The Girl You left Behind by Jojo Moyes - live webchat 11 December 1-2pm

I finished my copy at about 5.30 this morning.....waking early just now. I really enjoyed it and without giving anything away, have to say that the ending was brilliantly done.

I finished the book last night. I loved it. Once again, what a joy to receive a book for free, thank you Gransnet.

Oh dear, I seem to have banged this thread on the head a bit! Sorry!! Looking forward to Jojo's answers though, as she is a good writer and actually uses language very well (apart from occasional German, but no more of that!)

Rant over !!! Hope Jojo Moyes replies to that one although not exactly a question - could be rephrased why didn't you get anyone to check your German!

I wasn't disputing it with you, gracesmum. Couldn't agree more.

Well wouldn't it annoy you if an ostensibly English character got his English all wrong in the middle of a book o, even a Montalbano episode? If you're going to use a foreign language get it right.

And while I'm having a rant how about accents e.g. in films) - do you remember "Tonght we will dine with my father in Notting-Ham"( Kevin Costner in Robin Hood Prince of Thieves)

gracesmum, worthy of a new thread on Pedants' Corner, for misuse of foreign languages.

Thoroughly enjoyed the plot BUT my enjoyment was marred by cod German - don't know which page, exactly, as I read it on my Kindle but I think the phrase was from the German commandant to one of his men and I think he said "Sie koennen nicht beruehren die Frauen" (you can't touch the women)
1) Koennen - "to be able" , you would use "duerfen" for "to be allowed" (as in can I sit here? Of course you can, but you may not"
2) the infinitive always goes at the end of the sentence or relative clause
3) he would address a soldier as "du" - "Sie" is too polite to someone of a lower rank.
4) he would be highly unlikely to use such a long convoluted command (even if he did get it grammatically correct) and might have said something much more like "Fass' die Frauen nicht an!" (don't touch the women!)
Sorry to be picky - but this sort of thing really jumps off the page and a good editor should have picked it up.

Thanks Gransnet for my copy. I am just about to start it,I love books set during the war but I know this one will have me feeing sad but I also know it will be a great story as I love all the author's book,so here goes.

I cant put it down, my kindle is feeling rejected.

Its so different from your last two book I read Me before You then Last letter from my lover which was my best book of 2012 but I have not yet finished The girl you left behind. Each book seems to me to be very different was that something you strived for to keep the reader interested?

Novels with the First World War as a background are usually based around life in the trenches but yours is set in a German-occupied civilian area. Is this something you researched or is it fictitious? Thoroughly enjoying it so far and as this is the first book of yours I have read will certainly look up some others.

marelli I liked the look of chapter 5

Oops - just realised that you meant you've read 5 chapters, glass! Think it's time I logged off !

Why didn't you start at the beginning, glass?

I have started my copy 5 chapters in and enjoying it.

I'll see if the library has it! Thanks.

nanadog I thoroughly enjoyed Last Letter, was different from what I usually read.

Just read 'The Last Letter from Your Lover' by her. Would also recommend.

I'm really glad about that, gracesmum, because I'd like to read more of her books and I didn't want to read the second one first!

No connection at all, Marelli

I've just started my copy as well, and really enjoying it. Can anyone tell me if this is a sequel to a previous book of hers (Me Before You)?

Have only just started reading it, many thanks for sending it!

Many thanks for the book which I have just finished reading...I will not say I enjoyed it as that wouldn't be the right word for the sadness that was portrayed but it was so interesting it held my attention throughout.....and I would certainly recommend it to others and pass it on.
I found the first part easy to understand...but the second part took some time to piece together all the characters.
Do you think it might make a tv film? it deserves too
Many many thanks for all the hard work you must have put in to write this.

Received the book with thanks and read the whole thing in one go yesterday. What an intriguing storyline - I can usually tell what's coming in a story, but the 'twist', revealed towards the end, completely caught me out. I enjoyed 'Me Before You' (the first book I bought for my Kindle), so I looked forward to reading 'The Girl....' and wasn't disappointed.

I bought the book and have just finished reading it this morning. It was an enjoyable, engrossing read; thank you. I felt there were parallels between the two time frames of the story line; was this deliberate? The detail and descriptions were brilliant as was the pace of the story line. Quite distressing in part especially as I have just been on my first visit to Ypres this year and the detail of the first world war was very clear.