If You Go Away (Adele Parks)

If You Go Away might sound like a good broken-hearted song, but Adele Parks' writing has been one of my favourites. Always a favourite - never failed to entertain me. There were mixed feelings when I first read this but later all those feelings dissipated as I continued reading, and asking, "Why?"

Vivian was a quite spoiled brat, I actually hated for her being too selfish, egotistic, narcissistic, and so in vain. I blamed her mother for turning her into that state. She thought being pretty meant she could simply snatched any attractive men, and ensured to be able to climb social ladder. She was way too young when she lost her virginity to a man whom she infatuated to - she got the wrong idea that she gave everything that she got only to find out the man was actually engaging to other reputable woman.

It's rather normal to feel like a loser, and that Vivian hid herself because of her fallen ego. Her mother was disappointed and still a bitter old woman who wanted to marry off her daughter to another man in town - Aubrey. I wasn’t surprised when Vivian accepted to get married to a man whom she never fall in love with, and the love was never existed even after they got married.

The story went on as the war broke. Aubrey had to go to the battlefield in which later told that Aubrey would rather stay outside than to stay in room with Vivian. There were no love between these two people because they only got married for the sake of 'convenience'. Vivian's personality did not match with what Aubrey's expectation on real woman - delicate and full with elegance. His family was also not so in favour with Vivian as they felt as she was too young and foolhardy.

Vivian was sent to a little town, far from the busy city. She was lonely but then befriended to some of the neighbours, and her best friend was an old lady, Enid. The story went on smoothly until Enid's son appeared in her life. Howard was a conscientious objector because he upheld the belief that killing others do not end the wars. I personally agreed to that especially when Howard quoted as saying, "If they shoot me for my belief, I haven't lose much. If I go to war, I'll be shot for their beliefs. I know which I prefer."

It can be pretty difficult when one falls in love, most would rather choose the one who offers the love that they long for. I could never blame Vivian for the change of her heart - she fell in love with Howard even though she was actually still Aubrey's legal wife. Both Aubrey and Vivian should never get married at first since there was no love between them.

Nobody can prevent when two people got themselves attached and fall in love. The do whatever they feel like as if the world only revolves around them - they own the whole world, and nothing else matters. If You Go Away connotes the fear of losing someone so dearly, and the plot taken during bloody war which everyone lost someone that they loved. In fact, the title itself reflects how miserable one can be - it actually changes a person and the whole life.

The coming to the end was pretty quick as if everything had to be done in a jiff. It was a happy ending, though.

Synopsis

Glamorous debutantes, heartbreak and discovering just what is worth fighting for in the new historical novel from Sunday Times best seller Adele Parks.

It's 1914. Vivian, a young, impassioned debutante is hurried into a pedestrian marriage to cover a scandal. War breaks out on her wedding day - domestically and across Europe. Quick to escape the disappointment of matrimony, her traditionalist husband immediately enlists, and Vivian has no alternative than to take up the management and running of his estate - after all, everyone is required to do their bit. Even pretty, inadequately educated young wives.

Howard, a brilliant young playwright, rushes to the front to see for himself the best and the worst of humanity; he cannot imagine what the horror might be. In March 1916, when conscription becomes law, it is no longer enough for him to report on the war; it's a legal requirement that he joins the ranks. Howard refuses, becoming one of the most notorious conscientious objectors of the time. Disarmingly handsome, famous, articulate and informed, he's a threat to the government. Narrowly escaping a death sentence by agreeing to take essential work on Vivian's farm, it's only then Howard understands what is worth fighting for.