Katie Allen -Everything Happens For A Reason

‘Everything Happens For A Reason’ by Katie Allen is a very clever, emotional and quite funny at times story that will hold you captive until the final page.

Rachel Summers is on maternity leave from her job but she doesn’t have the baby that usually means maternity leave. Her son, Luke was stillborn three weeks ago. Rachel had known how her days would go after the birth or she thought she did. Instead, she is bereft, empty, without her baby and has too many days with nothing to do. She feels empty. Her relationship with her husband Ed is deteriorating instead of being strengthened by the loss of their son. The family and friends are doing their best to try and help them both through but nothing helps Rachel, apart from one sentence “Everything happens for a reason.” Rachel starts to examine her actions and wonders if they have any connection.

As Rachel discovered she was pregnant she successfully stopped a man from jumping from a platform at a tube station. Now Rachel is sure that she lost her son because she stopped a man from dying. She returns to the tube station where she meets Lola a woman who was working at the station, on her shift the day of the incident, and her daughter Josephine. They track the man down who Rachel saved and from here she makes new friends from all walks of life.

A story that has been written in such a clever way. It is in the form of emails from Rachel to someone else and when the reader discovers who these mails are for it causes such an emotive response. It did for me anyway. This is such an emotional book and the reader is privy to everything and can see how much her loss affects her. We see how most people just act like it was an event that can be recovered from so easily.

In my opinion, this book is such a touching one. I must say I haven’t exactly experienced the loss of a child in this way but my best friend has and as I read this story I was so close and invested in Rachel and her loss. It came a little close for comfort if I am honest. I was overflowing with empathy for Rachel as I always am for my best friend…I could feel that it was affecting me more than a book usually would.

Katie Allen has definitely created a book with characters so vibrant they could be real as you finish the book feeling you have brought parts of them away with you.

Thank you to Anne Cater for inviting me on another Orenda Books tour and Orenda Books for my copy of the book.