Summary of Pictures of You by Emma Grey

Below is a summary of Pictures of You by Emma Grey, a review, a character guide, and an explanation of the ending. This book has a unique perspective of a woman who cannot remember the last 13 years of her life.

It is a thought-provoking story that made me think about the everyday choices we all make and the ripple effect they have on the rest of our lives. As soon as I read this book, I knew it needed to be a Beyond the Bookends Book Club pick. I hope the summary below will help you with the details of the book for your next book club.

Brief Summary of Pictures of You by Emma Grey

Evie Hudson wakes up in the hospital after a terrible car accident with no memory of the last 13 years, including her husband, who died in the accident. She cannot reconcile the life she has now with the life she imagined for herself when she was 16, her last memories.

She has no contact with her best friends or her parents. With the help of an old friend, Drew, Evie starts to piece together moments from her past. Told in dual timelines and multiple POVs, the reader follows Evie on her journey toward health and healing

Detailed Pictures of You Summary

The story opens at Oliver’s funeral, where Evie is trying to muster emotion for the husband she doesn’t remember. She doesn’t understand why she’s estranged from her family and her best friend.

One week earlier.

Evie wakes up thinking she is hungover and still living in her old home, only to discover she’s in the hospital with amnesia and thinks she is 16, not 29.

At her late husband’s funeral, she is overwhelmed and rushes out of the church straight into Drew’s car – mistaking him for her Uber driver.

Drew begins to narrate. He has a history with Evie – one she doesn’t remember. On the radio, she learns she’s a true crime podcaster. She also realizes her credit cards don’t work, and she has no access to money. She’s being followed by paparazzi as she tries to escape her watchful, suffocating in-laws.

Drew feels bad for her and offers to drive her back to Newcastle, her hometown. When Evie questions why Drew was at the funeral, he explains he was there because of his “history with Oliver.” She doesn’t get more than that as he brings her to her parents, but they aren’t there. Instead, the woman who answers the door says she bought the house from Evie’s parents because they “lost their daughter.” Drew and Evie decide to stay the night in Newcastle before looking for more answers.

In Drew’s narration, he implies he knows more but doesn’t want to dump it on Evie in case the information overload harms her. He thinks it will be better for her if she remembers on her own. It’s revealed to the readers that he met her in boarding school. He refers to her as the one that got away and recalls their first date, but he doesn’t tell her any of this.

Evie flashes back to 16, at school in her photography class, where she proposed an exhibition on girls – who they really are- because of a site called “she likes it” where inappropriate photos from girls are uploaded onto a site that the girls weren’t aware of, but noone will report it because they will get in trouble for taking the photos too. Her best friend Bree, is one of the girls on the site. Drew is the student leader of the photography club at his all-boys boarding school that partners with Evie’s, allowing her to be the only girl in the club. He goes to bat for the exhibition.

Later at a party, Evie falls into the pool and is pulled out by Drew, but not before she locks eyes underwater with Oliver, Drew’s classmate, who is handsome, soaking wet, and like a Pride and Prejudice, Colin Firth come to life. Evie falls in love with Oliver at first sight.

Drew’s mom is sick, they are struggling for money, and Drew’s absentee father is paying for his private school education, but that is the extent of his involvement. At 16, Drew is trying to work enough shifts to keep him and his mom afloat, but the medical bills are a lot. 

At the next photography club meeting, Oliver shows up with a black eye and mentions that Evie’s idea for the exhibition is the winner, stealing Drew’s chance to tell her. Drew notices that Oliver shape shifts his interests in pursuit of whichever girl he wants to date next. And then Evie saves Drew from an awkward moment by saying Drew is going with her to her formal. She thinks that’s where their friendship began.

After class, she agrees to shoot Astrophotography with Drew before heading to a cafe with Oliver. At the cafe, she learns he got the black eye after getting in a fight with the person who started the “she likes it” website. He made that person take it down.

They go on some dates, and he sends her the textbooks that she wanted, but Bree is upset that Evie shared a login with Oliver so soon, wondering why Evie didn’t learn anything from the website scandal. 

At astrophotography, Evie meets Drew’s mom, and their friendship begins in earnest. Soon after she becomes Oliver’s girlfriend, but continues her friendship with Drew. Under the auspices of wanting to help Evie winner her scholarship, Oliver gets her to share her calendar with him.

In the present day, Evie goes to the local bookstore and sees Rosie, who is shocked to see her but welcomes the sight of Drew. She’s never met him, but teen Evie has shown her pictures. Drew then confesses that they went to school together and were good friends. Drew also says they haven’t spoken in years. She ended their friendship when she chose Oliver over him. She then learns her family moved to Adelaide.

Rosie gives them Evie’s parents’ info, but tells her not to call them before showing up – alluding to a bad relationship. Evie is hurt that Drew knew more than he said.

When she gets to her parents, she expects a warm welcome, but they aren’t happy to see her. Drew convinces them to let them stay and talk.

In the past, Oliver headed to Europe for a six-week vacation as Evie and Drew practiced their photography skills in the ocean during a bioluminescence. Oliver’s mom gets sick, and Bree and Evie stay to give him support. When Oliver gets back, he wants her to abandon her job, her plans with Bree, and travel with him instead. Oliver also surprises Evie by saying Bree will take him to the formal so he can be there with her, even though she is taking Drew.

At school, the exhibition is opening, and Oliver and Evie are chosen to lead the reporter around. Oliver is going to buy Drew’s picture of Evie, but Drew is convinced he won’t give it to her. Later that night, he finds a photo of his mom with who he presumes to be his dad.

Evie spends part of her game year in Italy with Oliver, blowing off Bree, but then Oliver surprises Evie with Bree at the Trevi Fountain. Drew and Evie are no longer friends, and Bree is questioning Oliver’s relationship with Evie to her as well.

After university, during which Evie got into podcasting, Oliver pressures her to get engaged. Drew is at her graduation, cheering on a friend, when he sees her wearing her engagement ring. She sees him with Meg and mistakes her for his girlfriend. That night, Oliver accuses Evie of inviting Drew to the graduation. She tries to break up with him. She begins to realize that he has been controlling her since one of their first kisses. 

And in the past, Drew’s mom died a few days after he saw Evie at graduation, where she earned a degree in forensic linguistics. His first call is to Evie, and she arrives shortly after the paramedics. Drew tells Evie that Oliver is his half-brother. Evie starts to realize that Oliver is a narcissist. She and Drew kiss, but then stop.

Oliver’s dad arrives at Drew’s house. He is shocked to learn about Drew’s mom. On the day of Drew’s mom’s funeral, Oliver shows up and begs for Evie back. After trying to leave Oliver, Evie stands up Drew at the funeral. Anderson appears and asks Drew to leave Evie alone because Oliver is in a bad way. That’s when Drew gets a text from Evie that says, “pretend we never met. Promise me, Drew, if we ever meet again, pretend you don’t know me.”

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Pictures of You by Emma Grey Book Review

Pictures of You Ending (With Spoilers)

In the present day, Bree has shown up at Evie’s parents’ house. She begins to compare the texts on her phone to the texts on Evie’s, and they don’t match up. Evie remembers kissing Drew. She kisses him again to try to find her memories. Bree interrupts them and then shows Evie a picture of her partner, Ivy. Evie bursts into tears, feeling terrible that she didn’t know Bree was queer. Then Bree let it slip about Drew‘s brother.

Evie wishes to get divorced from Oliver, and remembers what happened on the day of Drew‘s mom’s funeral. When she was on her way to meet Drew, she received a call from a stranger, saying Oliver was going to jump off a cliff. When she went to get him, he threatened to jump and take her with him if she didn’t send that message to Drew. 

She opens the door to her house and finds a woman with a baby on the front step. The girl’s name is Harriet, and she’s Oliver’s daughter from around the time of his brief breakup with Evie. Harriet – Harry – is very sick. Evie reaches out to Drew because Harriet needs a bone marrow transplant, and none of the other family members match. 

In the present day, Evie is watching her wedding video and picks up on an odd speech patter from her FIL and realizes he wrote the suicide note to Drew all those years ago when he thought that was how his mom died.

Chloe and Harriet show up as well and give Evie a warm greeting. She is sad her dad died, but Evie is gentle with her, and she comforts her. It turns out that after Harriet was saved by Drew’s donation, Evie and Oliver became part-time parents by taking her every other weekend. And Evie would bring her to her parents, then she sent a message saying they couldn’t see Harriet anymore. When her dad shows Evie the email, her forensic linguistics degree shows up, and she realizes she didn’t write that email.

In the past, Evie recalls how miserable she was in her marriage. She gets an email from Drew with the photos and statement. He used to be shortlisted for an Australian photography award. He needs her permission to keep the photos in, and he gets an email back saying he doesn’t have the permission. When Evie goes to check for his email, she finds it missing and realizes Oliver has access to her email. 

She realizes, after his behavior with Harriet, that she wants to leave him. On a drive, Oliver reveals he was responsible for the website in high school. She says she wants a divorce.

Drew sees the car accident on the news and knows in his gut it’s Evie. He immediately rushes to the hospital. 

In the present day, Evie and Drew go to see the bioluminescence, and as they kiss, her memory comes rushing back. She remembers pulling out of her PHD because she had an anonymous threatening note. Then Anderson showed up and made the threat to her face. She recalls Anderson’s confession that he killed Drew’s mom when she threatened him to report his assault on her unless he provided for Drew in his will. He changed her dose of pills to make it look like a suicide and threatened to hurt Drew if Evie didn’t cut off all ties with her family and friends.

Character Guide for Pictures of You

Main Characters

• Evie Hudson- the main character, has amnesia from a car accident
• Bree – Evie’s former best friend
• Oliver Roche- Evie’s husband, who died in the crash
• Drew Kennedy- photographer helping Evie figure out her past

Secondary Characters

• Gwendolyn and Anderson Roche – Oliver’s parents
• David and Christine Hudson – Evie’s parents
• Chloe – Friend of Drew’s
• Harriet AKA Harri – Chloe’s daughter
• Annie Kennedy – Drew’s Mom
• Rose – Friend of Evie’s parents 

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