Tell Me How This Ends by Jo Leevers
Genre: Literary Fiction, Women’s Fiction, Cozy Mystery
Published: May 2023, Amazon Publishing
Verdict: 4/5
About the Book
Can Henrietta find out what happened to Annie’s sister—before it’s too late?
Haunted by the past, Henrietta throws herself into a new job transcribing other people’s life stories, vowing to stick to the facts and keep emotions at arm’s length. But when she meets the eccentric and terminally ill Annie, she finds herself inextricably drawn in. And when Annie reveals that her sister drowned in unexplained circumstances in 1974, Henrietta’s methodical mind can’t help following the story’s loose ends…
Unlike Henrietta, Annie is brimming with confidence—but even she has limits when it comes to opening up. Ever since that terrible night when her sister left a pile of clothes beside the canal and vanished, Annie has been afraid to look too closely into the murky depths of her memories. When her attempts to glide over the past come up against Henrietta’s determination to fill in the gaps, both women find themselves confronting truths they’d thought were buried forever—especially when Henrietta’s digging unearths a surprising emotional connection between them.
Could unlocking Annie’s story help Henrietta rewrite the most devastating passages in her own life? And, in return, can she offer Annie a final twist in the tale, before it’s too late?
Thoughts
Read you if enjoy:
Story within story
Female friendships
Dual POVs
Unsolved Mystery
Varied Genres
Tell Me How This Ends was a beautifully crafted poignant literary debut by Jo Leevers. I am someone who enjoys uplifting stories which involved women trying and succeeding in their ambitions overcoming hurdles that life throws their way and TMHTE delivers such wonderful stories.
Henrietta is a transcriber who listens to people’s stories and record them into books so that their memories aren’t lost. This is how she meets Annie who will tell her own story about her sister Kath’s disappearance all those years ago and how it still remains an unsolved mystery and the days that changed her entire life afterward. Intrigued and curious to know more and to be able to her new friends, Henrietta begins her own amateur deducing and that follows the rest of the story.
This is a slow burn cozy mystery with so much emotional baggage and stories that convey grief and mystery in an equal proportion. I loved the character development of both the women and the way they decided to be there for each other. They are very honest and relatable, especially Henrietta. Her naïve enthusiasm was just like mine and I had to know more to what happened to Kath and why.
Tell Me How This Ends was such an easy and enjoyable read and I gobbled it in a day. I will look forward to reading more from Leevers in the future.
About the Author
Tell Me How This Ends is my debut novel, out with Lake Union (Amazon Publishing) on 1 May 2023. It was published in Germany as Café Leben in November 2022.
I’ve worked as an interiors writer for many years, so I’ve also written an interiors book – Victorian Modern – out with Thames & Hudson on 25 May 2023.
