Whatever You Love by Louise Doughty

About the Book


Laura has never had an easy life, but it gets dramatically worse when she learns of her young daughter's death caused by a hit-and-run driver.

What I think


Despite the macabre topic of this book, it was an easy and good read. Not all the events took place chronologically, so it was nice to feel that as the reader you were challenged to piece the story together. 


Not having dealt with anything half as traumatic as the subject matter of this book (and obviously hope never to have to) I felt that the way Laura, the main character, dealt with the events was plausible and credible. She did things that were shocking, she did things that were repulsive and she also did things that were mean. But never once did I think: she wouldn't do that. 


I thought that the way in which the author wrote about the relationships was fascinating. The most interesting was the relationship between Laura and David (the father of young Betty) and how the power of emotions led them to deal with this trauma in different ways. 


About the Author

Louise Doughty (born 1963) is a novelist, playwright and critic. She studied English Literature at Leeds University and did an MA in Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia. Whatever You Love was shortlisted for the Costa Novel Award and longlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction.