Book Review: The Man Who Didn’t Call by Rosie Walsh

Imagine you meet a man, spend six glorious days together, and fall in love. And it’s mutual: you’ve never been so certain of anything.

So when he leaves for a long-booked holiday and promises to call from the airport, you have no cause to doubt him.
But he doesn’t call.

Your friends tell you to forget him, but you know they’re wrong: something must have happened; there must be a reason for his silence.

What do you do when you finally discover you’re right? That there is a reason — and that reason is the one thing you didn’t share with each other?

‘That we would see each other again was never in doubt, was it? It was a question of when, not if. In fact, it wasn’t even a question. The future might have seemed as insubstantial as the curled edge of a dream, but it unequivocally contained us both. Together.’

‘The Man Who Didn’t Call’ was a totally unexpected gem of a book for me. It’s not the sort of book that I’d usually pick up– although if it were a film then it’s one that I wouldn’t have hesitated about watching – but I’m so happy that I decided to take a chance on it and it just goes to show that picking up different books from usual can be a pure delight sometimes.

The story told within the pages of this book was absolutely fantastic. I know that some people would probably look at the blurb of this book and be wary of ‘insta-love’ but I had no issues whatsoever with the romance involved. It felt real to me and true; the characters themselves acknowledged that seven days was too short to feel like they did and yet… when you know, you know. The aftermath of this whirlwind love affair was well written and incredibly well thought out. Did Sarah act a bit bizarrely sometimes? Yes but then, as this book points out, with social media at your fingertips it can be all too easy to compulsively try and contact someone who’d promised they would call. And why wouldn’t they call? That’s one question that you’ll most likely find yourself asking too whilst reading this story.

There’s more to this book than the romance elements involved though. I don’t want to say too much and spoil things for anyone but there’s a whole array of emotions contained in this story. There’s family relationships, grief, friendships, the struggles of caring for an unwell loved one and it’s just all conveyed incredibly well. There were things that I didn’t see coming and moments that brought me (as a reader who doesn’t really cry at books) close to tears. The characters are hard not to grow attached to and the level of emotion involved in this book is immense.

It goes without saying, considering how deeply this book made me feel, that it’s incredibly well written and just delightful to read. Not only is the writing itself beautiful but the way that the story is told is wonderful too. At first you get a mixture of scenes from both before and during those seven days together then it switches simply to the after portion but it’s so addictive to read. There are also letters scattered throughout this book and they’re just perfect. They capture the emotions perfectly; they made me melt to read them and just… just read this book.

Overall I definitely recommend this book and regret having not picked up others from the genre sooner. I’ll certainly be making more of an effort to read books like this in the future and I’ll be on the lookout for Rosie Walsh’s next book.

Two things that some people may want to be aware of: Sarah created a charity of Clowndoctors who visit sick children in hospital so there is mention of poorly children in this book. It also details the loss of a loved one.

Check out The Man Who Didn’t Call on Goodreads here.

I strive to keep my reviews completely spoiler free but if anyone wants to discuss anything about the book in more detail (or just give me an excuse to gush about it) then feel free to contact me in the comment section below.