The Truth About Melody Browne

I love Lisa Jewell's books so I was so excited when I heard that she had a new one coming out this year. I finally got round to reading it this weekend and it was fantastic. The premise of the book is quite simple really; Melody Browne's house burnt down when she was just nine years old, taking all of her possessions but also all of her memories before the age of nine. We meet Melody Browne when she is in her early thirties; she's a single mum living in Covent Garden, just about to celebrate her son's 18th birthday. We learn that she left home at 15 as her parents were not too impressed with her pregnancy and she has not seen them since then. In just the first few chapters, Melody has a chance encounter with a very lovely man on the bus show more and is persuaded to go on her first date in years. Ben takes her to see the famous hypnotist, Julius Sardo who asks Melody to take part in his act, during which she falls and hits her head. When she comes round she feels different in some way and can remember small details from her childhood. This continues and she has to start piecing all these pieces together in order to find out who she was. We follow Melody Browne on her exciting journey; just as she gets answers to one question, more pop up in it's place.
I don't want to go into too much detail as it would be far too easy to give the plot away and I know that my lovely sister for one is still reading it! I will just say that Lisa Jewell has yet again written such a brilliant story. I instantly warmed to the character of Melody in the first few pages and wanted more than anything for her to find the answers that she needed to be happy. The book has a really good pace, I didn't want to put it down and I enjoyed every twist and turn that Lisa Jewell created. show less

Melody Brown is thirty-three years old. When was nine years old a fire destroyed her home. She and her parents were saved, but she has no memory of her early childhood from before the fire. She grew to be a rebellious teenager. When she found herself pregnant and abandoned by the father of her baby, her parents were angry, disappointed, and hurt – and, at the age of 15, Melody found herself on her own, giving birth to a baby boy, Edward. She raised her son alone in a Council housing flat near Covent Garden and remained estranged from her parents, working as a dinner lady at Edward’s school and devoting herself entirely to raising her son. She met her best friend at a home for unwed expectant mothers and they remained close friends show more since that time. Her friend’s life evolved in one direction, meeting and marrying a man who raised her daughter as his own. She had two more children and a happy family life. Melody’s life went in a different direction as she remained aloof to others, and devoted herself entirely to providing a loving warm home environment for her son.

When Melody agreed to meet with a man after an inevitable meet-cute, her son passes on tickets that his friend gave him for orchestra seats to a performance of a famous hypnotist. This is a first date in donkey’s years for Melody, and it didn’t go as expected. She was chosen to participate in the first act which resulted in her fainting on stage when coming out of her trance…..

….and that is when the book becomes truly interesting, as a switch of sorts gets turned on in Melody’s brain and she begins to have flashes of different people, tastes, and events that make no sense to her.

The rest of the book covers a two-week period where Melody begins to delve into a myriad of memory snapshots which fill in the blanks of a life that she lived before the age of nine, and it wasn’t a very happy one.

I won’t spoil. I found the book absorbing and thought-provoking, parts were sad and parts were heartwarming. It is not steeped in atmosphere, nor is it a furious page-flipper or twisty suspense thriller. By the end of the novel, Melody opens many doors to memories of her younger childho0d, recalling people and events that were lost to her. She contacted as many persons as she could from her past - all of whom were happy to finally learn what happened to Melody, and who revealed much information to which a 7 year old child would not be privy, nor would comprehend (mature and intuitive as she was for her age). I was disappointed in her reunion with her mother, Gloria Browne. I felt that after raising her own child, Melody might have cut the woman some slack, especially after learning the circumstances of her early childhood. The book was originally published in 2009 and recently released in audio. The audio version was very good and Lisa Jewell’s talent for story-telling shone throughout. show less

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Told from the perspective of 32-year-old Melody, it gradually explores her childhood, which she had entirely forgotten until an unexpected trigger brings back some random memories.

Confusing at first, in sympathy with Melody's own confusion. Then slowly a moving, poignant picture builds up of an intelligent, thoughtful little girl whose life is filled with change and trauma.

Perhaps the end is a tad too neat and tidy; perhaps there are a few too many expletives that don't add anything. But overall I thought this an excellent book which I could barely put down once I'd started. It's women's fiction in genre but with a lot of depth.

Highly recommended.

Longer review here: show more target="_top">https://suesbookreviews.blogspot.com/2023/08/the-truth-about-melody-browne-by-li... show less

I love Lisa Jewell's books. This book was published in 2009 in England and just showed up in my Libby app. It was different from her more recent books, but, it held my interest and I looked forward to listening to it each night. Melody has no memories of her life until age nine. When she goes to a show and is hypnotized, her memories start to come back.

Even though Lisa Jewell is one of my favorite writers, this book wasn't even on my radar until a few weeks ago. (Note to self: Look up an author's catalog on Goodreads instead of assuming your well-stocked library has every book) The Truth About Melody Browne was first published in 2009. This book is more of a regular fiction read when compared to her more recent novels. However, a good portion of the story is unraveling the mystery of Melody's childhood. It's worth a read if you are a fan of the author.

When Melody Browne was 9 years old, her family's home burned down and it left her with no memories prior to the tragedy. She is now in her early 30s and a single mother living in London. While attending a hypnotist show, Melody faints show more onstage. And that jumpstarts her desire to learn more about her past. The story alternates between the present day and key moments in Melody's life when she was a child.

Melody is a character I felt very protective of and I'm sure that is in large part due to the fact you see her as a child for half of the story. The young Melody is the driving force but adult Melody is interesting too. Her kid, who she singlehandedly raised, will be leaving the nest soon and so she is at a point in which she will need to redefine her life because she is no longer needed in the day to day mothering role. And so you have this typical storyline of a woman trying to find her place in life along with this slightly bizarre, soap opera amnesia plot but yet they both work well together.

I did have some mixed feelings about the last few chapters of the book. In general, the current day storyline wasn't as fully developed as Melody's childhood. And in the end it felt like the author was rushing to wrap everything up.

Overall, a good read for me. Even though this is an early work from the author, the writing talent I have come to love was present throughout. I've said this before in my reviews of her books, she's a solid storyteller.

Thank you to Atria Books for providing me with a copy of this book! All thoughts expressed are my honest opinion. show less

Best for:
People who like their mysteries best when they don’t start with a murder.

In a nutshell:
After going on a first date to a hypnotism show, Melody starts to remember things from her childhood.

Worth quoting:
N/A

Why I chose it:
I’ve enjoyed her books this year, and I find the audio versions are great for longer runs.

What it left me feeling:
Not much

Review:
This book is not bad. It feels different that Jewell’s other work, but it still has that telltale jumping back and forth through time. However, everything is from Melody’s perspective, instead of having multiple chapters from other perspectives.

Melody’s first childhood memory is of her father rescuing her from a fire when she was nine. Skipping ahead, she is 33 with a nearly show more 18-year-old son. What happen in between? And what happened before? Melody doesn’t date much, but agrees to go out with Ben, who takes her to a hypnotism show where she is called up to be a volunteer. She passes out, and from then on starts having these very vivid memories from when she was very young - 4, 5 and 6. Memories that don’t involve her parents.

What they do involve are a whole other life, which starts with two parents (different form the ones she had at age nine), and a baby sister who dies within a couple of days of birth. Much of the book looks at how grief impacts everyone it touches, and how parents deal with the death of a child.

Jewell challenges herself in that she is spending much of the book writing from the point of view of a very small child. What would that child think? How would they view things? And how can Jewell write it so we see what Melody does but also understand much more than she does?

As I said, this book is a bit different, but it is interesting.

Recommend to a Friend / Keep / Donate it / Toss it:
Donate it show less

Originally published in 2009 (but recently reissued in the wake of Ms. Jewell's success as a suspense novelist), The Truth About Melody Browne is more similar to her dysfunctional family drama [b:The House We Grew Up In|18764826|The House We Grew Up In|Lisa Jewell|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1407719574l/18764826._SY75_.jpg|23967072] (2013) than her more recent thrillers like [b:Invisible Girl|50542147|Invisible Girl|Lisa Jewell|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1600610855l/50542147._SY75_.jpg|74078672].

Melody Browne has no memories from before she was nine years old. That's when a fire destroyed her family's home and possessions. At fifteen, she got pregnant show more and decided to keep the baby, which led to her becoming estranged from her parents. Now at 34, she lives a quiet life, working as a lunch lady at the school her son attended. Then a chain of events leads to her beginning to recover memories of her childhood and they do not match up with what she was told. Suddenly, she's tracking down memories and people that she had completely forgotten.

Melody's childhood was chaotic and tragic (you can guess that much from the fact that it was hidden from her), making for a fascinating read, but I never got a real sense of who adult Melody is. Maybe this is because Melody doesn't really know who she is. Despite this drawback, I enjoyed the way the story unfolded. (I could also see hints of Ms. Jewell's future writing style as there are a few thematic similarities to [b:The Family Upstairs|43822820|The Family Upstairs (The Family Upstairs, #1)|Lisa Jewell|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1564517337l/43822820._SY75_.jpg|66179743].) show less