Author: Penny Hancock
ISBN: 9781509867868
RRP: $29.99
Publication Date: 12 March 2019
Publisher: Pan Macmillan
Copy: Courtesy of the Publisher
I Thought I Knew You is a new release by Penny Hancock, an author who is new to me.
This is a book that intrigued me when it came across my desk and I thought it would be a fantastic fit for book club. The premise makes it sound like quite a tense and engaging read, and I look forward to finding the time to read it. In the meantime I look forward to hearing what our members thought.
I Thought I Knew You explores the friendship of Jules and Holly, best of friends since university. They tell each other everything, have shared the highs and lows of life and have been there for support through the hardest days.
Jules and Holly each have a child, born just three years apart the two have grown up together.
No-one is prepared for the fallout when Jules’s daughter Saffie makes a serious allegation against Holly’s son Saul. The allegation impacts everyone and everything in their lives, how does a friendship survive an allegation that has a profound effect on one child when perpetrated by the other?
The situation is made worse when Holly refuses to believe her son could be guilty.
I Thought I Know You is a tale of secrets, lies and where you find your loyalties lay when it comes down to the hard stuff. A tale of friendship that survives it all and seems unbreakable, until it comes face to face with a choice between a friendship and your child. I really want to read how this one plays out.
Penny Hancock can be found on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and her website.
I Thought I Knew You is published by Pan Macmillan and is available now where all good books are sold.
Thanks to Pan Macmillan 25 of our Beauty and Lace Club Members will be reading I Thought I Knew You so please be aware there may be spoilers in the comments below
I can’t wait to hear what our readers thought.
I devour books, vampires and supernatural creatures are my genre of choice but over the past couple of years, I have broadened my horizons considerably. In a nutshell – I love to write! I love interacting with a diverse range of artists to bring you interviews. Perhaps we were perfect before – I LOVE WORDS!
I Thought I Knew You was an easy book to read and was very well written. It flowed well and made me fly through the chapters easily so I was able to finish it in one sitting.
I liked how each chapter alternated between the point of view of Holly and Jules. Seeing the story from both sides of the fence was very satisfying. .
I agree with another reviewer that a ‘year later’ would have been great for the ending as I feel I didn’t get enough closure with the ending.
Thanks for the opportunity to read this book beauty and lace ❤️
“I Thought I Knew You” is a story of friendship, love, betrayal and forgiveness.
I thought I Knew You is a story of 2 close friends. When allegations are made by one’s child against the other’s does their friendship and their other relationships survive… does everyone survive! Consequences are devastating or are they.. is this the purge everyone needed to grow up and get on with life or does it destroy them?
When ‘it’ hits the fan, who will believe you, stand by you, stand up for you and protect you. Do you really know the people your closest to.
The main characters took a black and white view of life which annoyed me a little because life and people are very grey. Nobody is perfect. Do the characters understand this in the end?
I found the book a little slow to start. When txt type was included I nearly threw it to the wall. But then as the story unfolded I was compelled to keep reading to find out the truth and the lies. The underlying theme of this book was well apparent and repeated again and again. Too much I think.
I enjoyed this book. I give this book 8.5 / 10. Good Read.
Thank you to Beauty and Lace Book Club , HarperCollins and to Penny Hancock for the opportunity to enjoy this book.
I THOUGHT I KNEW YOU – PENNY HANCOCK
This was a difficult read, not because of the writing (which I found to be great) but because of the subject matter.
Holly and Jules have been lifelong friends. When Holly’s husband dies, Jules convinces her to move out of London and join her and buy a house in the small village in which she lives. The story unfolds when Jule’s daughter accuses Holly’s son of raping her. With the ensuing rumour mill of a small town, and the idea of someone being innocent before being proved guilty, it makes it difficult to know who’s side to be on, or even know if you need to choose sides.
Who do you believe in a case like this? Is it an automatic response to believe that no one would lie bout being raped? This novel brought up a lot of questions and it really would be a perfect study for a bookclub.
Whoa!
Great read. So many interesting themes arise in this book – friendship, romantic intimacy, parenting, feminism, masculinity, truth – and that’s just the start of it! But it’s not just a read with a point to make – it’s entertaining, too! The characters intrigued me, and the story line is very real. I loved watching the friendship between Holly and Jules and the fractures it endured. I highly recommended this book. It gripped me!
Thanks to Beauty and Lace and Pan MacMillan!
What a great novel to make you think! A intriguing story which hooks you early with well written characters in an incredibly difficult situation.
Two best friends who share everything and think they know everything about each other are forced to reevaluate when the daughter of one friend makes a serious allegation about the other.
Who do you believe your own child or your best friend?
Parts of the story were like watching a train wreck. The situation, close relationships and lives fell apart so quickly once those seeds of doubt were sown.
I found it an uncomfortable read at times as I have a daughter around the same age and would hate to imagine her in a similar situation.
I would highly recommend this book. It will be one you will be thinking and talking about for awhile.
What a great book! Once I started I couldn’t put it down. The story is written so well that you can imagine the characters and everything that happens. Just when you think you know what is going on and what is going to happen…nope…it doesn’t and you just keep wanting to read on to see where it takes you. And it’s not where you think it was going to take you.
I can honestly say I would read more of Penny Hancocks books.
Highly recommended. Thanks Beauty and Lace,
I Thought I Knew You is the latest, contemporary release from British author, Penny Hancock. This is my first novel by Hancock and I was hooked from the very beginning with its atmospheric setting in Fen Ditton. The reader follows the lives of two protagonists, Jules and Holly, in the U.K village. Both women were unique individuals who told their stories in alternating chapters. To avoid any unnecessary confusion, Jules’s voice was heard in the third person and Holly, in the first. Through these two characters, Hancock explores the relevant themes of motherhood, family, friendship and ultimately, women’s rights.
Like all women, Jules wears many hats. She is constantly doing the best she can for the those she holds dear in her life. One hat Jules wears is mother. Her daughter is thirteen year old Saffie, who is still naive and innocent while being desperate to grow up. Jules love for her child is evident when I first met her and I admired her for putting Saffie first and foremost. Jules other hat is wife and her husband, and Saffie’s father, is Rowan. Whenever Rowan was present, I felt an underlying sense of unease and danger that grew over time. Their marriage certainly had its problems that Hancock gradually reveals. Jules’s best friend is Holly.
Holly’s life has taken a different course to her closest friend. Holly had been a widow for many years after the death of her husband, Archie. Her son, Saul, was a young child when his father died and is now sixteen years old. Two years ago, Holly found love with another man, Pete. From the very beginning, Holly’s love for her child is obvious and the need to protect him is strong as he is encounters difficulties growing up. While Saul and Saffie shared their childhood, they are like chalk and cheese; while she is outgoing and popular, he is introverted and unpopular.
With Saul and Saffie leading very different lives, they both deal with problems their own way. When Saffie experieces a horrific situation that many women, young and old, enounter, she deals with it in the only way she knows how. Hancock highlights that thirteen year old girls are still just children who are unable to navigate an adult world. The fall out and consequences are far reaching for both women and families. Both women believe their child, fracturing their once strong friendship and demonstrating that nothing is fiercer then a mothers love.
I Thought I Knew You is the next read for fans of The Rumour and Big Little Lies.
Thankyou to Beauty and Lace for the opportunity to read this book.
I could not put this book down, the story is so engaging and thought-provoking – who would you side with when things go wrong, your child or your best friend? Penny Hancock’s portrayal of how quickly relationships can unravel seemed unsettlingly realistic. I felt sympathy for both the main characters from whose perspective the story is told, and became really engaged with the story – my attention was held right until the end.
I highly recommend this book – thank you to Beauty and Lace and Pan Macmillan for the opportunity to read it.
Absolutely loved this book: “I Thought I Knew You” by Penny Hancock. I read it until I was bleary eyed in the wee hours of the morning
Holly and Jules have been friends for many years, but what happens in their lives changes everything in a few short minutes
I. Kept second guessing which way the story was going and admit that I was nearly always wrong. So many emotions, so many twists and turns,and humanity at its raw best
Many thanks to Beauty and Lace and Pan Macmillan for the chance to review such a page turner. I will certainly for searching out Penny Hancock’s earlier books
I really enjoyed this one and raced through it to find out the conclusion. Two best friends and their families are pushed apart by a terrible event. This is told in their various view points and it was a hard one to read….the author threw in quiet a few hints and twists as to what way this story could end up…a great family/domestic drama