You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice. When Janet finds herself involved in a train crash, she recognizes her chance to do what she couldn’t all those years ago.

Impossible to put down, this is a darkly brilliant novel that balances the heartbreak with the humour. Then, Janet finds herself involved in a train crash and, recognising the chance to do what she couldn’t all those years ago, she makes a decision. Janet is a cleaner and the only way that makes her feel calm is running a cloth around but she carries guilt about something devastating that happened in the past. Thank you to NetGalley, and to the publisher, for providing me with a free ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. The story embraces some difficult topics — loss, grief, guilt, blame — but Levin handles them with the utmost sensitivity.

Janet is dealing with an unimaginable loss whilst also being involved in a relationship that is full of coercive control, she’s a likeable character and I felt so sorry for her as I continued to read. Her writing is fabulous, full of emotion, and her descriptions are on point, and there is always that mix of humour combined within the chapters.

It's evident fairly early in the story that there is a traumatic backstory to Janet but I really enjoyed the pacing of this and the way the full story was allowed to gently unfold. This is the story of Janet Brown, a woman weighed down by guilt and grief, whose small world revolves around her cleaning job, her elderly father in his care home, and controlling husband Colin.The death of her daughter 11 years earlier has left Janet with an unbearable amount of grief and guilt, which is fuelled by her husband Colin who makes very clear he blames Janet for Claires death. There is no doubt in my mind that Charlotte could be the next “Mistress of Misery” or “Dame of Dysfunction” because she creates the most incredible characters and puts them in situations that make my sphincter clench!

Overall, If I Let You Go is an intriguing, intense, immersive tale by Levin that does a wonderful job of highlighting just how devastating and all-consuming guilt and grief can be and reminds us to savour every moment because life can often change in a heartbeat. This seems such a trite thing to say given the huge events of the story but I just felt so sad for her. We meet Janet on what would have been the 18th birthday of her daughter, Claire, who died in a tragic car accident 11 years earlier.I really wanted to like this book because I read If I Can't Have You and absolutely loved it, it was one of the best books I've read. As for the ending, it couldn’t have been more perfect; quietly teasing before finishing on the gentlest, most satisfying of flourishes. It emerges that this happened in a car accident while Janet was driving, having been in the process of leaving Colin, and he has blamed her ever since and guilted her into coming back to him and allowing herself to be punished in perpetuity.