Sarah Reviews… The Distance by Zoe Folbigg

Publisher: Aria

Publication Date: 1^st July 2018

Format: eARC

This book was received from the publisher in return for an honest review

About the book:

Under the midnight sun of Arctic Norway, Cecilie Wiig goes online and stumbles across Hector Herrera in a band fan forum. They start chatting and soon realise they might be more than kindred spirits. But there are two big problems: Hector lives 8,909km away in Mexico. And he’s about to get married.

Can Cecilie, who’s anchored to two jobs she loves in the library and a cafe full of colourful characters in the town in which she grew up, overcome the hurdles of having fallen for someone she’s never met? Will Hector escape his turbulent past and the temptations of his hectic hedonistic life and make a leap of faith to change the path he’s on?

Zoë Folbigg’s latest novel is a story of two people, living two very different lives, and whether they can cross a gulf, ocean, sea and fjord to give their love a chance.

What I Thought:

The Distance tells the story of three main characters; Hector, Cecilie and Kate. 3 people living their lives in 3 separate countries.

When we’re first introduced to Hector he is in his mid thirties, living in Mexico and about to marry. Hector as a character definitely grew on me as the story went on and we learnt more about his history and the changes he made to his life.

Cecilie was my favourite character within the story. I found her a really interesting character with an interesting family dynamic. I particularly loved her relationships with her best friend and her twin’s partner. She was certainly the character I hoped would get her happy ending. Cecilie’s chapters definitely left me wanting to visit Tromsø and see all the sights and experience the Northern Lights from the island.

Kate’s character confused me at first I couldn’t really work out how she fit into the story. Kate is a housewife living in the London commuter belt, whose children are growing up and feels a little lost. I really felt for Kate’s character, it seemed clear to me she wasn’t happy with the way her life was and I really wanted her to find some confidence and happiness by the end of the book.

The story was told in quite an interesting way, with chapters focusing on the different central characters. The story isn’t linear though so pay attention to the date changes at the start of some chapters! The timeline moves backwards and forwards through the years and it definitely caught me out on one occasion and left me slightly confused!

Would I Recommend?

I found The Distance to be an enjoyable summer read. There are some topics covered in the book that may be triggering for some people; suicide is mentioned, and drugs are also discussed with one character overdosing. I really grew to like Cecile and was rooting for her throughout the book. Does she get her happy ending? You’ll have to pick up The Distance to find out!

More Zoe Folbigg reviews

About The Author

Zoë Folbigg is a magazine journalist and digital editor, starting at Cosmopolitan in 2001 and since freelancing for titles including Glamour, Fabulous, Daily Mail, Healthy, LOOK, Top Santé, Mother & Baby, ELLE, Sunday Times Style, and Style.com. In 2008 she had a weekly column in Fabulous magazine documenting her year-long round-the-world trip with ‘Train Man’ – a man she had met on her daily commute. She has since married Train Man and lives in Hertfordshire with him and their two young sons. She is the bestselling author of The Note.