TEN YEARS – Pernille Hughes
One More Chapter
ISBN: 978-0008478421
August 15, 2023
Contemporary Fiction

London, England 

Becca and Charlie have known each other since they attended university. Becca’s best friend, Ally, fell in love with Charlie. But despite the connection, Becca and Charlie didn’t really get along. However, they were there while Ally battled cancer until she finally died in 2011. TEN YEARS covers the day of Ally’s funeral and through each year up to 2020. Unbeknownst to them, Ally left behind a mission for Charlie and Becca to do together.

A year after Ally’s death, Becca receives an email from…Ally. Thinking Charlie was pranking her, she looks up his phone number and angrily contacts him. Turns out he got the same email. They decided that Ally had scheduled emails for the future and in them were requests that only the two people she cared for could fulfill. Becca and Charlie hate each other, so how can they stand to be around each other now? But for Ally’s sake, they will tolerate the other. They contact Ally’s mother Valerie, who gives them a little bottle with some of Ally’s ashes. The email had instructed that they would go to this particular place and spread the ashes from the little bottle. Amazingly enough, despite their dislike of each other, Becca and Charlie perform the task. The next year, another email and another task. They’ve finally figured out that Ally is doing it as a way to keep her memory alive, but it is also forcing Becca and Charlie to interact.

Every year that Becca and Charlie get together to once again spread part of Ally’s ashes, they end up learning more about what the other has been up to. Becca is an aspiring actress who isn’t having much luck in finding a steady job—or finding a good man to date. Charlie took a year off after graduating from university. He is a journalism major and finally lands a job. He also eventually starts dating a woman at work, and they marry. At his wedding reception, Becca is enraged because she thinks Charlie is disrespecting Ally’s memory even though it’s been several years since she died. As they bicker, it soon becomes apparent that he hasn’t told his bride the whole story about Ally. Within a couple of years, Charlie is once again alone. And each year Charlie and Becca continue to get together to spread more of Ally’s ashes. 

Each year in TEN YEARS represents changes happening to Charlie and Becca. It turns out they are good listeners for each other, yet they don’t recognize how their relationship has changed. I won’t give away all the spoilers, but readers will soon realize what Ally is doing. She is bringing Charlie and Becca together. Did two people who thought they hated the other really turn out to be…perfect for each other? As you can guess, it takes time and the ups and downs of their lives before that question is answered. A compelling and intriguing tale, you won’t want to miss TEN YEARS.

Patti Fischer