If I Let You Go: The Heartbreaking, Shocking Richard and Judy Book Club Pick

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One day Janet finds herself thrust into the spotlight after saving a celebrity chefs daughter from the wreckage of a train crash - she sees this as her chance to start over and finally be forgiven. If I let you go follows Janet, a cleaner who has followed the same routine for years going to work and cleaning offices. We meet Janet on what would have been the 18th birthday of her daughter, Claire, who died in a tragic car accident 11 years earlier. But the experience was like eating too much sickly chocolate, only very briefly satisfying and making you feel you had better things to do with your time. The characters are written so well and are so rounded you feel like you are there and you feel everything the characters do.

The emotional intelligence that underpins this novel is very impressive and I'll be reading more from Charlotte Levin before long, that's for sure. I wasn't really sure what to expect when I opted to read this and was guided to a certain extent by a very favourable review I happened to read. She's stuck in a rut in life when both her life and routine are shattered, culminating in her being involved in a train crash. But as events spiral out of control and confessing not an option she has to figure out what she's going to do and the truths she needs to face. I really felt for Janet, at times I wanted to cry for her and other times I was smiling and encouraging her.This book had a slow paced thriller style to it which I really enjoyed and kept me on the edge of my seat at times. It’s a sad little life, but no more than Janet deserves; the penance she pays for the tragic mistake of eleven years ago. I really enjoyed Charlotte Levin’s first novel If I Can’t Have You so I was really looking forward to reading this.

As news spreads of Janet's actions, her story inspires everyone around her, and for the first time her life has purpose and the future is filled with hope. A Richard and Judy Book Club pick, If I Let You Go is a darkly comic tale of searing loss, coercive control and the consequences of taking the wrong path. It soon turns out that there is CCTV footage of Janet saving a young girl on the train, who is the daughter of famous people in the area, so soon enough there's a lot of interest in Janet. I love Charlotte Levins writing as she draws you in to the story and she's definitely made a fan out of me.Then she becomes involved in a train crash, and is feted for saving the life of another little girl. It meandered a little in the beginning, dragging out scenes with Robbie, Mia and Lizzie with guilt-filled angst that got a little repetitive but was important to understand Janet and her situation. It made me feel all the more invested in the story and I was rooting for Janet to finally find the strength to leave.