Title: Together
Author: Julie Cohen
Publisher: Orion

[Synopsis]

This is not a great love story.
This is a story about great love.
On a morning that seems just like any other, Robbie wakes in his bed, his wife Emily asleep beside him, as always. He rises and dresses, makes his coffee, feeds his dogs, just as he usually does. But then he leaves Emily a letter and does something that will break her heart. As the years go back all the way to 1962, Robbie’s actions become clearer as we discover the story of a couple with a terrible secret – one they will do absolutely anything to protect.

[My Review]

I didn’t know much about Together before starting it, but I found myself wrapped up in Robbie and Emily’s story. It’s told from present day and jumps back and forwards in time, reaching right back to the early days when they first met and eventually revealing to the reader that ‘thing'(for want of a better word and to avoid giving anything away) which they’re both seemingly running away from, and which they’re so secretive about.
The story took a little while to really grab me, with the first quarter of the book being enjoyable but feeling like nothing particularly special. However, as the novel continues so we see more of this ‘mysterious element’ that’s affecting them both, and Emily and Robbie’s love story (though I’m glad to say not a typically soppy, over-dramatic love story) develops more, I found myself enveloped into their world and really invested in their life.
I found myself captivated by the characters in this novel, both main and supporting characters, and their respective relationships with the two main characters. I found it an extremely poignant story which pulled at my heartstrings and left me feeling more than a little reflective. It certainly makes you think about what makes a relationship special and worth fighting for, and how one element can change everything.
The words in the synopsis say a lot about this –

“This is not a great love story.
This is a story about great love.”

– and I agree.  I hugely enjoyed Together; it’s a beautifully written story and I would definitely recommend it.

[Rating: 4/5]

Many thanks to the publisher, Orion, for providing a copy of this novel on which i chose to write an honest and unbiased review.