With or Without You

by Helen Warner

[Leah]

It seems like an age since I read Helen Warner’s debut novel RSVP – 2011 it was released, so actually only a mere 3 years ago, which isn’t all that long, now that I think about it! I remember enjoying it, but I did find it lacked pace throughout the second half of the novel. I’ve got her second novel IOU (aka Stay Close To Me) sitting on my shelf, but as with most novels, I just haven’t had the chance to read it, so when I received a review copy of Helen’s new book, With Or Without You, I was quite excited to dive into it. It has a rather sedate, but captivating book cover, and I liked the look of it immediately, it does rather capture your attention. I couldn’t wait to get stuck in, and get stuck in I did!

With Or Without You features topics that generally make me go “bleurgh”: cheating and a happy marriage that suddenly isn’t so happy any more. If you’re going to write a book about cheating in a marriage, it’s going to have to be bloody good for it to then try and make that marriage work afterwards, because I am very much of the opinion: Once a cheater, always a cheater. It’s that simple. So I was very surprised to dive into Martha and Jamie’s world and find myself torn. At the beginning, they seem to have such a wonderful, loving marriage, the kind of marriage that you want yourself to have, until I saw the words, that I thought were a mis-print: “It meant he had ample opportunity to have sex with his mistress.” BOOM! I literally did a double-take when I saw that sentence, because I truly thought it was there accidentally. Even worse, the novel doesn’t even go back to that startling confession, spending the next few chapters introducing us to other various characters – Martha at her meeting with Charlie Simmons, whose book she will be ghostwriting; Liv, Charlie’s ex and mother to his child, Felix, in LA; anywhere but at the confession Jamie has just dropped upon us!

From there, of course, Martha and Jamie’s relationship goes into freefall, because Martha inevitably finds out. I maybe could have believed Jamie’s missives that it was all a mistake, if the way the narrative hadn’t so coldly spelled it out what Jamie intended for his afternoon, that day. It was even in third-person, for crying out loud, but it still reeked of smugness. Although, I will confess, eventually Jamie did make amends, in my mind anyway, in rather startling fashion. So, y’know, considering how the book ended, I can sort of forgive all that came before it, because I’m gracious like that and because the ending was just mind-blowingly good. The sort of ending you wish every author would write because it’s the type of ending you dream of. I thought Martha was SUCH a strong, fascinating character. I loved how she didn’t just roll over and allow Jamie to make it all better instantly. I loved how she just went off to LA as if that’s what you normally do when you’ve been cheated on, although she DID have a very solid reason – she was going with Charlie, and she obviously needed material for his book!

I really enjoyed everything about the novel. The bits set in LA were fantastic – I dream of living in one of those houses overlooking the entirety of LA with an infinity pool and the sounds of insects. I really liked how Martha and Charlie tiptoed around each other, despite the fact they were quite clearly attracted to each other, and the feeling was more than mutual. The speed of everything was fantastic, and I liked how Charlie was happy to just be a friend, and to just listen as Martha poured out her woes, how he offered her respite, knowing what it’s like when the person you love cheats on you, as Liv did to him. (I don’t know how she could, though. Charlie is literally the nicest, bestest male actor ever, and I loved him.) We learn more about Liv, too, but for me that was secondary because all the time I just wanted to get back to Martha and to know what her decision would be. Was she going to give Jamie a second chance, or was she going to tell him to sling his hook? For the first time ever, I understood Martha’s reticence, especially when it came to their kids… Helen Warner has written a fantastic novel, one I raced through, desperate to get to the end! I devoured it, and the ending, oh the ending! I cannot talk about the ending enough, because rarely does an ending make me SO happy. The novel is worth reading for the ending alone, but With or Without You is fantastic all the way through.