About the Book
The truth depends on who you ask…
Ten years ago, after a sun-soaked summer spent in Greece, Bess and Joni were cleared of having any involvement in their best friend Evangeline ‘s death. But that didn’t stop the media from calling them everything under the wild, promiscuous, liars, guilty .
Now Joni is tangled up in a crime in LA eerily similar to that one fateful night, and when she turns up at her old friend’s doorstep asking for an alibi, Bess has no choice. She still owes her.
They say the truth will set you free but can Bess face up to what happened that night?
She should know by now… you can’t be an innocent woman when everyone wants you to be guilty.
Format: eARC (384 pages) Publisher: Head of Zeus
Publication date: 13th July 2023 Genre: Contemporary Fiction, Thriller
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My Review
To quote Joni, Before We Were Innocent is ‘the story of three perfectly imperfect women who hurt each other in all the most obvious ways, but who loved each other enough for a lifetime.’ Well, that’s how she chooses to frame it.
Moving between 2018 and ten years earlier, the book gradually reveals how a dramatic event on the island of Tinos changed Bess and Joni’s relationship from that of inseparable best friends to virtual strangers. And how it changed them as individuals too. Whereas Bess has retreated into self-imposed isolation, punctuated by episodes of risk-taking behaviour, Joni has seemingly put the past behind her, reinventing herself and using her experiences as a springboard for her career. But although Bess and Joni may have become estranged they are bound together forever by a lie. ‘Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive’ as someone once said…
Although narrated almost exclusively from the point of view of Bess, this isn’t a case of being either ‘Team Bess’ or ‘Team Joni’ because we’re never quite sure about the reliability of what we’re being told. While I didn’t find either Bess and Joni particularly likeable or their actions laudable (perhaps because my wild – if they ever were – teenage years are well behind me), they’re definitely nuanced characters and the author skilfully ensures your empathy moves back and forth between them.
Three into two don’t go, there’s always one left over. This is definitely Evangeline to whom Bess and Joni are actually quite horrible at times. Some of this ganging up comes back to haunt them. For me, Evangeline always remained a rather hazy character and I didn’t get any sense of the strong bond that supposedly existed between her and Joni before Bess came on the scene.
Before We Were Innocent is part coming-of-age story, part depiction of the complexity of friendships, and part intriguing mystery. It also exposes the impact of intrusive media attention on individuals and their families and the toxic nature of online discourse. Although it has plenty of twists and turns, for me it simmered but never really reached boiling point.
I received a digital review copy courtesy of Head of Zeus via NetGalley.
In three words: Intense, intriguing, twisty
Try something similar: Sister of Mine by Laurie Petrou
About the Author
Ella Berman grew up in both London and Los Angeles and worked at Sony Music before starting the clothing brand London Loves LA. She lives in London with her husband, James, and their dog, Rocky.
Connect with Ella
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About the Book
About the Author
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