Book Review: What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty

Imagine forgetting the most important ten years of your life.
Alice wakes up on the floor of the gym with a nasty bump on her head, thinking she's still a fun-loving twenty-nine-year-old starting life with her gorgeous husband and pregnant with their first baby.
To her disbelief, it soon transpires the fall has knocked ten years from her memory and she is actually an up-tight thirty-nine-year-old whose idea of a good time is a three hour workout followed by committee meetings with the kind of women she used to despise. How on earth did her life come to this? And more disturbingly how can she not remember giving birth to three children? Why does her husband suddenly hate her? And what can Alice possibly have done that means her beloved sister will barley speak to her?
Seeing herself through fresh eyes, Alice barley recognises or even likes the person she has become. Can she ever find her way back to the woman she used to be?

What Alice Forgot is Liane Moriarty's third novel and the first of hers that I have read. The first page of this book describes Alice having the accident that causes her amnesia. By doing this the reader initially only knows of the Alice from 10 years ago and we find out alongside Alice about the woman she has become in that time. I wasn't sure if I would find the idea of a character losing 10 years of their memory believable. However, the way in which the author threw in little snippets of memories triggered by smells or sounds etc. made it seem far more realistic.
I liked the old Alice much more than the bitter person she had clearly become. I kept turning the pages because I wanted to know what had happened in order to change Alice's personality and outlook on life so drastically. Liane Moriarty's writing style is excellent, she reflects this feeling of amnesia on to the reader. We are in the same situation as Alice, trying to grab on to tiny strands of information in order to see the bigger picture.
The press information that came with the book suggested that it would appeal to women of all ages and I have to completely agree. It really does make you think about the person you were 10 years ago and the ways in which you have changed.
I did really enjoy this book and it held my attention throughout. It's great that it leaves you with a lot to think about and I would definitely recommend it.

Many thanks to Penguin for sending me a copy to review, this book is published on June 3rd.