About the Book:
Max didn't believe in an afterlife. Until he died. Now, as a reluctant ghost trying to work out why he remains, he watches his girlfriend Hannah lost in grief in the flat they shared and begins to realise how much of her life was invisible to him.
In the weeks and months before Max's death, Hannah is haunted by the secrets she left Australia to escape. A relationship with Max seems to offer the potential of a different story, but the past refuses to stay hidden. It finds expression in the untold stories of the people she grew up with, the details of their lives she never knew and the events that broke her family apart and led her to Max.
Both a celebration and an autopsy of a relationship, spanning multiple generations and set between rural Australia and London, The Echoes is a novel about love and grief, stories and who has the right to tell them. It asks what of our past we can shrug off and what is fixed forever, echoing down through the years.
Published by Books Penguin Australia
Released 30 July 2024
My Thoughts:
The Echoes by Evie Wyld is a stunning reflection on grief and love. When Max dies suddenly, his ghost remains trapped in the flat he shared with his girlfriend Hannah. He has no memory of his own death and has no idea why he's still hanging around. From his hallowed state, he observes Hannah's grief for him, through all the stages, waiting, wondering, what is his purpose now? Is it merely to antagonise a cat, or is there something more?
Often funny in a wry way, deeply moving and occasionally shocking, The Echoes is magnificent fiction. Clever and unique with all the feels. The story slips back and forth between the present day, before Max's death, and then further back again to Hannah's life in Australia, from long before she met Max.
This story illustrates just how little we really know each other, how often, it's a case of what we want to show others and what we want to keep hidden, redefining ourselves over and over, changing the narrative and rewriting history.
"I think sometimes silence is better than the wrong person speaking."
There's so much in this story to turn over and reflect upon. It's a beautiful, unique, heartfelt story. I absolutely adored it.
Thanks to Penguin Books Australia for the review copy.
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