A Half Forgotten Song by Katherine Webb

In A Half Forgotten Song, 14-year old Dimity "Mitzy" Hatcher has been raised by her wild and aloof mother. She's lonely and is desperate to belong. When Charles Aubrey, a famous artist and his family visit the area for the summer, Mitzy befriends his daughters. As Aubrey becomes interested in drawing Mitzy, she becomes obsessed with him. Many years later, Zach descends upon the village in search of information about the artist and a particular drawing that has caught his interest. As he searches for answers, he uncovers long buried secrets of those long ago summers.

I adored this book! Webb is definitely one of my favourite authors and I think this is my favourite book of hers to date. The descriptions of the works of art as well as the setting of the story were fantastic. I loved it all.

Like Webb's other books, this one alternates between the past and the present. In the past, Mitzy is a young girl; in the present Dimity is an old, reclusive woman. I really felt sorry for Mitzy as a child, but it's her life in her later years that had me in tears a number of times. This alone kept me glued to the pages. I had to know what happened to this woman in her life that left her so isolated and alone as she got older. The story was more incredible than I ever could have imagined. It definitely took a teenage crush and an obsession to a whole new level.

The story is very relatable, at least for women. I think most teenage girls have at least one intense crush in their adolescence. Thankfully, very few of them (us) take it to this level.

The ending and its implications were haunting. It still gives me shivers to think about it.

This edition of the book includes a PS section, which features notes about the author, a Q&A, the story behind the book, a Reading Group Guide, suggested further reading, and other books by Webb. I love these additions to books and always find them worth a read.

I've also read two other books by Webb: The Legacy and The Unseen. I loved them both.

Highly recommended. I can't say enough good things about this book. I'm definitely looking forward to her next book, The Misbegotten.

For more information about this book, please visit the HarperCollins website.

I'd like to thank those nice people at HarperCollins for this review copy.

A Half Forgotten Song by Katherine Webb, HarperCollins, ©2013. ISBN 9780062234520(Uncorrected Proof), 469p.