Book Review: Almost Life by Kiran Millwood Hargrave
Almost Life (at a glance)
- Author: Kiran Millwood Hargrave
- Genre: Contemporary fiction / literary fiction
- Published: 2026
- My rating: ★★★★½
- Best for: Readers who enjoy character-driven love stories, emotional slow burns, and books like Normal People or One Day
Publisher Summary
One chance encounter can define a lifetime
Erica and Laure meet on the steps of the Sacré-Cœur in Paris, 1978. Erica is a student, relishing her first summer abroad before beginning university at home in England. Laure is studying for her Ph.D. at the Sorbonne, drinking and smoking far too much, and sleeping with a married woman.
The moment the two women meet the spark is undeniable. But their encounter turns into far more than a summer of love. It is the beginning of a relationship that will define their lives and every decision they have yet to make. Spanning cities, decades and heartbreaks, fate brings them within touching distance again and again.
But will they be brave enough to seize the life they truly want?
Almost Life Review
Almost Life was described to me as a “sapphic One Day” that unfolds in Paris, London and beyond, so I knew I’d love this before I’d even turned the first page. Early reviews also said it was a perfect book for fans of Normal People, one of my favourite books, so it was instantly bumped up my TBR pile.
The story follows Erica and Laure, a young British tourist and a pretentious Parisian, and perhaps the unlikeliest of matches. But what starts as a summer fling turns into a connection that stretches across the decades, bringing them back into each other’s orbit repeatedly over the years, before the story’s quietly devastating conclusion.
At its core, this is a story about love in all its forms – romantic love, maternal love, queer love, and the love we build with our found family. But running through it all is a constant sense of yearning: missed opportunities, imperfect timing, and the weight of decisions that cannot be undone.
It started off a little slow for me, but once I was in, I was completely hooked. This is one of those books that makes you feel everything, and turning each page felt like an emotional rollercoaster. I felt giddy, angry, deeply sad, and, at times, really frustrated.
The characters are flawed and, sometimes, to be honest, unlikable, but they are deeply human. I found myself rooting for Erica and Laure, even when they made choices that drove me mad.
Their choices, even the frustrating ones, feel painfully real, the kind many people might make when faced with difficult, messy circumstances. And that raw honesty is what makes this story so tender.
There’s a constant tension where you desperately want them to end up together, but also kinda don’t because you can see how their decisions ripple out and affect other people, too.
What the novel does particularly well is explore timing vs. choice. Set across decades, and beginning in a time when same-sex relationships were far less accepted, it quietly weaves in the societal pressures shaping these characters’ lives.
These elements sit beneath everything, influencing decisions in subtle but significant ways. It’s about the choices we make, often because they are easier rather than right, and how life unfolds as a result.
The novel even explores heavier threads, including (gentle spoiler warning) a storyline involving the AIDS crisis, which adds another layer of emotional weight and historical context that I was not expecting.
The novel made me reflect on my own life and the choices I’d make if I were in the same situation. Some of the choices I found frustrating are also the ones I know I might make myself were I in that situation, which honestly made me feel a little uncomfortable, but also made me understand and empathise with the characters so much more.
Emotional torture aside, the writing is the best thing about this novel. It was my first time reading Kiran Millwood Hargrave, and if this is how she writes, I’ll absolutely be reading more. The prose is beautiful, emotional, and incredibly effective at delivering a gut punch with a certain sort of lyricism.
There are so many beautiful lines in this book (and you can check out my IG post with my favourite quotes here), but this one really stayed with me:
“It is the condition of the heartbroken to believe no one has felt as they have, ever in the history of the world. It’s an affront to feel otherwise, I know, but the sooner you accept that for every lover there is someone suffering, the sooner you’ll heal.”
It perfectly captures the emotional core of the novel and that deeply personal, almost isolating feeling of heartbreak, and, simultaneously, the universality of it. The passages about what was and what will never be really stayed with me, and a deep sense of yearning runs through the entire book.
One of the things I loved most about Almost Life is how much this story is rooted in place. It takes us to Paris and London, two cities that I’ve lived and loved in, and so many of my favourite spots appear throughout the book, particularly bookshops and museums (two of my favourite things).
Seeing places like Shakespeare & Company, Hatchards, and Gay’s the Word woven into the story added another layer of enjoyment for me. The setting isn’t just part of the backdrop, but it actively enhances the emotional story and helps build a sense of romance. There’s something about watching characters fall in and out of love in places you know and recognise that makes everything feel even more vivid.
If you love long, emotional love stories that span years, with all the messiness that comes with that, this is absolutely one to pick up. Immediately.
But, to be honest, this won’t be a book for everyone. If you don’t enjoy the style of books written by authors like Sally Rooney, this might not be for you. Although I would say this has slightly more ‘plot’, so if that was your main complaint with Normal People, you may still enjoy this.
I rated this 4.5 stars, and it’s the kind of book I’d love to revisit in a few years, knowing it will likely hit differently at another stage of life.
Is this book on your radar?
Grab a copy of Almost Life here:
Amazon | Waterstones | Bookshop.org (UK)
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