Before We Were Innocent by Ella Berman

Before We Were Innocent by Ella Berman

Read by Jennifer Jill Araya

11 hours

Published April 2023 by Penguin Publishing Group 

Publisher's Summary: 

A summer in Greece for three best friends ends in the unthinkable when only two return home. . . .

 
Ten years ago, after a sun-soaked summer spent in Greece, best friends Bess and Joni were cleared of having any involvement in their friend Evangeline’s death. But that didn’t stop the media from ripping apart their teenage lives like vultures.
 
While the girls were never convicted, Joni, ever the opportunist, capitalized on her newfound infamy to become a motivational speaker. Bess, on the other hand, resolved to make her life as small and controlled as possible so she wouldn’t risk losing everything all over again. And it almost worked. . . .
 
Except now Joni needs a favor, and when she turns up at her old friend's doorstep asking for an alibi, Bess has no choice but to say yes. She still owes her. But as the two friends try desperately to shake off their past, they have to face reality.

Can you ever be an innocent woman when everyone wants you to be guilty?

My Thoughts: 

Joni drops back into Bess' life after ten years needing a favor and Bess, who has tried to live for the past ten years under the radar, agrees. Why? Because we quickly learn, she owes Joni, or at least both of the women feel like she does. And again, why? 

Ten years ago, Bess, Joni, and Evangeline, three very different girls who would seem to be unlikely friends, but who are inseparable, travel to Greece to stay in one of Evangeline's family's homes. It's the summer after their senior year in high school and they are all headed off in different directions in the fall. This is one last hurrah, one last time for the three of them to be together and to run a little wild. Evangeline has offered to pay for everything, but Bess' parents won't hear of it, insisting on delivering Bess to the airport instead of her traveling in the limousine with the other girls; insisting on paying for her airline ticket, which means that instead of flying first class, in a show of unity, all three fly coach. From that point, fissures begin to appear in the girls' relationships. Weeks stuck in the remote home only serve to make things worse and lead to things that will come back to haunt Joni and Bess later. The arrival of Evangeline's brother amps up the trouble. When the girls decide to travel to another island, things seem to be looking up for a bit...until tragedy strikes. 

The book travels back and forth in time, revealing not only what happened ten years ago, but also the reason Joni needed that favor. A favor that turns out to be much more critical to Joni that it initially appeared to Bess. In traveling back and forth, we gradually learn more about each of the women. The girls they were ten years ago. The women they've become, given what happened to them. The truth as we see it becomes fluid and who did what becomes a bigger and bigger question. 

If you recall the Amanda Know incident, you'll remember the way the authorities and the media treated Knox. You'll immediately understand how Joni and Bess were treated by the Greek authorities and the press, both the Greek and the international press. Think about spending time in a foreign prison as a teenager. Think about the impact that would have on a family and a person's future. When these girls returned, they were different people; people who could no longer be with the people they had been closest to and whose families treated them differently. 

I went back and forth about how I felt about both Bess and Joni and their motives for everything they did from their time in Greece to the present. And about their guilt. Berman kept me guessing right up to the end. The complexity of the relationship between Joni and Bess was interesting - is there anything to hold them together other than the past and is that something that should hold them together or pull them further apart. Berman gives us a good look at the difference between the public image of a person and the reality, especially someone who has died young and those who are accused of crimes. 

I can see why Reese Witherspoon picked novel for her book club - there is a lot to dissect and discuss in this one. Will it make my favorite books of the year list? No. It lacks the warmth, depth, or impact that a book needs to have for it to make that list. And I often wished that it had been edited a bit more; it sometimes felt like it was dragging. But did it make me think? It sure did and that makes it well worth reading.