Review: A Little in Love by Susan Fletcher

Paris, 1832. A street girl lies alone in the darkness, clutching a letter to her heart. 

Eponine remembers being a child: her swing and the peach tree, and the baby brother she loved. But mostly she remembers being miserable. Taught to lie and cheat, and to hate the one girl, Cosette, who might have been her friend. 

Now, at sixteen, the two girls meet again and Eponine has one more chance. But what is the price of friendship – the love of a boy. 

I am only familiar with Les Misérables as far as the Hollywood film version (with Hugh Jackman.) I know, I know. The book has been on my to read pile for so long and now, after reading A Little in Love, I might have to get around to reading it.

The story of A Little in Love begins when Eponine is sixteen and it then goes back to when she was a child. Out of all the characters in Les Misérables, Eponine is the character I have always been intrigued with the most. She wants to be a good person – decent and kind but the circumstances of her life conspire against her.

She does not have the best start in life and in trying to gain her mother’s love, she turns her back on the one girl who may have been her friend – Cosette. I found Eponine’s story so heartbreaking. Anyone who has an idea of the story knows what happens to her but that did not stop me from willing it to end differently.

This novel captivated me from the first page. It’s written in the first person from Eponine’s point of view and so you get right into the characters head. The plot fitted in well with the little bit of knowledge I had of the main story and in my opinion, it’s done well. I like that this minor character is able to finally have her story told.

I am absolutely in love with the cover of this book. It’s beautiful and I love that the pages are red lined too.

There were a few surprises throughout. This book is haunting, romantic, heartbreaking and captivating and I would completely recommend it. I love, love, love this book. It’s one that I would quite happily read again.

(A Little in Love is published by Chicken House LTD, Oct 2014. Thank you to the publisher for a review copy.) 

by

Laura

I'm Laura. I started Novel Kicks back in 2009 as I wanted a place to discuss books and writing - two loves of my life. As someone who has anxiety, these two things give me, and I am sure countless others, a much needed escape.
There is a monthly book club, writing exercises, prompts, reviews, author interviews, competitions and guest posts. I cover many genres and I hope there is something for everyone.
I grew up by the sea in Dorset and currently live in Poole with my husband, Chris and three cats. I love writing and have a BA (Hons) in Creative Writing from Falmouth University. I am writing my first book. If only I could stop pressing delete. Chris has threatened to stop it from working. Haha.
I have always loved creative writing since I was in first school and would very much like to meet my teacher, Miss Sayers, to say thank you for all the encouragement she gave me then.
When not writing, I love reading, cats, Disney, singing (I can't sing but this doesn't stop me,) and falling into a good TV show or film. If I could step into any fictional world, it would be amongst the characters in ABC's Once Upon a Time.
I love reading many genres and discovering new authors.