It is soft and plain, ordinary – it’s the voice of any woman on the street. ‘Thank you,’ she says to me.
‘Thank you,’ I say back to her.
Behind me I hear the front door slam. ‘Libby, are you ready? If we don’t leave now, Butch will miss his Scottie girlfriend.’
‘I’m coming!’ I call back to Jack, my eyes still fixed on Eve. ‘And you say that like Butch will do anything more than stand and drool in her general direction.’
Eve shoos me away with her hand, telling me to go and get on with my life. Her smile becomes a grin and, as I wave again, she fades away until I can feel with every fibre of my being that she has finally gone to a better place.
About the Book
Originally, when I came up with the idea for my seventh novel, The Woman He Loved Before, I wanted to tell a story about a woman who feels second best in her marriage. She’s fallen deeply in love with the man she wants to spend the rest of her life with, and everything would be perfect if it wasn’t for the spectre of his late wife ‘haunting’ their relationship.
I wanted to explore the idea of what love is from the perspective of not feeling number one in your relationship. The character I had in mind knew on some level that the late wife’s memory would always be around, but it is only when something traumatic happens to her, forcing her to re-evaluate her whole life, that she puts her marriage under deep scrutiny too. And that’s when she starts to acknowledge that the first wife isn’t as far back in her husband’s history as she thought – thus raising the dilemma of what she should do next.
As I planned out the story, thinking through the idea and the emotions and events involved, the idea of telling the first wife’s story, from her viewpoint, grew. She is an unknown figure, a ghost in her husband’s second marriage, the untouchable nemesis of the current wife. Thinking more about this character, Eve, I hit upon her big secret. And in doing so, I hit upon one of the core elements of the book. I find, when I’m writing, as soon as I find one of the core elements, the story pretty much reveals itself to me.
So, I had all the elements of the story, I had the main players and I had a tale to tell. And, once again, I was left personally altered by the telling process. The biggest effect it has had on me is how I approach mirrors and photographs of myself.
Before I began work on the book, I thought I knew what I felt about beauty: that beauty is only skin-deep; that true beauty comes from within; what you do is more important than how you look. I still believe that except now I know that being ‘beautiful’ is about so much more, as well.
While writing Libby’s story, essentially ‘living’ the life of a woman who has been permanently and visibly scarred, I had to constantly examine and re-examine how I felt about my looks. I was quite surprised by what I discovered: I wasn’t as happy with myself as I thought I was. I realised that when I went to a mirror; I wasn’t simply doing so to see what I looked like, I was actually seeking out flaws. My heart would often sink when I saw that my skin wasn’t blemish-free, my features weren’t symmetrical, that I wasn’t ‘perfect’. The same with photographs: I wouldn’t see a record of a moment in my life, I would see the extra pounds on my frame, the out-of-place wisp of hair…again, all the ways I wasn’t ‘perfect’.
Having written Libby’s story, I’ve realised that I’ve got a lot to be grateful for, and that while I may never be a ‘model’, I can make the most of what I’ve got, I can stop judging my looks by other people’s standards and, most importantly, appreciate myself for being one of a kind. That is what beauty is really about – appreciating who you are, no matter what you look like. It is about allowing yourself to be happy in yourself, even if you’ll never have model scouts beating a path to your door. It is about looking at yourself and seeing someone who is in fact perfect and unique.
As Libby says of her job as a beauty therapist, ‘I also loved seeing the results on people’s faces when they looked in the mirror and saw what I saw when I worked on them – not the imperfections, but all the perfections that made up who they were.’
Why don’t you give it a try? Why don’t you try looking in the mirror or at a picture of yourself and, instead of focusing on all the things ‘wrong’ with you, see every unique and beautiful thing that makes you who you are.
Dorothy Koomson, 2011
The Woman He Loved Before reading group questions
These questions might help start a reading group discussion on The Woman He Loved Before. Warning: contains possible spoilers!
1. Who was the character with whom you most identified in the book? Why?
2. Who was the character you disliked the most? Why?
3. Why do you think Libby decided to give Jack a chance after he made such a bad first impression on her? Would you have given him the same chance?
4. Do you think it was romantic or reckless of Libby to agree to marry Jack when she knew so little about him?
5. Why do you think Jack behaved the way he did after the crash?
6. If you had found Eve’s diaries, do you think you would have read them first or given them straight to Jack?
7. Which woman do you think Jack loved more: Eve or Libby? Why?
8. Do you think Libby was right to end her marriage to Jack?
9. How do you think Eve manages to remain a sweet person despite all the things she endures?
10. What do you think Eve could have done differently to save herself from the choices she was forced to make?
11. How does finding out Eve’s secret impact on Jack?
12. How does finding out Eve’s secret impact on Libby?
13. How do Libby and Jack change as people during the course of the book?
14. Do you think justice was done at the end? If so, why? If not, why not?
15. What are the main themes of The Woman He Loved Before?
Reading group questions – answered by Dorothy Koomson
I wrote some questions to help start a reading group discussion on The Woman He Loved Before and below are the answers.
Warning: contains possible spoilers if you haven’t read the book!
1. Who was the character with whom you identified in the book? Why?
I think I identified most with Libby and Eve. I know that’s cheating, but there are parts of both characters that resonated with me. With Libby, it was the idea of people thinking you’re not very bright because of your job – I have temped a lot and was often treated like an idiot even though I had a degree and was studying for a masters; with Eve it was the poverty. There have been times in my life when I’ve had to make the choice between eating and being able to get to work the next day. Thankfully, I’ve never been so poor I’ve had to make the choices that Eve made.
2. Who was the character you disliked the most? Why?
To be honest, I didn’t like Jack that much at the start. I know that sounds silly, when I created him, but when I’m writing, it truly does seem as if the characters are writing themselves. Jack’s arrogance really put me off him, but when I was writing about his relationship with Eve, I felt myself backtracking. He was very obviously damaged, but he did redeem himself with me when he realised that Libby wasn’t going to bend to his will so he made the choice to become a better, more thoughtful person. I also disliked Caesar, but who wouldn’t?!
3. Why do you think Libby decided to give Jack a chance after he made such a bad first impression upon her? Would you have given him the same chance?
When I was younger, I think I might have been tempted to give Jack a chance, even after the initial impression he made upon Libby, without a second thought but now I’m older, and with what I learnt about abuse when I was researching The Ice Cream Girls, I would have proceeded with a great deal of caution, as Libby does. Some people say women are supposed to want a ‘bit of a bastard’ in a man, but I think women are selling themselves short when they put up with terrible behaviour because they’re attracted to/think they’re in love with a man. You deserve to be treated with respect, f
ull stop. I don’t want a ‘perfect man’. I think being with someone who is human and flawed like we all are, is so different to being with someone who is a ‘bit of a bastard’. That’s what Jack is, flawed, so I think that would have eventually won me round. I think the fact that Jack made such an effort with Libby to show who he really was would have cinched it for me.
4. Do you think it was romantic or reckless of Libby to agree to marry Jack when she knew so little about him?
Completely reckless! But a lot of romance is, isn’t it? I think she made the right choice, don’t get me wrong, but it was pretty darn reckless. Jack, though, made her feel so wonderful, I don’t think I could blame her for doing something so out of character.
5. Why do you think Jack behaved the way he did after the crash?
He was feeling guilty because he knew that he’d not only called Libby ‘Eve’ he’d deliberately distanced himself from Libby at a time of great need because he didn’t remember saying ‘I love you’ to Eve on the day she died. That made him feel even more guilty when Libby didn’t die because she might remember that he didn’t react with extreme concern when he realised she wasn’t Eve.
6. If you had found Eve’s diaries, do you think you would have read them first or given them straight to Jack?
I’d like to think I’d give them to Jack, but the reality is I soooo would have read them. I wouldn’t have been able to stop myself. Writers are – necessarily – very nosey!
7. Which woman do you think Jack loved more – Eve or Libby? Why?
I think he loved them equally, just at different points in his life and in different ways. He fell for Eve when he was young, idealistic and naïve; he fell for Libby when he’d lived a bit more and was more hardened, damaged by life. I’m not sure younger Jack would have loved Libby – she was the person the more arrogant Jack needed to make him examine who he truly is; and I’m not sure older, more cynical Jack would have loved Eve – he wouldn’t have been accepting of her secrets, I don’t think. Jack loved the women he loved because they came into his life at the right times for the type of love he was able to feel.
8. Do you think Libby was right to end her marriage to Jack?
Yes. I think she could have, like a lot of people do, carried on ignoring the issues they had, hoping things would get better. But I think healthy relationships are about feeling loved, wanted, understood and cherished – otherwise what’s the point of being together? When Libby realised she really was second best to Eve, it made absolute sense for her to walk away. She loved Jack completely and knew she deserved to have that reciprocated. Also, it was only when she ended her marriage – and she wasn’t playing games, she meant it – that Jack realised how much he loved her and what he had lost.
9. How do you think Eve manages to remain a sweet person despite all the things she endures?
Eve is a naturally sweet person, and I think the life she lived did take its toll on her, but she does remain grounded and lovely. I think it was growing up so loved by her mother, and having a good sense of self-esteem and the need to be kind to others, that helps her to stay nice. However, that’s also her undoing. She should have kicked out Elliot a long time earlier but felt so responsible for him she couldn’t.
10. What do you think Eve could have done differently to save herself from the choices she was forced to make?
Like I said, getting rid of Elliot would have made her life a lot easier, but I discovered from doing research on those types of relationships that a lot of women find that hard to do. They will keep trying and trying with a relationship, giving a man many, many chances because they love him and they believe he can change. If she had given up on Elliot sooner, she wouldn’t have been in a position of such extreme poverty at someone else’s hand. Having said that, it’s not in Eve’s nature to give up on people. Also, if she’d been honest with her mother about her life ‘Down South’ they would have reconciled a lot sooner.
11. How does finding out Eve’s secret impact on Jack?
Eve’s secret forces Jack to re-examine everything he’s ever thought about the people who did what Eve was forced to do. And it showed his capacity to love someone who isn’t perfect. It also makes him reassess his relationship with his father. Basically, Eve’s secret fundamentally messes up Jack’s mind and emotions. I’m not surprised he became cynical and callous after she died.
12. How does finding out Eve’s secret impact on Libby?
Eve and Libby are very similar in the sense of growing up poor, having a strong work ethic and always being determined to support themselves – even when they married a rich man they both carried on working in their low-paid jobs. Eve’s secret actually frightens Libby because it makes her realise that she could easily have ended up like Eve. I think a lot of us are like that, when we hear a story or read a book, we start to think, ‘There but for the grace of God, go I.’ Having written seven books and doing so much research, I firmly believe most of us are only a few ‘questionable’ decisions away from walking into life-altering situations that are difficult to escape.
13. How do Libby and Jack change as people during the course of the book?
I think Libby changes in the sense of realising that she needs to accept that she can’t control everything – life just isn’t like that. Her face, lack of hair and bruised body prove that her whole world can change in an instant. She’s also altered in that she can look at her marriage with a critical eye and realise that she’s been hoping for the best when things have been declining for a while. The change in her is doing what she has done before in relation to other things and walk away because it’s not right. It’s not easy because she loves Jack, but it’s necessary. The biggest change, of course, is learning to live her life with her for-ever-altered face and hair. She is someone else whenever she looks in the mirror and that is a change she starts to embrace during the book.
Jack changes in that he begins to accept that he can love Libby and still love Eve, but he has to focus on the wife who is alive. This is a big thing for him because he couldn’t let Eve go – not after she first died and he started sleeping around, and not after he married Libby and the first rush of being with her had died down. He changes in that he confronts how badly he has treated Libby by not being more open about how he felt about Eve and the impact Eve’s secrets and death had on him. Eve’s secrets were pretty darn big, but marriage is a big thing and if you can’t share things with the person you’ve promised to spend the rest of your life with, then is there really any point? Jack learns that.
14. Do you think justice was done at the end? If so, why? If not, why not?
This is a difficult question for me to answer because I don’t ever think murder is right. Was the killer justified? In their mind, I think so, which is as close to answer I’m going to be able to give. Yup, total cop out!
15. What are the main themes of The Woman He Loved Before?
The themes I think are love, bereavement, inner versus outer beauty, the randomness of life, honesty and betrayal.
I’m sure I think that because I wrote it, it would be interesting to find out what thoughts you – yes, you – have on the themes, as well as your answers to the other questions.
You can email me your answers through the ‘contact me’ section of my website at: www.dorothykoomson.co.uk
Thanks for reading.
Dorothy x
© Dorothy Koomson, 2011
Read on for an extract from My Best Friend’s Girl
chapter one
The postman jumped as I snatched open the front door to my block of flats and eagerly greeted him.
Usually when we came face to face, he’d have buzzed up to my first floor flat and I’d come shuffling down, pulling on my dressing gown as I tried to rub dried sleep drizzle off my face. Today, though, I’d been hanging out of my window waiting for him. I was still in my usual post-receiving attire of dressing gown and had sleep-sculpted hair, but this time my eyes weren’t barely open slits, I’d washed my fac
e and I was smiling.
‘Special day, is it?’ he said without humour.
He clearly didn’t like this reversal of roles. He wanted me to be sedate and disorientated when he handed over my post. It was probably the only power trip he got of a day. Ahhh, that’s not fair. He was lovely, my postman. Most postmen are nice, aren’t they?
In fact, everyone in the world was lovely today.
‘It’s my birthday,’ I grinned, showing off my freshly cleaned teeth.
‘Happy birthday,’ he commented, dour as a priest at prayer time, and handed over the post for the four flats in our block. I keenly took the bundle that was bound up by a brown elastic band, noting that almost all of the envelopes were red or purple or blue. Basically, card coloured. ‘Twenty-one again, eh?’ the postie said, still unwilling to be infected by my good humour.
‘Nope, I’m thirty-two and proud,’ I replied. ‘Every birthday is a bonus! And anyway, today I get to wear gold sequins and high heels and brush gold dust all over my cleavage.’