If I Forget You

A Novel

By: Thomas Christopher Greene

Narrated by: Kevin Pariseau

Length: 6 hrs and 18 mins

Publisher's summary

Two former lovers reconnect in this beautiful and haunting tale of great lost love from the critically acclaimed author of The Headmaster's Wife.

Deeply affecting and compulsively listenable, The Headmaster's Wife was a breakout book for Thomas Christopher Greene. Now Greene returns with a beautifully written, emotional new novel perfect for his growing audience.

Twenty-one years after they were driven apart by circumstances beyond their control, two former lovers have a chance encounter on a Manhattan street. What follows is a tense, suspenseful exploration of the many facets of enduring love.

Told from alternating points of view through time, If I Forget You tells the story of Henry Gold, a poet whose rise from poverty embodies the American dream, and Margot Fuller, the daughter of a prominent, wealthy family, and their unlikely, star-crossed love affair, complete with the secrets they carry when they find each other for the second time. Written in lyrical prose, If I Forget You is at once a great love story; a novel of marriage, manners, and family; a meditation on the nature of art; and a moving elegy to what it means to love and to lose and how the choices we make can change our lives forever.

©2016 Thomas Christopher Greene (P)2016 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Thomas Christopher Greene's If I Forget You is the most moving and beautifully-written love story I've read since Cold Mountain." (Howard Frank Mosher, author of God's Kingdom)

Good but underdeveloped

I liked this book but I thought that there were parts of the characters relationship development that seemed illogically or unnaturally rushed... so it made it really hard to truly emotionally connect even though conceptually it should have been a really touching, dynamic book.

Very well written!

What did you love best about If I Forget You?

Loved this book. A story about Margot and Henry who meet in college and fall in love but because of Margot's father, their relationship could not continue. Frankly, I felt Henry wasn't treated fairly at all. Twenty years later, Margot and Henry meet again and you wonder if they will end up together again or once again go their separate ways. Told in alternating points of view from the past and present by Margot and Henry. Beautifully done. Enjoyed the narration in the audio book.

Irritating reader

Great story but this guy's voice is grating. Can't abide it for more than a few pages at a time.

Good, but not great.

All in all, this was a lovely story and a nice way to pass a summer afternoon. Which is just fine. I had hoped for a little more, however. My biggest complaint, if you could even call it that, was that even by the end of it, I felt like I didn't really know the characters all that well. Henry didn't feel quite as flat as Margot, but both characters weren't as flushed out as they could have been. I'm still not entirely sure what motivated both characters, why they made the choices they made, or even why they were so drawn to one another. Again, it was a perfectly good book and definitely entertaining. I just wanted it to be.....more.

A story from New England of love affected by time and family

Practical enough for men, romantic enough for women; this intriguing story keeps coming to my mind even after several days, Love affected by our decisions and by the decisions of others. Time is a temporary separator. There is a twist at the end I didn't see coming. The narrator nails the New England accent where "a's" are "r's" and "r's" are pronounced "A's".

Meh!

Any additional comments?

Meh! It was hard to follow with the jumping around...and I hate that he, like so many, described lust between two people as love!