The Geography of You and Me, Jennifer E Smith

Pages: 311

Publisher: Headline

Release Date: 15^th April 2014

Edition: UK e-proof, review copy

Other Titles by this Author: The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight, This is What Happy Looks Like

For fans of John Green, Stephanie Perkins and Sarah Ockler, The Geography of You and Me is a story for anyone who’s ever searched for home and found it where they least expected it.

Owen lives in the basement. Lucy lives on the 24^th floor. But when the power goes out in the midst of a New York heatwave, they find themselves together for the first time: stuck in a life between the 10^th and 11^th floors. As they await help, they start talking…

The brief time they spend together leaves a mark. And as their lives take them to Edinburgh and San Francisco, to Prague and to Portland, they can’t shake the memory of the time they shared. Postcards cross the globe when they themselves can’t, as Owen and Lucy experience the joy – and pain – or first love.

In the space of only two books I’ve come to think of Jennifer E Smith’s books as quick, fun, thoughtful reads with a real taste of fate and the power of a seemingly chance meeting. The Geography of You and Me delivered on all fronts. I loved it.

This novel is effortless. Both to read and fall in love with; I flew through it. Smith is a master of dual narrative and I loved reading Lucy and Owen equally, especially when the short, sweet chapters towards the end began to mirror each other in some ways. It made my heart all fuzzy and the literary of my mind thought it was brilliant and so, so effective in showing their connection.

The ideas of fate, family and home are again present in The Geography of You and Me. These two travelled the world after their fateful evening in New York and it gave me some serious wanderlust: Prague, San Francisco, Edinburgh, even London which is only a 45 minute train ride away! But it really was New York lit by stars and filled by people freed by the lack of electricity that captured my attention. Gah, I want to go! NOW. I completely understand how they both made a home in each place they lived, but it was a particular person that made that place home. I feel that way about my home town now my mum is gone – my connection with the place has lessened such a lot.

With a hopeful, open happily ever after ending that wasn’t completely tied up and rosy, I finished The Geography of You and Me with a soppy smile and a need to travel the world and make a home somewhere away from home. Another winner from Jennifer E Smith.

Thanks to Headline and Netgalley for the review copy.

Sophie