At 82, Evie passes away during her sleep but finds herself in a place where she is 27 again – an important time in her life. But she can’t make it through to her heaven because her soul is too weighed down. She needs to unburden herself of secrets she has kept from her loved ones during her life. The story travels back in time to when 27-year-old Evie was an artist at a newspaper and fell in love with violinist Vincent, a busker at a train station. But her mother is insisting that she return to the family home and marry lifelong friend Jim instead. This debut novel from a young stage actress and YouTuber (and sister-in-law to Giovanna Fletcher) is a sweet, romantic, uplifting story with a fairy tale feel. Even though I’m not a fan of magical realism – and some of this was a bit too far out there for me - I did love her explanation of the afterlife and Evie’s mission. But I certainly did miss having any context for the era Evie came from, and really felt for poor old selfless Jim.
British actress and vlogger Carrie Hope Fletcher follows up her successful All I Know Now memoir with her debut novel, On the Other Side. The summary says: "Evie Snow is eighty-two when she quietly passes away in her sleep, surrounded by her children and grandchildren. It's the way most people wish to leave the world but when Evie reaches the door of her own private heaven, she finds that she's become her twenty seven-year-old self and the door won't open.
Evie's soul must be light enough to pass through so she needs to get rid of whatever is making her soul heavy. For Evie, this means unburdening herself of the three secrets that have weighed her down for over fifty years, so she must find a way to reveal them before it's too late.
As Evie begins the journey of a lifetime, she learns more about life and love than she ever thought possible, and somehow , some way, she may also find her way back to her long lost love..." On the Other Side is out in July 2016.