'Nightingale Woods' is Kathryn Brown's novel about being the 'other woman'. Written throughout in the first person - a clever device, as we see events solely from the other woman's point of view and can more readily empathise with her - it is a realistic story showing the pains, highs and lows of being involved with a married man. The narrator, Rachel, has intense chemistry with Steve, an older man whom she is convinced is the love of her life. We follow her history, beginning in the 1990s and the start of her affair with him. This part of the novel is written in diary form, which gives it great movement and pace. The spirit of the decade is captured in the language, the music and the wine. Because the reader is inside Rachel's head we see her doubts and guilt, which makes her sympathetic. I found Steve less so, but his motivations were also always shown and the stakes involved were always clearly stated.
The second part of the novel shows their affair rekindled after a long interval. The time between is explained and Rachel's increased age and life experience are well drawn. This part, written in first person but not as a diary, shows Rachel embedded in her new life and, as a contrast, the committed love of her friends Claire and Melanie.
Throughout, the 'symbol' of Rachel's and Steve's love is the Nightingale Woods and these, too, are not left unscathed.
This was a different read, involving and very brave. Lindsay Townsend
