and his father had a torrid and long affair, he is shocked and then behaves in such a way that she brings an accusation of rape. The remainder of the book is taken up trying to understand what actually happened, why and how the justice system and police deal with such matters.

This book is filled with high emotions and sharply drawn characters for the most part but it falls a bit short on the melodrama that some of them engage in. The writing is crisp and well done; no issues with the quality of the author's prose and story telling abilities. If I must make a criticisn it is that some of the actions some characters take are just a bit too melodramatic to seem plausible. However, that did not really detract from my overall enjoyment of this page turner. There is an interesting cast of secondary characters in the story and despite the generally dark tone of the book, there are, through these secondary actors, some chinks of light for the future. I can't give this one 5 stars but it's certainly a 4 star read: entertaining and gripping and a good read.