When Kate marries the wild, sexy Frenchman she meets on holiday, everybody is stunned. Marc, however, is an attentive and adoring husband - until one morning he goes out, and doesn't come back. After three years of searching for him, Kate has to move on. She cuts her hair, throws away his things and finds new love. Then one morning she wakes up with Marc asleep in her bed. He asks for seven days to prove his love. Kate knows Marc is not the man she once fell in love with, but as he discovers, she too has changed.
Ruby Soames is a writer and university lecturer who lives in France with her two children and journalist husband.
Her first novel, 'Seven Days to Tell You' was published as a result of the Hookline Novel Competition 2010. It also won the People's Book Prize, Winter 2011. 'Mothers, Fathers & Lovers' is her second novel and 'Homewrecked' has just come out this year!
This is a book you won't put down if you have an ounce of passion still coursing through your veins.
It begins with one of the most sensual lingering literary pan shots as a night intruder breaks into the narrator's flat, and slips into her bed...Is this a prelude to rape or murder one wonders? No, it's the love of her life, the one she's spent 3 years trying to forget.
There are echoes of the return of Martin Guerre, yet this is no medieval peasant soldier, but the coolest of 21st century anti-heroes, whose stamping ground is France and Notting Hill...This is no imposter, but Kate's charismatic and devoted French husband, the perfect lover, returning as wordlessly and inexplicably as the day he left 3 years ago.
Kate is a sensitive, independent young woman in the most caring and responsible of professions- paediatric cardiology- and she is ruled by the heart in more ways than one. Marc pleads for seven days to prove himself, and the reader is caught in the agonizing suspense of Kate's dilemna. It's a true romantic thriller, keeping the reader anxiously hooked as it investigates the limits of tolerance, and the point at which it opens the doors to abuse. We explore notions of love and loss, trust and betrayal, bereavement without a corpse, and rebirth.
This book is a joy to read- the prose clean, smooth and elegant, each new revelation of evidence, each twist of the plot a surprise... There is a marked difference in the writing when it crosses the threshhold of romantic love and raw sex- one moves from a dreamlike fluidity of language to a more staccato narrative, a coarsening of vocabulary, a hardening of the skin. Our narrator needs to get tough, but what does that mean? Is being tough saying no, or saying yes? Will Kate do what most women claim they would - chuck him out, tell him enough is enough. The depth and intensity of his love is hard to resist, despite the danger of its sudden withdrawal, a reality which has already left her broken and humiliated, her trust and faith destroyed. Does her taste for glamorous eccentric men carry an inevitable price tag?
In her decision rests a balance of power, the assumption or relinquishing of control over her life through acceptance- or not -of her husband. The fascination lies in how closely this mirrors most romantic relationships, how in many ways this is a magnification of the dilemma we all face- how much should we compromise? Do the textbook recipes for regaining self esteem and setting boundaries, the mantras spouted by counselors, actually bring happiness? Is the world so awash with happiness that we can afford to turn even a few days of it down?
As the mystery of Marc's disappearance and past is unravelled, we realize that Kate may have been a victim, but is certainly not a passive one. She is perhaps the most powerful and enigmatic character in the novel....
It is not often that I have such a negative reaction to a novel, but what an inglorious load of crap. The only redeeming quality of this book was that it was a quick read, sparing me the pain of laboring over it for several days.
The author, admittedly, is a good writer, but the story is compelling for only one reason -- to find out what happened to the protagonist's husband who vanished into thin air three years ago. Getting to the heart of the book is like pulling teeth as the author takes us on a tour of anything and everything tangentially related to the main character.
We learn about her past relationships, her family relations, random tidbits about friends and lovers, all too loosely strung together to make this novel truly cohesive. From one paragraph to the next we are flung into different places in time, trying to cobble together what is laid bare from the beginning -- life is difficult and we all have skeletons in our closet. No sh*t, Sherlock.
It's only in the last 10 pages of the book that the author pulls a "I got ya!" on the reader, making me question the entire relevance of the novel. Rather than bring together various drifting narratives and plot elements we're thrown a curveball that undermines the main character, her intentions and the entire story.
Kate wakes up one night to hear someone entering her apartment. A burglar? rapist? No .. it's her husband who has been missing for 3 years.
Instead of jumping up and reacting like any normal person would, she just lays there and lets him make love to her. There are no words spoken ... no explanations.
The next day seems to be like any other ... she gets up and gets ready to go to work. Still no explanations. He tells her she has 7 days to tell him to stay or to go.
She then takes readers on an odyssey from days before she met her husband.
There were lies upon lies ... secrets on top of other secrets .... just who was the man she had married? And who had she turned into when he left?
I gave it 3 stars. I found these characters and their history together ... and apart ... so unbelievable. And when I found HER secrets on top of HIS secrets, it was almost too much. Maybe I had just lost interest, but I can't even tell whether he stays or goes.
Many thanks to the author / Hookline Books who furnished a digital copy in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.
A good read!A man dissapears for 3 years.Then he is back.He gives his wife 7 days to decide what she wants to do.What would you do.It is not what I would do.It is a very interesting concept though.She has gone on with her life. Margaret Ashley was a fine narrator.I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.'
Kate Brenton is a heart surgeon and this book does sometimes feel like open-heart surgery. This was the last book we read in my reading group this year and wow! we were pretty knocked out by it. We chose it because someone had read that book groups had voted for it to be published in a competition run by the publishers, and we didn't regret our choice. We discussed this one probably longer than any other book. There's so much to find and talk about. It was very different from anything I've ever read. The author brings you into Kate's world at the moment her husband returns after three years of being 'missing' and she has to decide how much to let him into her life again. As Kate reconstructs their life together and the impact of his leaving, real life still goes on and she has to keep up with it even though her world is in crisis. Someone called it 'a novel in 3-D' which is a really good way of describing it. This is a great read, alone, or in a book club.
Read about a third of this book and was put off by the angry, raunchy action. I expected the wife would be angry after her hubby was gone so long but the more the author reviled about the couple the less interested I was in them. I don't often drop reading a book but just lost interest. Not my kind of book.
•••Seven Days to Tell You by Ruby Soames // 2 out of 5 stars•••
This book initially seemed like it had an interesting premise, but that almost immediately fizzled out. There was not one character that seemed at all realistic, dynamic, or three dimensional. Everything that happened and the characters reactions were so unbelievable. I felt the storyline went everywhere and never really got to one set destination.
‘Seven Days to Tell You’ could be renamed ‘Seven Days to Figure It Out’ except that it is sure to take less than seven days to read because once you start, this book has a way of hooking you in and stirring your curiosity in an unputdownable kind of way. It shifts and changes in time and point of view, keeping you wondering and guessing through its many twists and turns.
Having succeeded the vote of bookclub readers on its route to publication, I can see why this riveting, page turning novel was enjoyed by so many and undoubtedly hotly discussed.
Kate is a paediatric doctor not given to wild spontaneous acts, so surprises some and generates envy in others when she marries the charming but mysterious Marc, a Frenchman she meets during a brief encounter at the end of an otherwise heart-breaking holiday. All appears well until one day Marc disappears without trace.
Now, after three fruitless years searching for him, Kate is rebuilding her life when she wakes one morning to find the familiar form of her errant husband in bed beside her. He asks for seven days to prove his love, seven days for them to spend together before she makes her inevitable decision.
Soames doesn’t give anything away and is adept in her use of the unusual second person narrative, which makes reading her story a little like reading a private letter or journal; it’s like eavesdropping on a conversation, you find yourself trying to fill in the gaps to figure out what’s not being said.
Often unpredictable, you will want to discuss this book and the relationship it describes with your friends, the intrigue it arouses continues long after the last page is turned.
A definite read for this summer! This is a great book to take with you into the hammock or onto the beach or if you're at home or stuck behind your desk. Wherever you spend the next few months, the only problem is that it is so compelling and intriguing, you won't be able to do anything else! There are so many twists and turns and little secrets that leak out without you being aware. The author is always ahead of you at every discovery! Even a few pages from the end, you are still wondering what will happen. It's brilliantly told with exacting characterisation and would make a great film. The book stays with you long after you've finished it and is something you'll want to discuss with your friends. I'm not surprised it was voted Readers' Favourite in a Book Group competition - I can easily see why it would be a real addition to any discussion.
If Goodreads allowed us the possibility to give 6 stars, that's what this book would obtain from me ! The plot is trivial : the husban disappeared without explanation and his wife wants him back. I laughed, I cried, I cringed, I eased. I also asked myself how I would react to this situation if I ever had to experience it, not that someone sane would "want" to "live" that. But the question is here,you can't really hide from it, would you stop looking for him, would you start all over again ? You're lost in time,you try to fit together the pieces but you can't because you have no answer. Sanity, you're questioning your sanity now ... Do you ask the good questions anyway, does that really bring you concrete answers or more doubts ? And what about your friends,your family, your work. See, you're already thinking about it ...
"An irresistible read - fast paced and finely crafted. The author makes an intriguing study of the impact of grief and the minutiae of love." 4/4 Star Rating: FRANCE Magazine, July issue 2011
"Ruby Soames offers McEwanish sophistication of style and structure," The Riviera Reporter, July 2011
"If you're looking for a sombre, unpredictable and compelling read with fresh metaphors and a rich aray of imagery, Seven Days to Tell You is your book." The ChickLit Book.com, September 2011
Seven Days to Tell You won The People's Book Prize Winter Collection 2011.
Finalist for the Beryl Bainbridge first novel award, 2012.
This novel brings an array of mystery, intrigue and a little romance leaving the reader turning pages for answers. Eventually one figures out why Seven matters. Enjoyable read !
It's been almost a game for me sometimes, to exist without disturbing anything, without leaving a trace.”
It’s funny that this line in the book was so applicable to both Kate, the protagonist and her husband Marc, who returned out of nowhere, from nowhere after leaving three years ago. Marc is a charismatic, vivacious man that Kate met escaping her boyfriend when she visited France years ago. He is sexy, loving, adoring of her. He also goes out one morning, and never returns. Yet one evening, three years from leaving, Marc returns and she awakes to him sleeping beside her. All he wants is seven days to prove his love to her, and all Kate wants is answers. It was exhausting to read this book. It was written well, but its strain emotionally on Kate and the other characters affected my reading. I knew what I wanted Kate to do from the start - to throw Marc out with the bathwater – but I knew as I read this that the angst was the storyline here. It was feeling the humiliation, squirming in my seat and reading in the foetal position. It compelled me to read, no matter how much was making me feel the anguish of Kate. This book takes us on an obscure journey back and forth in time from when Kate and Marc first met, and then through the seven days in present time for he to make up her mind. E also watch Kate’s life implode around her, taking advantage of those who are willing to comfort her, like Tom and Anthony, drawing in all of the investigative clues Frances digs up for her, and losing friends along the way when she shuts herself out from life, always looking for Marc. The skeletons in the closets all have walk in wardrobes of their own. The last chapter of this book, the present day and last day of the seven that Marc asks of Kate is where it all unfolds. It is like a car crash in slow motion: All of the imperfections that were clouded by lust and infatuation start to glimmer and shine brighter. It reminded me of a quote by Neil Strauss: “They say that love is blind, but it's trauma that's blind. Love sees what is.
Scanning the various reviews it was interesting to see the wide variance in reactions to this novel. I guess I find myself in the middle. The writing is good but the storyline is confusing and at times hard to believe.
Kate is a heart surgeon who met Marc in France when she took a trip there some years ago to escape her then boyfriend. Marc is a charming rogue, a great French lover we are told, who steals Kate's heart when he follows her home to England. They marry. Three years Marc disappears one day without any message or goodbye. Kate is heartbroken and searches for him without success.
Then as she is rebuilding her life, one night three years later she is awakened as a man slips into her bed. It is Marc back from who knows where? The next day he suggests that she take seven days to consider whether she wants him back and then tell him. He offers no explanation for his three-year absence.
The novel then goes in many different directions. Storylines within storylines, often difficult to follow. As we learn more about Marc, it becomes easier to dislike him despite his charm and lead us to wish that Kate will kick him to the curb.
Kate deserves better than this. But what will she do? Will she fall again for his charm or will she see the scoundrel we see once we know his background?
This is an interesting novel. You may love it or you may hate it.
Thanks to Bloodhound Books for providing me with an Advance Review Copy.
I really struggled with this book. The characters in the main are decidedly unlikeable, and I felt like screaming at the narrator Kate. Her husband Marc has disappeared without a trace 3 years previously, leaving her devastated, questioning, and struggling to understand why. Marc suddenly reappears in her bed in the middle of the night, and Kate accepts his non- explanation. We are then treated to before-storylines, before-before-storylines, present-day storylines, and storylines that have no bearing on the plot whatsoever, just fillers. As the book progresses, the three years that Marc has been missing are painfully drawn out, to the point I was willing Kate to dump him and move on. Yet despite his many misdemeanours, she continues in eyes wide shut mode while good old Marc reveals nothing as to why he bailed out. Frustrating. Unbelievable. Trash
What would you do if your 3 years missing husband comes back but refuses to explain why did he disappeared, why is he back, why now, where was he all this time? Would you just take him back after the seven days he is asking you to spend with him? This is the premise of the book with an inside dissection of the lives of two people and their relationship. Even though I do like the way Ruby Soames writes, and this book is not the exception, this book left me wanting more, the reason being that I felt disconnected with the characters, especially with Kate, the wife, and I disliked very much Marc, the husband. I did finished reading the book, since I wanted to learn the why of his actions, but have to be truthful here, at times it felt like pulling teeth.
Three years ago Kate's adoring French husband Marc went missing. Just disappearing one day out of the blue. This morning she awakens with him in her bed as if he'd never been away. Where has he been? Who with? Kate has been digging around with an investigator and is no longer the lovesick naive wife he left. She gives him 7 days to see if they can get their marriage back on track, but with Marc offering no explanations what ill she do? A lot of twists and turns but no really iikeable characters, There was a lot I didn't quite understand, not least why she'd even consider taking him back. His arrogance angered me in the beginning. #bloodhoundbooks #sevendaystotellyou
enjoyed reading this suspensful story. This is my first book by this author which I look forward to seeing what is next for them. This is a well written story about proving love in seven days but also what comes along no one will see coming. A story full of secrets and just hard to put down. I enjoyed the twists and turns that had me turning pages fast just to see what would happen next. There is great growth of the characters and the plot throughout. I enjoyed the characters and what they brought to the story. This is a fast paced, easy story to read. I really enjoyed it and I highly recommend it.
I’m not sure where this book took me. It was certainly a raw, no holes barred read. A roller coaster of emotions that I willingly went with, so, a fantastic, if exhausting read, partly due to the fact that I couldn’t put it down but also in the material that was explored.
This is a very cleverly written book and I applaud Ruby Soames for pulling it off. I’ve no idea how she worked out the structure but she did and if you want a fantastic, brutal, insightful, exhausting, intriguing read, you’ve got to read, Seven Days To Tell You. I look forward to reading, Mothers, Fathers and Lovers
The time it took me to read this reflects that it didn’t have that staying power. I felt that this book was very dull. I plodded through because I had committed to the arc copy. Tells the story of Kate and Marc, he left her just walked out then comes back after 3 years with no explanation, he’s French and had no spark whatsoever, supposed to be sexy, had no explanation of why he d gone and when it all came to a conclusion, we still didn’t know why. I felt the author too lost interest in writing it. Sorry not for me.
I found this book was not as 'mesmerizing' as I was expecting, perhaps because of the first person perspective. Both MC's seemed plastic and very self centered. Yes, the H had a lot of baggage but did that give him the right to withhold any and all information from the h? I felt more sympathy for the h until reading that she knew his baggage before they married and proceeded anyway. Then she accepted that she was probably as much at fault as the H for his 'need' to leave...for 3 years???
True love or obsessive love? Con man or loving husband? Kate's husband, Marc, disappears for three years before suddenly reappearing one night. Kate learns more about him in the time he is gone than when she had been with him. She has changed and moved on but has to figure out if she will take him back in seven days. The story tells of the seven days of decision making and of the years leading up to it.
I do like a good book to while away a few hours and thought this would be one of them. Unfortunately I can't say it was. I found it difficult to like the characters and found them frustrating. I persevered only to find out which way Kate would go. I was given an ARC of this book and this is my honest opinion.
Kate’s husband magically reappears in her bed after disappearing 3 years ago - an intriguing premise for a story. I loved the idea of this book but flute long chapters meant it wasn’t as fast paced as I would have liked. A cleverly written book it’s worth a read but give yourself time! I was given an ARC of this book but all views expressed are my own.
Katherine has seven days to decide if she wants her husband back after he upped and disappeared three years ago. I enjoyed this unusual story but I did struggle with the author's writing style a little. It just didn't flow comfortably for me at times. It is a great story though!
Kate’s husband disappeared one day so when he suddenly turns up again with no explanation she tries to start again. However, the things she finds out about his life makes it very difficult. Whilst this was an interesting concept it failed to grab my imagination and I was a little disappointed.
This book definitely had its ups and downs for me with rich story development that sometimes had me cheering sometimes not. A suspenseful and emotional story that brings a lot into question and captures your mind and emotions!!
Seven Days To Tell You by Ruby Soames is the story of two people who meet fall in love, then marry. Then one day Marc disappears and returns over three years later wanting a week to see if you could let him back into your life. Recommended