Honestly, this one left me rather confused.

I enjoyed the writing style, and the storyline was good. The event that Elizabeth blocked out for so long, and finally becomes obsessed with remembering, is a heartbreaking one.

My biggest problem was that there was really no explanation for why she had physical ailments that led to her remembering the past in the first place.

Overally, BETWEEN HERE AND APRIL is a decent read, but it wasn't all that remarkable. ( )

My review is here

A woman trying to discover the truth beyond why a childhood friend's mother killed herself and her children discovers some truths about herself as well. A very good read ( )

I found this book very interesting particularly the dynamic between the lead character and her psychiatrist

Elizabeth Burns, a journalist who has given up traveling the world to cover war stories in order to be there for her two children, begins suffering blackouts one day. When medical tests show there is no physical reason for her fainting spells, Elizabeth seeks psychiatric help. What she discovers is a long buried memory of the disappearance of her best friend April when she was six years old. Driven to seek out the truth, Elizabeth begins to research her April’s disappearance and uncovers a horrible truth – the disappearance was actually a murder committed by the girl’s own mother. Elizabeth’s journey to uncover the truth and understand the mind of a woman who would kill her own child opens a floodgate of unresolved issues for Elizabeth – a failing marriage, a brutal gang rape, and questions of her own ability to mother.

Between Here and April is a novel which reaches into the dark recesses of the human mind and looks at one of the most difficult to understand crimes: filicide. Deborah Copaken Kogan brings to the novel her own background of journalism (she is the author of the bestselling memoir Shutterbabe which explored her life as a war photographer), and a history which includes a murdered childhood friend. In mining her own experiences, Kogan brings to her writing an honesty and clarity that transforms the novel into something that feels like a true crime story.

Between Here and April is provocative, tough to read and at times uncomfortable as it explores the subjects of sexual perversity, rape, child abuse, discrimination against women, and the unrelenting demands placed on mothers. Filicide is a crime which is almost unspeakable – and yet Cogan takes this topic head-on and seeks to find empathy for the woman who would be driven to commit such an act.

Cogan’s writing is sharp, intuitive and hypnotic. I always enjoy novels written by journalists who have honed their writing skills to get to the core of the story quickly, and who know how to create tension and conflict between characters. This is not a book for everyone. Many readers will be disturbed by the images Cogan creates. The subject matter will turn many readers off. But, those readers willing to follow Cogan into the darkness will be rewarded with a story not soon forgotten.

Recommended. ( )

"Between Here and April" by Deborah Copaken Kogan is a hard book to read as it tries to explain the unexplainable: Why does a mother commit suicide and take her children into death with her?

Kogan's novel seeks to find some resolution to this question through the story of a brief childhood friendship between Elizabeth Burns, the now adult married mother of two girls, and April Cassidy, a friend from second grade who one day never returned to class. The teacher's explanation and overheard remarks confuse and frighten six-year-old Elizabeth who now, as an adult, feels compelled to investigate the truth about April's disappearance. What she discovers is painful but a story many women will recognize if not identify with.

Kogan's characters, both the adults and children, are realistically drawn and they draw the reader into the private lives of childhood and the incomprehisible adults that surround them. ( )