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Jane Austen Society #3
Every Time We Say Goodbye
The bestselling author of The Jane Austen Society and Bloomsbury Girls returns with a brilliant novel of love and art, of grief and memory, of confronting the past and facing the future.
In 1955, Vivien Lowry is facing the greatest challenge of her life. Her latest play, the only female-authored play on the London stage that season, has opened in the West End to rapturous applause from the audience. The reviewers, however, are not as impressed as the playgoers and their savage notices not only shut down the play but ruin Lowry's last chance for a dramatic career. With her future in London not looking bright, at the suggestion of her friend, Peggy Guggenheim, Vivien takes a job in as a script doctor on a major film shooting in Rome’s Cinecitta Studios. There she finds a vibrant movie making scene filled with rising stars, acclaimed directors, and famous actors in a country that is torn between its past and its potentially bright future, between the liberation of the post-war cinema and the restrictions of the Catholic Church that permeates the very soul of Italy.
As Vivien tries to forge a new future for herself, she also must face the long-buried truth of the recent World War and the mystery of what really happened to her deceased fiancé. Every Time We Say Goodbye is a brilliant exploration of trauma and tragedy, hope and renewal, filled with dazzling characters both real and imaginary, from the incomparable author who charmed the world with her novels The Jane Austen Society and Bloomsbury Girls.
In 1955, Vivien Lowry is facing the greatest challenge of her life. Her latest play, the only female-authored play on the London stage that season, has opened in the West End to rapturous applause from the audience. The reviewers, however, are not as impressed as the playgoers and their savage notices not only shut down the play but ruin Lowry's last chance for a dramatic career. With her future in London not looking bright, at the suggestion of her friend, Peggy Guggenheim, Vivien takes a job in as a script doctor on a major film shooting in Rome’s Cinecitta Studios. There she finds a vibrant movie making scene filled with rising stars, acclaimed directors, and famous actors in a country that is torn between its past and its potentially bright future, between the liberation of the post-war cinema and the restrictions of the Catholic Church that permeates the very soul of Italy.
As Vivien tries to forge a new future for herself, she also must face the long-buried truth of the recent World War and the mystery of what really happened to her deceased fiancé. Every Time We Say Goodbye is a brilliant exploration of trauma and tragedy, hope and renewal, filled with dazzling characters both real and imaginary, from the incomparable author who charmed the world with her novels The Jane Austen Society and Bloomsbury Girls.
336 pages, Hardcover
First published May 14, 2024
122 people are currently reading
13635 people want to read
About the author
Natalie Jenner
7 books3,751 followersNatalie Jenner is the USA Today and #1 nationally bestselling author of THE JANE AUSTEN SOCIETY and BLOOMSBURY GIRLS, which were both Amazon Best Books of the Month, Indie Next Picks and People Magazine Books of the Week. THE JANE AUSTEN SOCIETY was the runner-up for best historical fiction in the 2020 Goodreads Choice Awards and has been published in more than twenty languages. Natalie's third novel, EVERY TIME WE SAY GOODBYE, releases on May 14, 2024, and her fourth novel AUSTEN AT SEA is scheduled to release in May 2025. Born in England and raised in Canada, Natalie has been a corporate lawyer and career coach and once owned an independent bookstore in Oakville, Ontario, where she lives with her family and two rescue dogs.
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September 29, 2023Here is an excerpt from my new book, EVERY TIME WE SAY GOODBYE.
Whenever I start writing a new book, I sit down at my laptop and just start typing, and as I do so, I am most motivated by readers' pleas for "more." This is why each of my books, although they stand alone, take place in the same world.
Below are the very first words I wrote two years ago, so they have special meaning for me. I was first inspired to write a book set in the movie industry by an April 2021 family re-watch of Francois Truffaut's movie DAY FOR NIGHT. I remember being impressed by Truffaut's script girls and remarking to my family that I wanted to write a book called SCRIPT GIRLS and oh, how they laughed.
But a few weeks later, I started typing and immediately this very Gilbert Osmond-like character from THE PORTRAIT OF A LADY shows up on Rome's Via Sacra trying to "hit on" a beautiful woman he has noticed before. I wrote the following in one go, showed it to my agent and editor, and they both said, keep going. So I did, for another year. The hardest year I have ever had as a writer. I was terrified the entire time I wrote. I took long - sometimes months-long - breaks (the research material was emotionally harrowing). I showed it only to my husband, in two stages, as I always do. Then I spent the past year editing it, and each day, with each new or different or excised word, I could feel the MS becoming something more special to me than I could ever have conceived. I am stupidly, crazily proud of this book. I will never write a better one.
As with my first two books, there is another large cast of characters. I have listed them below:
CAST OF CHARACTERS
THE EXPATRIATES
Vivien Lowry … disaffected London playwright
Sir Alfred Jonathan Knox … British industrialist & philanthropist
Lady Browning … bestselling author better known as Daphne du Maurier
Peggy Guggenheim … famous New York heiress & art collector
Levi Bassano … New York scriptwriter & former Field Photo soldier
Douglas Curtis … Hollywood director & former WWII Commander of Field Photo Unit
John Lassiter … an American living in Rome
Claudia Jones … Hollywood movie star
Ada “Bricktop” Smith … Nightclub owner
Ava Gardner … Hollywood movie star
Tabitha Knight … London shopgirl at The Sunwise Turn
Frances Knight … Hampshire wife & mother
Mimi Harrison … London stage actress & former Hollywood movie star
Milko Skofic … former Yugoslavian refugee & doctor
~
THE ITALIANS
La Scolaretta … Cinecittà cutter & resistance fighter
Margarita Pacelli Lassiter … war orphan
Marco Marchetti … Vatican cardinal
Anita Pacelli … Italian movie star
Nino Tremonti … Neapolitan prince & filmmaker
Sister Justina … Canossian Daughter of Charity
Gabriella Giacometti … reporter for LIFE magazine
Sophia Loren … Italian movie star
Gina Lollobrigida … Italian Movie star
I hope you enjoy the excerpt - and most of all, I hope this finds you well and looking forward to the future with hope and peace, in the same way that your readership and support enables me to do.
xo Natalie
www.nataliejenner.com/every-time-we-s...
_______________________________
Chapter Three
~
The Ides of March, 1955
Rome, Italy
Everything in life was a matter of pacing.
Lassiter had noticed her, or thought he noticed her (could he be slipping?), a couple of times now. The first had been on a mild February day as he had sneaked out of a private meeting at Cinecittà. She had rounded the corner of the studio on a peacock-blue bicycle, the front wicker basket holding a stack of paper weighted down by a pair of tangled high heels. Her feet were bare, and immediately he assumed she was one of the script girls. Or—better yet—an actress, with her wavy raven-black hair and stylish manner.
The second time had been at Peggy Guggenheim’s Carnival party on Mardi Gras a few weeks back. They had both been in costume and that must have slowed him down—either way, by the time he had made the connection, she was gone.
He had not seen her at the studio since. He had certainly not expected to find her here, wandering alone through the Via Sacra. He liked to cut through the Forum as he slipped home from Anita’s apartments, long before the photographers were up. At dawn, the cats had the run of the place and it made him feel positively feral. In his early fifties, he still showed the American athleticism of his lost youth, strolling the sampietrini of Rome’s battered post-war streets with the nimbleness of a man half his age.
When he saw her standing there in her white knotted men’s shirt and bright peasant skirt, pensively taking bites of a maritozzi still in its café wrapper, he wondered if now was the time to say something. In a movie it would have been the perfect moment: minute nineteen out of ninety and the third encounter between the leads.
Then, as with so much in the movie industry, it was taken out of his hands. She turned back to the blue bicycle leaning against a two-thousand-year-old cracked column, finally noticed him, and walked on past. If she recognized him, she gave no sign of it.
“Mi scusi—”
She wheeled around at his words, wiped a bit of cream from the corner of her lips, and gave a smile that bordered on a smirk. “Don’t strain yourself. I’m a foreigner, too.”
He felt the back of his neck tighten. He had been living in Italy for nearly a decade. “Actually, I live here.”
“So do I.”
“I mean I have done, for many years.”
“I don’t think that’s what makes someone Italian, do you?”
He saw that she was joking with him in that very contrarian, British way that he had always found tiring, even in a woman as beautiful as her. He also saw that she was not going to make this easy for him. “I believe we were both at Peggy’s Carnival bash.”
She pitched the now-empty pastry wrapper into the bicycle basket. “I don’t recall being introduced.”
He extended his hand. “John. John Lassiter. Artemis Productions.”
The sun was slowly rising behind him and she shaded her eyes with her right hand to peer more closely at him.
“The warrior goddess,” was all she replied.
“Among other things.” He quickened his pace ahead of her to reach the bicycle and turn it around in his hands, then motioned for her to walk as he gentlemanly steered the bike. Noticing the script in the basket next to the crumpled pastry wrap, he tried again. “You’re in Teatro 5, right? Starring in…?”
“Not in. On.” She looked amused by his reaction. “I’m doctoring the script for When All Else Fails.”
“I hear it’s in rough shape.”
“It’s as crumpled as that wrapper.” She laughed wryly. “I appreciate your directness, at least. None of the Italians on set seem fussed—about anything.”
The words at least did not escape him. He had only a few yards left of Via Sacra to make his pitch. “Do you walk through here often?”
She shook her head. “Only for inspiration—and the history, of course. Today is the Ides of March, as you know.”
He did not know. For all his morning-after walks, Lassiter was unaware that they were standing on the exact spot where Julius Caesar had been condemned by Marc Antony to his unfortunate end. The producer had huge gaps in his education that he had spent a lifetime hiding through almost any means short of actually opening a book.
“Exactly,” was all he said instead.
As they exited onto the pavement alongside the screeching, careening cars of the Via Fori Imperiali, she reached for the bicycle handles. He let his taut, tanned arms brush against hers as she did so, and was pleased that she did not step back as quickly as she could have.
“Well, see you at the studio, Mr. Artemis.”
“Lassiter,” he was pained to have to correct her. But she only smiled, and he realized she was teasing him again. “And you are?”
“Lowry. Vivien.”
She ascended the bicycle and sped off, but he noticed she looked back at the corner. He had paced it well enough in the end.
Whenever I start writing a new book, I sit down at my laptop and just start typing, and as I do so, I am most motivated by readers' pleas for "more." This is why each of my books, although they stand alone, take place in the same world.
Below are the very first words I wrote two years ago, so they have special meaning for me. I was first inspired to write a book set in the movie industry by an April 2021 family re-watch of Francois Truffaut's movie DAY FOR NIGHT. I remember being impressed by Truffaut's script girls and remarking to my family that I wanted to write a book called SCRIPT GIRLS and oh, how they laughed.
But a few weeks later, I started typing and immediately this very Gilbert Osmond-like character from THE PORTRAIT OF A LADY shows up on Rome's Via Sacra trying to "hit on" a beautiful woman he has noticed before. I wrote the following in one go, showed it to my agent and editor, and they both said, keep going. So I did, for another year. The hardest year I have ever had as a writer. I was terrified the entire time I wrote. I took long - sometimes months-long - breaks (the research material was emotionally harrowing). I showed it only to my husband, in two stages, as I always do. Then I spent the past year editing it, and each day, with each new or different or excised word, I could feel the MS becoming something more special to me than I could ever have conceived. I am stupidly, crazily proud of this book. I will never write a better one.
As with my first two books, there is another large cast of characters. I have listed them below:
CAST OF CHARACTERS
THE EXPATRIATES
Vivien Lowry … disaffected London playwright
Sir Alfred Jonathan Knox … British industrialist & philanthropist
Lady Browning … bestselling author better known as Daphne du Maurier
Peggy Guggenheim … famous New York heiress & art collector
Levi Bassano … New York scriptwriter & former Field Photo soldier
Douglas Curtis … Hollywood director & former WWII Commander of Field Photo Unit
John Lassiter … an American living in Rome
Claudia Jones … Hollywood movie star
Ada “Bricktop” Smith … Nightclub owner
Ava Gardner … Hollywood movie star
Tabitha Knight … London shopgirl at The Sunwise Turn
Frances Knight … Hampshire wife & mother
Mimi Harrison … London stage actress & former Hollywood movie star
Milko Skofic … former Yugoslavian refugee & doctor
~
THE ITALIANS
La Scolaretta … Cinecittà cutter & resistance fighter
Margarita Pacelli Lassiter … war orphan
Marco Marchetti … Vatican cardinal
Anita Pacelli … Italian movie star
Nino Tremonti … Neapolitan prince & filmmaker
Sister Justina … Canossian Daughter of Charity
Gabriella Giacometti … reporter for LIFE magazine
Sophia Loren … Italian movie star
Gina Lollobrigida … Italian Movie star
I hope you enjoy the excerpt - and most of all, I hope this finds you well and looking forward to the future with hope and peace, in the same way that your readership and support enables me to do.
xo Natalie
www.nataliejenner.com/every-time-we-s...
_______________________________
Chapter Three
~
The Ides of March, 1955
Rome, Italy
Everything in life was a matter of pacing.
Lassiter had noticed her, or thought he noticed her (could he be slipping?), a couple of times now. The first had been on a mild February day as he had sneaked out of a private meeting at Cinecittà. She had rounded the corner of the studio on a peacock-blue bicycle, the front wicker basket holding a stack of paper weighted down by a pair of tangled high heels. Her feet were bare, and immediately he assumed she was one of the script girls. Or—better yet—an actress, with her wavy raven-black hair and stylish manner.
The second time had been at Peggy Guggenheim’s Carnival party on Mardi Gras a few weeks back. They had both been in costume and that must have slowed him down—either way, by the time he had made the connection, she was gone.
He had not seen her at the studio since. He had certainly not expected to find her here, wandering alone through the Via Sacra. He liked to cut through the Forum as he slipped home from Anita’s apartments, long before the photographers were up. At dawn, the cats had the run of the place and it made him feel positively feral. In his early fifties, he still showed the American athleticism of his lost youth, strolling the sampietrini of Rome’s battered post-war streets with the nimbleness of a man half his age.
When he saw her standing there in her white knotted men’s shirt and bright peasant skirt, pensively taking bites of a maritozzi still in its café wrapper, he wondered if now was the time to say something. In a movie it would have been the perfect moment: minute nineteen out of ninety and the third encounter between the leads.
Then, as with so much in the movie industry, it was taken out of his hands. She turned back to the blue bicycle leaning against a two-thousand-year-old cracked column, finally noticed him, and walked on past. If she recognized him, she gave no sign of it.
“Mi scusi—”
She wheeled around at his words, wiped a bit of cream from the corner of her lips, and gave a smile that bordered on a smirk. “Don’t strain yourself. I’m a foreigner, too.”
He felt the back of his neck tighten. He had been living in Italy for nearly a decade. “Actually, I live here.”
“So do I.”
“I mean I have done, for many years.”
“I don’t think that’s what makes someone Italian, do you?”
He saw that she was joking with him in that very contrarian, British way that he had always found tiring, even in a woman as beautiful as her. He also saw that she was not going to make this easy for him. “I believe we were both at Peggy’s Carnival bash.”
She pitched the now-empty pastry wrapper into the bicycle basket. “I don’t recall being introduced.”
He extended his hand. “John. John Lassiter. Artemis Productions.”
The sun was slowly rising behind him and she shaded her eyes with her right hand to peer more closely at him.
“The warrior goddess,” was all she replied.
“Among other things.” He quickened his pace ahead of her to reach the bicycle and turn it around in his hands, then motioned for her to walk as he gentlemanly steered the bike. Noticing the script in the basket next to the crumpled pastry wrap, he tried again. “You’re in Teatro 5, right? Starring in…?”
“Not in. On.” She looked amused by his reaction. “I’m doctoring the script for When All Else Fails.”
“I hear it’s in rough shape.”
“It’s as crumpled as that wrapper.” She laughed wryly. “I appreciate your directness, at least. None of the Italians on set seem fussed—about anything.”
The words at least did not escape him. He had only a few yards left of Via Sacra to make his pitch. “Do you walk through here often?”
She shook her head. “Only for inspiration—and the history, of course. Today is the Ides of March, as you know.”
He did not know. For all his morning-after walks, Lassiter was unaware that they were standing on the exact spot where Julius Caesar had been condemned by Marc Antony to his unfortunate end. The producer had huge gaps in his education that he had spent a lifetime hiding through almost any means short of actually opening a book.
“Exactly,” was all he said instead.
As they exited onto the pavement alongside the screeching, careening cars of the Via Fori Imperiali, she reached for the bicycle handles. He let his taut, tanned arms brush against hers as she did so, and was pleased that she did not step back as quickly as she could have.
“Well, see you at the studio, Mr. Artemis.”
“Lassiter,” he was pained to have to correct her. But she only smiled, and he realized she was teasing him again. “And you are?”
“Lowry. Vivien.”
She ascended the bicycle and sped off, but he noticed she looked back at the corner. He had paced it well enough in the end.
March 29, 2024
Every Time We Say Goodbye does a great job of taking the reader to the Italian film industry of the 1950s. Who knew what a dynamic industry it was? Certainly not me. During the HUAC activities, many American directors and actors also moved overseas to avoid problems. Into this, Vivian, an English playwright, comes to help fix a script. Vivian is a repeat character from Jenner’s prior books, but this easily works as a stand-alone.
I love historical fiction that can teach me something and this does that in spades. It especially explores the fraught relationship between the industry and the church.
There’s also a second storyline of “La Scolaretta”, the schoolgirl assassin of Rome during WWII. It takes a while before we get to see the connection of the two plots.
My problem with this was that while the setting was great, I failed to engage with the characters or storylines, as the focus of the story kept veering from one plot line to another. I couldn’t get into Vivian’s love affair with Lassiter. I couldn’t reconcile her trying to find what happened to David with her new love. And too many of the secondary characters just felt two dimensional, even characters from her prior novels. The one exception was Tabitha, in a search to find out anything about her birth mother.
I always look forward to The Author’s Note when I read historical fiction and I would have been happier with a more robust explanation here than just some acknowledgements.
My thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for an advance copy of this book.
I love historical fiction that can teach me something and this does that in spades. It especially explores the fraught relationship between the industry and the church.
There’s also a second storyline of “La Scolaretta”, the schoolgirl assassin of Rome during WWII. It takes a while before we get to see the connection of the two plots.
My problem with this was that while the setting was great, I failed to engage with the characters or storylines, as the focus of the story kept veering from one plot line to another. I couldn’t get into Vivian’s love affair with Lassiter. I couldn’t reconcile her trying to find what happened to David with her new love. And too many of the secondary characters just felt two dimensional, even characters from her prior novels. The one exception was Tabitha, in a search to find out anything about her birth mother.
I always look forward to The Author’s Note when I read historical fiction and I would have been happier with a more robust explanation here than just some acknowledgements.
My thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for an advance copy of this book.
May 24, 2024
'Saying goodbye is the hardest thing in the world, save for one, and that is being cheated of it'.
Vivien lives her life as a product of WW2: she is a survivor. But when she lost her fiancé, she lost her future, as well as that sense of self the future had promised her. Since then, she's poured her anguish and anger into her plays. The latest, however, could also be counted as a loss (at least according to the critics), so when her friend suggests she goes to Italy to help save a dying movie script, Vivien soon discovers it's also an opportunity to save herself - learning that forgiving doesn't necessitate forgetting, 'Time goes, it always does, and always faster than we want. But the past stays with us for a reason'.
'Every Time We Say Goodbye' is a dual POV and dual time story - depicted in Cinecitta, the 'Hollywood on the Tiber'. A place where, 'Clothes, church, cinema - everyone is in bed with each other'. As Vivien grapples with telling stories, the Catholic Church, 'moved to legislate the public's behaviour under the guise of script approval, enabling the government to censor anything it deemed immoral or leftist, and causing the pendulum of power to swing right all over again'. She quickly understands that the irony of local politics simply underscores how little people may have learned, in their haste to forget a terrible past, 'the world was resisting looking back in order to fully embrace the future'. To move forward she, we, must look back.
Natalie Jenner presents the reader with a mosaic of thoughtful insights around love and loss, remembering and forgetting, relinquishing and enduring. I heavily highlighted and notated while reading this book as so many thoughts were distilled. To that end, this book, for me, is more a story of self-reflection than historical fiction per se. That said, I learned so much about the politics and bustling Italian movie business of that time. Whichever way you lean, you are bound to enjoy reading this thought-provoking, insightful story.
'How lucky the world was for those survivors willing and able to tell their own story, and how imperative that such stories be shared to the greatest extent possible'.
Vivien lives her life as a product of WW2: she is a survivor. But when she lost her fiancé, she lost her future, as well as that sense of self the future had promised her. Since then, she's poured her anguish and anger into her plays. The latest, however, could also be counted as a loss (at least according to the critics), so when her friend suggests she goes to Italy to help save a dying movie script, Vivien soon discovers it's also an opportunity to save herself - learning that forgiving doesn't necessitate forgetting, 'Time goes, it always does, and always faster than we want. But the past stays with us for a reason'.
'Every Time We Say Goodbye' is a dual POV and dual time story - depicted in Cinecitta, the 'Hollywood on the Tiber'. A place where, 'Clothes, church, cinema - everyone is in bed with each other'. As Vivien grapples with telling stories, the Catholic Church, 'moved to legislate the public's behaviour under the guise of script approval, enabling the government to censor anything it deemed immoral or leftist, and causing the pendulum of power to swing right all over again'. She quickly understands that the irony of local politics simply underscores how little people may have learned, in their haste to forget a terrible past, 'the world was resisting looking back in order to fully embrace the future'. To move forward she, we, must look back.
Natalie Jenner presents the reader with a mosaic of thoughtful insights around love and loss, remembering and forgetting, relinquishing and enduring. I heavily highlighted and notated while reading this book as so many thoughts were distilled. To that end, this book, for me, is more a story of self-reflection than historical fiction per se. That said, I learned so much about the politics and bustling Italian movie business of that time. Whichever way you lean, you are bound to enjoy reading this thought-provoking, insightful story.
'How lucky the world was for those survivors willing and able to tell their own story, and how imperative that such stories be shared to the greatest extent possible'.
May 8, 2024
Omg, I have to say that Natalie Jenner's "Every Time We Say Goodbye" was as amazing as her previous books! I felt like this novel transported me to dazzling post-war Italy, the world of film, and the many complexities of Vivien Lowry's life!
Let me start by saying that main characeter, Vivien, is simply unbelievable woman! She is knocked down in London, but she gets back up and lands a job in Rome's thriving film industry. And I must admit that reading Jenner's descriptions transported me to the streets of Italy. Every detail, from the realistic location of Cinecitta Studios to the detailed portrayal of Italy's complex history during World War II, shows Jenner's careful research. I was completely absorbed in the sights, sounds, and feelings of that time. And those details gave the story more depth and illuminated significant historical moments that are sometimes missed.
Although the dual timeline concept did a good job of tying the past and present together, I found myself wishing that some of the storylines—like La Scolaretta—had been explored more thoroughly. I still really like the book overall, despite this small complaint.
I can't wait to read more of Jenner's works! Highly recommended for everyone who enjoys historical fiction and strong, independent females!
Let me start by saying that main characeter, Vivien, is simply unbelievable woman! She is knocked down in London, but she gets back up and lands a job in Rome's thriving film industry. And I must admit that reading Jenner's descriptions transported me to the streets of Italy. Every detail, from the realistic location of Cinecitta Studios to the detailed portrayal of Italy's complex history during World War II, shows Jenner's careful research. I was completely absorbed in the sights, sounds, and feelings of that time. And those details gave the story more depth and illuminated significant historical moments that are sometimes missed.
Although the dual timeline concept did a good job of tying the past and present together, I found myself wishing that some of the storylines—like La Scolaretta—had been explored more thoroughly. I still really like the book overall, despite this small complaint.
I can't wait to read more of Jenner's works! Highly recommended for everyone who enjoys historical fiction and strong, independent females!
December 23, 2023
Natalie Jenner’s debut novel, The Jane Austen Society, was a welcome and inspiring read in spring 2020. Set after the devastation of WWII, a community is formed by a love of Austen and the desire to preserve Chawton cottage. Jenner next took one of the characters to a London bookstore in Bloomsbury Girls. And now, in Every Time We Say Goodbye, Jenner takes Vivian Lowry from the bookstore to post-war Italy, working as a script doctor in the movies after her play is a flop. Vivian carries her own war wounds: her beloved fiance disappeared in Italy during the war, necessitating some difficult decisions and leaving her heart hardened against further heartbreak. She takes lovers but avoids love.
Post-War Italy is a glamorous time and place, the novel filled with up and coming actresses like Gina Lollobrigida and Sophia Loren, aggressively pursued by street photographers. It is also a time and place of great contradictions, as Vivian says, a “former Fascist regime…shapeshifting into an ostensible democracy that was heavily influenced by a sensorial church and half-heartedly administered by the police.”
The church is policing the movie industry, censoring anything that is critical of its role under Fascism or what it deems immoral. And yet Catholic church leaders hide their own sullied characters.
The director of the movie Vivian is working on wants to make a movie about the woman he loved, a teenaged Resistance courier who was brutally murdered. Her story is revealed in alternating chapters.
The novel has it all: passion and love, glamor and the grim reality of war, refugees and orphans and the priviledged rich, the imperious authority of the church, scandalous men, and women struggling to live and work and love. Vivian’s insights into the conflicted times are eerily reflective of our own. She struggles with how a few men could “conjure a false enemy and unfounded fear across several nations,” and wonders if it is possible to “eradicate” this hate for good. The impact of movies to tell transformative stories of truth is also central.
You don’t have to have read the previous novels to enjoy Every Time We Say Goodbye. I loved being carried away into this rich and conflicted world.
Thanks to the publisher for a free book.
Post-War Italy is a glamorous time and place, the novel filled with up and coming actresses like Gina Lollobrigida and Sophia Loren, aggressively pursued by street photographers. It is also a time and place of great contradictions, as Vivian says, a “former Fascist regime…shapeshifting into an ostensible democracy that was heavily influenced by a sensorial church and half-heartedly administered by the police.”
The church is policing the movie industry, censoring anything that is critical of its role under Fascism or what it deems immoral. And yet Catholic church leaders hide their own sullied characters.
The director of the movie Vivian is working on wants to make a movie about the woman he loved, a teenaged Resistance courier who was brutally murdered. Her story is revealed in alternating chapters.
The novel has it all: passion and love, glamor and the grim reality of war, refugees and orphans and the priviledged rich, the imperious authority of the church, scandalous men, and women struggling to live and work and love. Vivian’s insights into the conflicted times are eerily reflective of our own. She struggles with how a few men could “conjure a false enemy and unfounded fear across several nations,” and wonders if it is possible to “eradicate” this hate for good. The impact of movies to tell transformative stories of truth is also central.
You don’t have to have read the previous novels to enjoy Every Time We Say Goodbye. I loved being carried away into this rich and conflicted world.
Thanks to the publisher for a free book.
May 22, 2024
I can't tell you what this book is about.
I listened to it on audio and found myself drifting. It has two different timelines and follows mostly a woman named Vivien and the Italian film industry in 1950s.
Vivien is a hard character to follow as she seems pretty detached from everything around her. While in Italy, she is also looking for answers about David her ex-fiancee who she thought died in the war.
I was hoping for an emotional rollercoaster, but I unfortunately did not get this out of this book.
The kidnapping plot that happens in this is odd, and the fact that it goes unsolved and unmentioned for several chapters.
A lot of the chapters felt unnecessary and I found myself being pulled out of the story often, drifting to the point where some chapters I had to relisten to more than once, and times the reaction was much the same.
I wanted to love this, but unfortunately, this just did not hit the mark for me. It is probably more of a case of it's me and not you, so I'm hoping others love this more.
I am glad I listened to it, listening to it made me get through it, otherwise I don't think I would have.
I got a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange of a review.
I listened to it on audio and found myself drifting. It has two different timelines and follows mostly a woman named Vivien and the Italian film industry in 1950s.
Vivien is a hard character to follow as she seems pretty detached from everything around her. While in Italy, she is also looking for answers about David her ex-fiancee who she thought died in the war.
I was hoping for an emotional rollercoaster, but I unfortunately did not get this out of this book.
The kidnapping plot that happens in this is odd, and the fact that it goes unsolved and unmentioned for several chapters.
A lot of the chapters felt unnecessary and I found myself being pulled out of the story often, drifting to the point where some chapters I had to relisten to more than once, and times the reaction was much the same.
I wanted to love this, but unfortunately, this just did not hit the mark for me. It is probably more of a case of it's me and not you, so I'm hoping others love this more.
I am glad I listened to it, listening to it made me get through it, otherwise I don't think I would have.
I got a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange of a review.
May 14, 2024
In her ambitious follow-up to Bloomsbury Girls, Natalie Jenner transports readers to the complicated glamour of postwar Italy where she trades a London bookshop for a sprawling film studio. Every Time We Say Goodbye is a stunning meditation on the hopes that we bury when a world is at war and the courage we muster to reclaim our dreams afterwards. With a historian’s eye and a storyteller’s heart, Jenner triumphs once again with this contemplative tale that reads more like a film than a novel. Only a writer with Jenner’s talent could weave religion, art, loss, and romance with such empathy and skill. How I loved losing myself in this intricate, vibrant, technicolor world!
May 2, 2024
This one was hard for me to get into. It didn’t have a lot of historical context and wasn’t tied to major historical events so I think that made it more difficult. Overall it was an okay sorry but I just didn’t get a ton out of it.
July 6, 2024
4.5 stars.
Lovely follow-on to Bloomsbury Girls. Set mostly in 1955 Rome, and featuring Vivien Lowry who has taken a job as a script doctor on a major film at the busy Cinecitta Studio.
Vivien has a second reason for coming to Italy--the recently acquired knowledge that her fiance, long believed to have died fighting the Germans in North Africa during WWII, had lived to be transferred to a POW camp in Italy. Vivien hopes to find out what happened to him.
I loved our prickly heroine, who is so angry and so closed off to love. I enjoyed the new-to-me setting and time period. I did know about the wartime efforts to smuggle English and American POWs out of Vatican City, thanks to My Father's House, but this book focused on efforts to get those POWs to the Vatican. And I was unaware that the Cinecitta grounds were the location of a refuge camp after the war ended. One of this book's more poignant parts involves a young acquaintance of Vivien's who comes to Rome in search any trace of her mother, who had been at that camp.
There's even a cameo appearance by a major character from The Jane Austen Society
which made me grin.
While it is not necessary to have read the two earlier books, it wouldn't be a hardship to read them. Of the three books, this is my favorite, and the one I keep thinking about.
Lovely follow-on to Bloomsbury Girls. Set mostly in 1955 Rome, and featuring Vivien Lowry who has taken a job as a script doctor on a major film at the busy Cinecitta Studio.
Vivien has a second reason for coming to Italy--the recently acquired knowledge that her fiance, long believed to have died fighting the Germans in North Africa during WWII, had lived to be transferred to a POW camp in Italy. Vivien hopes to find out what happened to him.
I loved our prickly heroine, who is so angry and so closed off to love. I enjoyed the new-to-me setting and time period. I did know about the wartime efforts to smuggle English and American POWs out of Vatican City, thanks to My Father's House, but this book focused on efforts to get those POWs to the Vatican. And I was unaware that the Cinecitta grounds were the location of a refuge camp after the war ended. One of this book's more poignant parts involves a young acquaintance of Vivien's who comes to Rome in search any trace of her mother, who had been at that camp.
There's even a cameo appearance by a major character from The Jane Austen Society
which made me grin.
While it is not necessary to have read the two earlier books, it wouldn't be a hardship to read them. Of the three books, this is my favorite, and the one I keep thinking about.
May 26, 2024
I finally finished this book, "Every Time We Say Goodbye" by Natalie Jenner. This is my first read of anything by this author, though I have 2 of her books in my TBR bookcase.
Vivien is a playwright in the early 50s. When her second play is panned by critics, she moves from London to Italy. She takes a job as a screenwriter to fix a big movie script. She makes some new friends.
....
OMG!! I didn't care!! For some reason, I could not connect with this character, nor any of them. I really didn't like this book.
The narration bothered me, too. I could hear every breath the narrator, Juliet Aubrey, took! I liked the voice for the main character, which is deep and husky, but for every male character, she used a nasally, high-pitched, strange, and dorky sounding voice.
The Catholic church had a firm control over anything going out in the media. This was surprising and upsetting to me, but also very likely true.
Characters - 2/5
Writing - 3/5
Plot - 3/5
Pacing - 2/5
Unputdownability - 0/5
Enjoyment - 2/5
Narration - 2/5
Cover - 3/5
Overall - 2.1
I believe other reviewers have had much better experiences with this book, so please check those out.
Thank you to Netgalley, Macmillan Audio, and Natalie Jenner for providing this audiobook in exchange for my honest review.
Vivien is a playwright in the early 50s. When her second play is panned by critics, she moves from London to Italy. She takes a job as a screenwriter to fix a big movie script. She makes some new friends.
....
OMG!! I didn't care!! For some reason, I could not connect with this character, nor any of them. I really didn't like this book.
The narration bothered me, too. I could hear every breath the narrator, Juliet Aubrey, took! I liked the voice for the main character, which is deep and husky, but for every male character, she used a nasally, high-pitched, strange, and dorky sounding voice.
The Catholic church had a firm control over anything going out in the media. This was surprising and upsetting to me, but also very likely true.
Characters - 2/5
Writing - 3/5
Plot - 3/5
Pacing - 2/5
Unputdownability - 0/5
Enjoyment - 2/5
Narration - 2/5
Cover - 3/5
Overall - 2.1
I believe other reviewers have had much better experiences with this book, so please check those out.
Thank you to Netgalley, Macmillan Audio, and Natalie Jenner for providing this audiobook in exchange for my honest review.
December 8, 2023
I have been following Natalie Jenner from the beginning. I received an ARC of her first two books: The Jane Austen Society and Bloomsbury Girls and I loved both. I loved the feel-good vibes of both of those books, the quaintness feel of them, the relatable and heartwarming characters, and the general UK countryside ambiance overall. When I saw that she released a third book, as usual, I was eager to see what she was going to narrate us next. What a disappointment this was. Every Time We Say Goodbye is world apart from what she offered her readers so far, and I could not read past half of the book. The storyline is not appealing, the characters are ugly and superficial, I have zero interest to get further into this story. I was beguiled by the setting first; Rome in 1950s, the cinematographic world, the spraying of historical facts throughout,.. I was even taking notes of locations she was describing so I could visit them next time I am in Rome. But the story is not strong enough, the buildup is lacking, I gave up.
May 27, 2024
In 1955, Vivian Lowry wrote a play that audiences loved but the London critics hated. With this hit to her career, Vivian travels to Italy where she works as a script doctor on a movie. She also uses her time there to investigate the disappearance of her fiancé during WWII. A second storyline told in flashbacks is the story of “La Scolaretta”, a schoolgirl who is also an assassin during WWII.
This was a beautifully written, atmospheric story of self-discovery, with wonderful historical details and complex characters. The author vividly portrays the two timelines with great skill, making this story such a page-turner. Reading it felt very much like seeing things happen in a film.
I loved the setting in Rome, and the details of movie making in Italy during the time period following WWII. The way the Vatican influenced censorship of the films was interesting and something I didn’t know occurred. The cameos by real life characters, such as Daphne DuMaurier, Sophia Loren, and Ava Gardner were really fun.
The story deals with some heavy topics like love, loss, guilt, and grief, but I felt that it was ultimately very hopeful.
I really enjoyed reading this thought-provoking, engaging, and insightful story!
I received a copy from NetGalley, St. Martins Press, and Austenprose, but a positive review was not required. All opinions expressed are completely my own.
This was a beautifully written, atmospheric story of self-discovery, with wonderful historical details and complex characters. The author vividly portrays the two timelines with great skill, making this story such a page-turner. Reading it felt very much like seeing things happen in a film.
I loved the setting in Rome, and the details of movie making in Italy during the time period following WWII. The way the Vatican influenced censorship of the films was interesting and something I didn’t know occurred. The cameos by real life characters, such as Daphne DuMaurier, Sophia Loren, and Ava Gardner were really fun.
The story deals with some heavy topics like love, loss, guilt, and grief, but I felt that it was ultimately very hopeful.
I really enjoyed reading this thought-provoking, engaging, and insightful story!
I received a copy from NetGalley, St. Martins Press, and Austenprose, but a positive review was not required. All opinions expressed are completely my own.
October 1, 2023
I adored both The Jane Austen Society and Bloomsbury Girls and was thrilled to be given an advanced copy of Every Time We Say Goodbye. This book builds on the worlds created in Jenner's first two historical novels, although it can also be enjoyed as a stand-alone novel without prior knowledge of the other two. Readers travel on a journey to Italy in the 1950's, with a lively cast of characters (including many we've grown to love from Jenner's other novels - yay!) and many of whom are British and American ex-pats working in the booming art of Italian cinema after WW II.
Cinematic in scope, EVERY TIME WE SAY GOODBYE is a bittersweet reminder of the reverberations of war, as well as an ode to cinema as an art form that preserves history, reflects the best and worst of humanity, and helps us heal. Ultimately, this moving story embraces individuals’ ability to thrive after tragedy, and urges us always to strive for la dolce vita. Brava, Natalie Jenner!
Cinematic in scope, EVERY TIME WE SAY GOODBYE is a bittersweet reminder of the reverberations of war, as well as an ode to cinema as an art form that preserves history, reflects the best and worst of humanity, and helps us heal. Ultimately, this moving story embraces individuals’ ability to thrive after tragedy, and urges us always to strive for la dolce vita. Brava, Natalie Jenner!
May 26, 2024
TITLE: EVERY TIME WE SAY GOODBYE
AUTHOR: Natalie Jenner
PUB DATE: 05.14.2024
I loved The Jane Austen Society and The Bloomsbury Girls so naturally I was excited to have another Natalie Jenner book in my hands and one that is set in beautiful Italy that I just cannot get enough of.
In EVERY TIME WE SAY GOODBYE, we are graced with the world of cinema in the 1950’s, the Italian Resistance Fighters, the Catholic Church, and even a bit of mystery to add to the brilliant storytelling. I was glad to see a character list as I love going back and referring to it time to time.
The writing by Jenner seems to always bring me new knowledge - whether it is learning about unsung heroes and heroines, the culture which includes religion and politics, all the while crafting a tale that is intriguing and compelling, that is hard to put down.
Enjoyed this one a lot.
AUTHOR: Natalie Jenner
PUB DATE: 05.14.2024
I loved The Jane Austen Society and The Bloomsbury Girls so naturally I was excited to have another Natalie Jenner book in my hands and one that is set in beautiful Italy that I just cannot get enough of.
In EVERY TIME WE SAY GOODBYE, we are graced with the world of cinema in the 1950’s, the Italian Resistance Fighters, the Catholic Church, and even a bit of mystery to add to the brilliant storytelling. I was glad to see a character list as I love going back and referring to it time to time.
The writing by Jenner seems to always bring me new knowledge - whether it is learning about unsung heroes and heroines, the culture which includes religion and politics, all the while crafting a tale that is intriguing and compelling, that is hard to put down.
Enjoyed this one a lot.
May 15, 2024
Compelling!
Jenner continues exploring the lives of various of characters we’ve met in the “Austen Society” and “Bloomsbury Girls.” This time the action is mostly set in post World War II Rome. Vivien Lowrey is a playwright. Through her works she tries to capture the truth of things. Having been savaged by theatre critics for her latest production she comes to Rome to work as a script doctor for “When All Else Fails” a Douglas Curtis film being produced in Italy.
Joseph McCarthy has started his witch hunts for communist and socialists in the film industry and many have fled here. Mussolini had built a huge studio complex in Rome specifically for propaganda. Now, in 1955, Cinecittà Studios is being well used by the Italian and other film makers, including the Americans.
Vivien catches up with others of the Austen and Bloomsbury women who flit in and out of the story, including Peggy Guggenheim.
The names! I’m starry eyed! Sophia Loren, Gina Lollobrigida, Anna Magnani, Orson Wells, Eartha Kitt!
The story is complex. Layers upon layers build up a picture of Vivian and those around her. Vivien had been engaged to David St. Vincent, heir to an earldom. David had been captured in North Africa, then sent to Italy, escaped and then disappeared. Vivian had always believed he was dead. When she finds out he’d lived, she has hope. That’s part of her reason for coming to Italy.
In Rome she learns the story of many in the Italian underground, particularly the women. One was La Scolaretta, girlfriend of underground leader Prince Nino Tremonti, now filmmaker. La Scolaretta became an assassin. She was helped by an Italian nun, Sister Justina. Their reasons for helping are different, but their bravery and resistance is awe inspiring.
A film is to be made about Scolaretta. The Vatican shuts it down!
The Vatican comes under fire. Where were they during the time when the country was occupied by the Nazis. Did they seek to hold onto power at any cost?
Meanwhile the search for news of David and for others comes to the fore for Vivien. During her search Vivien faces facts about her own life.
As she and her friend Gabriella Giacometti discuss when Claudia (a reporter for Life Magazine) moves onto a new life, “Our secrets are who we really are.”
A deeply moving story of loss and gain, of power abused, and of a time in history that has stained generations.
A St. Martins Press ARC via NetGalley.
Many thanks to the author and publisher.
Please note: Quotes taken from an advanced reading copy maybe subject to change
Jenner continues exploring the lives of various of characters we’ve met in the “Austen Society” and “Bloomsbury Girls.” This time the action is mostly set in post World War II Rome. Vivien Lowrey is a playwright. Through her works she tries to capture the truth of things. Having been savaged by theatre critics for her latest production she comes to Rome to work as a script doctor for “When All Else Fails” a Douglas Curtis film being produced in Italy.
Joseph McCarthy has started his witch hunts for communist and socialists in the film industry and many have fled here. Mussolini had built a huge studio complex in Rome specifically for propaganda. Now, in 1955, Cinecittà Studios is being well used by the Italian and other film makers, including the Americans.
Vivien catches up with others of the Austen and Bloomsbury women who flit in and out of the story, including Peggy Guggenheim.
The names! I’m starry eyed! Sophia Loren, Gina Lollobrigida, Anna Magnani, Orson Wells, Eartha Kitt!
The story is complex. Layers upon layers build up a picture of Vivian and those around her. Vivien had been engaged to David St. Vincent, heir to an earldom. David had been captured in North Africa, then sent to Italy, escaped and then disappeared. Vivian had always believed he was dead. When she finds out he’d lived, she has hope. That’s part of her reason for coming to Italy.
In Rome she learns the story of many in the Italian underground, particularly the women. One was La Scolaretta, girlfriend of underground leader Prince Nino Tremonti, now filmmaker. La Scolaretta became an assassin. She was helped by an Italian nun, Sister Justina. Their reasons for helping are different, but their bravery and resistance is awe inspiring.
A film is to be made about Scolaretta. The Vatican shuts it down!
The Vatican comes under fire. Where were they during the time when the country was occupied by the Nazis. Did they seek to hold onto power at any cost?
Meanwhile the search for news of David and for others comes to the fore for Vivien. During her search Vivien faces facts about her own life.
As she and her friend Gabriella Giacometti discuss when Claudia (a reporter for Life Magazine) moves onto a new life, “Our secrets are who we really are.”
A deeply moving story of loss and gain, of power abused, and of a time in history that has stained generations.
A St. Martins Press ARC via NetGalley.
Many thanks to the author and publisher.
Please note: Quotes taken from an advanced reading copy maybe subject to change
February 11, 2024
I was really excited to have received my first arc from Goodreads. I dug in as soon as I got it, since I generally love historical fiction. I have not read any other of NJ’s books.
First clue of distress, I drug myself through this. It took me way too long to invest myself. It begins with a Long list of characters and a map. Okay. The foundation for the book is all in the Epilogue. Soon after you lost me. I felt like it had way too many unimportant characters. I wanted the heart of the story to stand out more, grab profoundly, because the scolaretta seemed fundamental. It took so long to get back to that I was confused. There were great moments but keep them and kill the rest.
I often will look at references for the background to the book, none? Only a blurb or two in the acknowledgements?! Don’t cheat me or yourself that way, let us know the work you did to drop names and stories!
Title doesn’t seem to fit either.
First clue of distress, I drug myself through this. It took me way too long to invest myself. It begins with a Long list of characters and a map. Okay. The foundation for the book is all in the Epilogue. Soon after you lost me. I felt like it had way too many unimportant characters. I wanted the heart of the story to stand out more, grab profoundly, because the scolaretta seemed fundamental. It took so long to get back to that I was confused. There were great moments but keep them and kill the rest.
I often will look at references for the background to the book, none? Only a blurb or two in the acknowledgements?! Don’t cheat me or yourself that way, let us know the work you did to drop names and stories!
Title doesn’t seem to fit either.
May 22, 2024
I'm giving this 3.5 stars rounded up to 4.
This is the third book in this series. I'd read the first but not the second and was still able to follow along without any problems.
This third novel in the series takes place in post WWII Italy and focuses on the film making industry. It was a little slow to start but engaging and beautifully written. I found the behind the scenes look at the Italian film industry of the time period, particularly compelling. Especially the Vatican's control over scripts and the ongoing corruption. It was a gripping storyline.
Vivian's story was complex and heartbreaking. I would have liked even more of her story. However, I was happy with her satisfying ending.
Juliet Aubrey was very soft-spoken and took some time to get used to. But I did end up enjoying her narration.
Thank you, McMillan Audio, for this ALC. Opinions expressed in this review are my own.
This is the third book in this series. I'd read the first but not the second and was still able to follow along without any problems.
This third novel in the series takes place in post WWII Italy and focuses on the film making industry. It was a little slow to start but engaging and beautifully written. I found the behind the scenes look at the Italian film industry of the time period, particularly compelling. Especially the Vatican's control over scripts and the ongoing corruption. It was a gripping storyline.
Vivian's story was complex and heartbreaking. I would have liked even more of her story. However, I was happy with her satisfying ending.
Juliet Aubrey was very soft-spoken and took some time to get used to. But I did end up enjoying her narration.
Thank you, McMillan Audio, for this ALC. Opinions expressed in this review are my own.
March 30, 2024
I’ve loved both of Natalie Jenner’s books - my favourite being The Bloomsbury Girls - and so was really excited to receive an ARC of Every Time we Say Goodbye. It didn’t disappoint & it was so lovely to catch up with BG characters (especially Vivien & Tabitha). Natalie always manages to find a unique setting for her books and the Italian Film Industry immediately post war is definitely not one I’ve read about before. She must spend an awful lot of time in research, I was really impressed with the detail. For me this story ticks all the boxes:historical setting with echoes of WW2 still making itself known, a fascinating subject and a sprinkling of romance the icing on the cake. Another fab read- thank you.
May 4, 2024
Having read the Bloomsbury Girls and the Jane Austen Society, I was very excited at the opportunity to read this book in advance. I received this book as part of a Goodreads giveaway.
I learned a lot about Italy during and immediately following the Second World War, the film production industry, and the role of the Vatican in acting as censor. I found the historical elements to be the most interesting parts.
However, I had a difficult time connecting to the characters. I felt like their stories and perspectives were not fully developed.
Overall, I enjoyed the book but it falls short of the other books written by Jenner in this series.
I learned a lot about Italy during and immediately following the Second World War, the film production industry, and the role of the Vatican in acting as censor. I found the historical elements to be the most interesting parts.
However, I had a difficult time connecting to the characters. I felt like their stories and perspectives were not fully developed.
Overall, I enjoyed the book but it falls short of the other books written by Jenner in this series.
January 12, 2025
After giving the first two books in this series 5 star ratings, I’m sorry to say that this one just didn’t grab me. I thought it was picking up for me at the halfway point but I can’t really say that I loved the ending. And the epilogue was just a complete head scratcher to me. So…I know the author has a new standalone book coming out this year and I have high hopes for that.
August 7, 2024
Evocative, mature and touching these are the words that come to mind after reading this beautiful story by N. Jenner.
I’m left with the tang of lemoncello, the sent of gunpowder, a cinema stub in my hand and a sigh.
P.S. Narrator does a stellar performance.
I’m left with the tang of lemoncello, the sent of gunpowder, a cinema stub in my hand and a sigh.
P.S. Narrator does a stellar performance.
December 12, 2023
Every Time We Say Goodbye is another heart penetrating novel by Natalie Jenner. When I read one of her books, I cannot help but write copious amounts of notes. There are numerous lines of profound wisdom, complexity of thought on societal issues, poetic and literary insight, intense interactions and behavioural observations on the pages. Natalie makes me think and dig deeper to grasp the truths that are often hidden under layers of facades. In Every Time We Say Goodbye, I was moved by the complexity of the characters, their situations and lessons learned. And even though this is a fictional world, the astute realism is unforgettable and far-reaching.
Natalie’s stories, like with Jane Austen’s, focus on the importance of friendships and family. And Every Time We Say Goodbye is no exception. In fact, her current novel takes us through the horrors of war and how it affects those important relationships. The sense of loss is truly felt through Vivien and others. Whether from known deaths on the battlefield or of loved ones gone missing in action. It awakens in us core emotions and makes us wonder how we would react in the same situations.
This story poses the question: how do we move forward after war has invaded our lives? Especially since it can change a person—not always for the better. Finding closure for the living can be hard. Tabitha has experienced the loss of freedom and her home. Not something Vivi had suffered but ‘she did understand the unique pain of not knowing what has happened to someone you love.’ As she says: ‘There is nowhere for the grief to go; there is nothing to move on from.’ These two women’s experiences are different but they both share the outcome: 'How could she trust anyone or rely upon the appearance of things that could vanish.’
Too often people get stuck in a cycle of grief and anger. This is a big part of Vivien’s journey. And the message that Sister Justina delivers to Vivi forces her to look at her beliefs. Does she really need to change to survive? And what has it changed her into? War has affected her deeply but the nun says don’t change so much you lose your own self. Those who fought in the war ‘lived and died as they believed. There must be faith…’ Changing because of anger serves no good purpose. Vivi has felt the horrid effects of war and it has made her angry because of all she lost: including a marriage to a man she loved profoundly. As she said to Claudia: ‘We would have been married but for the war.’
War can make a person feel helpless. Unable to control the narrative. ‘The blame fed her (Vivi’s) anger and the anger fuelled her writing...’ She could control the story and outcome on paper-–exact revenge and ‘she could write a complete, if not happy, ending.’ Vivi as a writer, is also a woman of observations. The people she encounters in her search to find answers of what happened to her fiance, David, leave her with more questions and meanings to sort through. I found Sister Justina’s conversations very moving and certainly her advice to Vivi very helpful. And her friend, actress Claudia, throws a few curve balls that also contribute to her awareness of the effects of life choices and learning to be true to yourself. What is the secret ingredient missing in their lives? Vivi eventually learns once she understands Claudia’s choice and what it really means. And how she herself has forgotten a simple truth on her journey of survival. Although Vivien has learned much about the horrors of war and how it can rob you of hope and trust, she wants to honour David’s eternal optimism, his thoughtful and generous heart. And so, her journey leads her to turn a corner…
There are many comments in this novel on war— that it is ‘a fearful following of destruction’. Even a great loss of trust between people. And people are forced to make difficult decisions—never knowing what is the best solution. As Levi states: he ‘didn’t feel there was much choice at all.’ Who could he trust? There is a repeat of this question throughout the novel. And there are so many harbouring secrets of the past. Levi, like many, tried to save casualties along the way. In this case, he was trying to save a baby who lost a family. He became this baby’s protector so when the child is taken from his arms to safety, it hits him hard. It’s that need for the human touch, connection and family preservation that bursts through during the battles. Keeping siblings together. Maintaining the bonds. All the important things ‘that tether us together’, when threats come fast and hard.
War causes division, despair and distrust. As previously mentioned, the novel shows the importance of family (and friends) which is very much a Jane Austen concern. These kind of relationships have a positive impact on the developing individual. Where is it we learn trust first—if not between child and mother or father and with our siblings? Vivi has had no experience with children but when an eight year old asks her how will she know when she can trust someone, Vivien says she will know the more she lives and the more she meets people. Experience and gut extinct will help us identify it. But war can rob individuals of that vital support structure.
Vivi feels such a strong loss when her actress friend Claudia leaves. She tries to reckon this pain. ‘After all, friends (are) not family.’ But aren’t they in some small way when you let them enter your heart, take them into your confidence and trust? I think Vivi is trying to make sense of this. She feels a great loss of friendship as goodbyes are often forever because friends will make choices that take them away. (The book’s title is so apt.) Vivi misses that bond with another. Again, like Jane Austen, the importance of female friendships for women abounds here. Claudia’s honest advice when she tells Vivien ‘whatever you do—do it with your eyes wide open and a little less anger’ is a wonderful by-product of their close friendship.
We see other glimpses of Jane Austen’s beliefs in Vivien and David’s relationship. That mutual attraction in Marriage is more important than money or position. Vivien experienced the negative effects of social class restrictions in her fiancé’s family. Their engagement would never be accepted. They were twenty one and ‘fiercely in love’ and she resented ‘being made to feel common in any way.’ Vivien was stylish and attractive and a high achiever—graduating at the top of her year on a full scholarship. There was nothing ordinary or inferior about her. David was an Oxford man but he was expected to take over his family’s vast estate. Born to a titled family meant he had limited choices—including who could be his spouse. Ironically, though David’s lineage boasted longevity and their moto was for the ‘family to succeed at all costs’— their restrictive views caused them to miss the most important ingredient—love. (And losing out on their grandchild.)
This novel covers so many things: including the cinematic world. Other great lines are ‘movies are a business’ and ‘No one says no to Ava Gardner’. We meet Sophia Loren and others on the glittering stage. We get a glimpse of the culture of the 1950s. The Prohibition era, American Jazz and speakeasy ambience—these are all sprinkled across the canvas of this literary painting. And not to mention the Vatican. The exploration of good and evil. Natalie covers a lot of territory.
The devastating effects of Hitler’s regime—the countless deaths—the attempted extermination of a race of people, causes Vivi to wonder if ‘this cancer of the mind’ can ever be removed from the world. But there have been brave souls who have resisted. This is a painful and honest portrayal of war and its effects. The loss of trust, hope and happiness. But it also exposes a war closer to home in the social classes. And so there are many battles between the heart and head.
In Every Time We Say Goodbye I was taken by the depth of the characters, their development and their journeys to find the answers in life they sought. Many of the cast were memorable and although punctuated with human frailty, possessed heroic hearts. Vivien finds her answers and those revelations are quite different than expected. There are surprises and sorrows and healing and grace… The engine that runs the story is found on this line: ‘Nothing could be created from the emptiness of scorn—to create, there had to be hope.’ ‘Hope that we as humans, could be better—could do better.’ Vivien realises in that moment ‘what she, Levi, Curtis, Nino—all of them at work with tales false and true—were really searching for.’
I highly recommend Every Time We Say Goodbye that I could not pull away from—even when the drama seized and shook my heart. A brilliant story that should not be missed. 5 Big Stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Thanks to St Martin’s Press & Netgalley for my review copy.
Natalie’s stories, like with Jane Austen’s, focus on the importance of friendships and family. And Every Time We Say Goodbye is no exception. In fact, her current novel takes us through the horrors of war and how it affects those important relationships. The sense of loss is truly felt through Vivien and others. Whether from known deaths on the battlefield or of loved ones gone missing in action. It awakens in us core emotions and makes us wonder how we would react in the same situations.
This story poses the question: how do we move forward after war has invaded our lives? Especially since it can change a person—not always for the better. Finding closure for the living can be hard. Tabitha has experienced the loss of freedom and her home. Not something Vivi had suffered but ‘she did understand the unique pain of not knowing what has happened to someone you love.’ As she says: ‘There is nowhere for the grief to go; there is nothing to move on from.’ These two women’s experiences are different but they both share the outcome: 'How could she trust anyone or rely upon the appearance of things that could vanish.’
Too often people get stuck in a cycle of grief and anger. This is a big part of Vivien’s journey. And the message that Sister Justina delivers to Vivi forces her to look at her beliefs. Does she really need to change to survive? And what has it changed her into? War has affected her deeply but the nun says don’t change so much you lose your own self. Those who fought in the war ‘lived and died as they believed. There must be faith…’ Changing because of anger serves no good purpose. Vivi has felt the horrid effects of war and it has made her angry because of all she lost: including a marriage to a man she loved profoundly. As she said to Claudia: ‘We would have been married but for the war.’
War can make a person feel helpless. Unable to control the narrative. ‘The blame fed her (Vivi’s) anger and the anger fuelled her writing...’ She could control the story and outcome on paper-–exact revenge and ‘she could write a complete, if not happy, ending.’ Vivi as a writer, is also a woman of observations. The people she encounters in her search to find answers of what happened to her fiance, David, leave her with more questions and meanings to sort through. I found Sister Justina’s conversations very moving and certainly her advice to Vivi very helpful. And her friend, actress Claudia, throws a few curve balls that also contribute to her awareness of the effects of life choices and learning to be true to yourself. What is the secret ingredient missing in their lives? Vivi eventually learns once she understands Claudia’s choice and what it really means. And how she herself has forgotten a simple truth on her journey of survival. Although Vivien has learned much about the horrors of war and how it can rob you of hope and trust, she wants to honour David’s eternal optimism, his thoughtful and generous heart. And so, her journey leads her to turn a corner…
There are many comments in this novel on war— that it is ‘a fearful following of destruction’. Even a great loss of trust between people. And people are forced to make difficult decisions—never knowing what is the best solution. As Levi states: he ‘didn’t feel there was much choice at all.’ Who could he trust? There is a repeat of this question throughout the novel. And there are so many harbouring secrets of the past. Levi, like many, tried to save casualties along the way. In this case, he was trying to save a baby who lost a family. He became this baby’s protector so when the child is taken from his arms to safety, it hits him hard. It’s that need for the human touch, connection and family preservation that bursts through during the battles. Keeping siblings together. Maintaining the bonds. All the important things ‘that tether us together’, when threats come fast and hard.
War causes division, despair and distrust. As previously mentioned, the novel shows the importance of family (and friends) which is very much a Jane Austen concern. These kind of relationships have a positive impact on the developing individual. Where is it we learn trust first—if not between child and mother or father and with our siblings? Vivi has had no experience with children but when an eight year old asks her how will she know when she can trust someone, Vivien says she will know the more she lives and the more she meets people. Experience and gut extinct will help us identify it. But war can rob individuals of that vital support structure.
Vivi feels such a strong loss when her actress friend Claudia leaves. She tries to reckon this pain. ‘After all, friends (are) not family.’ But aren’t they in some small way when you let them enter your heart, take them into your confidence and trust? I think Vivi is trying to make sense of this. She feels a great loss of friendship as goodbyes are often forever because friends will make choices that take them away. (The book’s title is so apt.) Vivi misses that bond with another. Again, like Jane Austen, the importance of female friendships for women abounds here. Claudia’s honest advice when she tells Vivien ‘whatever you do—do it with your eyes wide open and a little less anger’ is a wonderful by-product of their close friendship.
We see other glimpses of Jane Austen’s beliefs in Vivien and David’s relationship. That mutual attraction in Marriage is more important than money or position. Vivien experienced the negative effects of social class restrictions in her fiancé’s family. Their engagement would never be accepted. They were twenty one and ‘fiercely in love’ and she resented ‘being made to feel common in any way.’ Vivien was stylish and attractive and a high achiever—graduating at the top of her year on a full scholarship. There was nothing ordinary or inferior about her. David was an Oxford man but he was expected to take over his family’s vast estate. Born to a titled family meant he had limited choices—including who could be his spouse. Ironically, though David’s lineage boasted longevity and their moto was for the ‘family to succeed at all costs’— their restrictive views caused them to miss the most important ingredient—love. (And losing out on their grandchild.)
This novel covers so many things: including the cinematic world. Other great lines are ‘movies are a business’ and ‘No one says no to Ava Gardner’. We meet Sophia Loren and others on the glittering stage. We get a glimpse of the culture of the 1950s. The Prohibition era, American Jazz and speakeasy ambience—these are all sprinkled across the canvas of this literary painting. And not to mention the Vatican. The exploration of good and evil. Natalie covers a lot of territory.
The devastating effects of Hitler’s regime—the countless deaths—the attempted extermination of a race of people, causes Vivi to wonder if ‘this cancer of the mind’ can ever be removed from the world. But there have been brave souls who have resisted. This is a painful and honest portrayal of war and its effects. The loss of trust, hope and happiness. But it also exposes a war closer to home in the social classes. And so there are many battles between the heart and head.
In Every Time We Say Goodbye I was taken by the depth of the characters, their development and their journeys to find the answers in life they sought. Many of the cast were memorable and although punctuated with human frailty, possessed heroic hearts. Vivien finds her answers and those revelations are quite different than expected. There are surprises and sorrows and healing and grace… The engine that runs the story is found on this line: ‘Nothing could be created from the emptiness of scorn—to create, there had to be hope.’ ‘Hope that we as humans, could be better—could do better.’ Vivien realises in that moment ‘what she, Levi, Curtis, Nino—all of them at work with tales false and true—were really searching for.’
I highly recommend Every Time We Say Goodbye that I could not pull away from—even when the drama seized and shook my heart. A brilliant story that should not be missed. 5 Big Stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Thanks to St Martin’s Press & Netgalley for my review copy.
May 26, 2024
“Who knew making movies could be such a blood sport?”
I first met Vivien Lowry in Bloomsbury Girls and found her to be equal parts tragic and vibrant as a character, so I was very intrigued by what kind of journey Natalie Jenner would take her on in Every Time We Say Goodbye. (Note: it’s not necessary to have read the other books in this series to follow this third book. It works just fine as a standalone, though some of its references to the other books may have you bumping them up to the top of your TBR list!
There are several plot threads that weave through the pages of Every Time We Say Goodbye, spanning a variety of personalities across two timelines a little more than ten years apart, and presenting readers with a profound study in contrasts. On the one hand you have the glitz and glory of the Italian film industry, ushered into its heyday as American directors, actors, writers, etc fled the fear-mongering of the McCarthy era for the freedom found in Italy. Freedom from the anti-Communist witch hunts, though, came with strings attached – strings held by the Vatican who kept tight control over what could & couldn’t be portrayed in movies (more than one very weighty & timeless contrast there). And then there are the WW2 Italian resistance fighters, the refugees of war, the soldiers haunted by images they can’t forget, and the families left without answers. A world away from the film industry in many respects and inseparable from it in others. I loved these contrasts – and others – that Jenner captures so vividly, and I often caught myself thinking about the poetry of them as I read this moving story.
I enjoyed seeing famed film stars of the day like a young Sophia Loren, Ava Gardner, and Gina Lollobrigida as ‘regular’ people (while still being set apart… another contrast) and getting an inside look at the workings of a movie studio in the 1950s in post-war Italy. But really this is just the canvas on which Jenner paints a poignant picture of grief, love, faith, and friendship -the means that connects the main players whose paths otherwise would not have crossed. The real story in Every Time We Say Goodbye is of brave women who dare to do courageous things. Whether they gave up their life, their love, their child, their career, their dreams, or even their regrets, I was fascinated by these vibrant characters who dared to do what was right for the sake of more than just themselves. This, to me, is the strength of Jenner’s latest novel and what kept me turning the pages.
Bottom Line: Nothing about Every Time We Say Goodbye played out the way I expected it to but the story ended up being so much more meaningful because of the unexpected turns it took. As with the other book I have read by Natalie Jenner, I closed this one with a deep sense of thoughtfulness, pondering the lessons can be gleaned as well as their continued relevance. I enjoyed reacquainting myself with Vivien and other familiar faces from Bloomsbury Girls, and I equally enjoyed the parade of new personalities that Vivien encounters in the world of Italian cinema. Some parts of the novel dragged a bit in the middle, in my opinion, overladen with more telling than showing, but not so much that I lost interest in the overall story. Mainly due to the fascinating profile of the young, female assassin for the Italian Resistance – it completely captivated me, and I loved the way that Jenner intersects this character with Vivien’s story too. Another meticulously researched and immersive novel from a rising star in historical fiction.
Reviewer’s Note: Followers of my reviews may want to be aware that there is some occasional, mild cursing (plus one profanity), innuendo, and non-explicit closed-door implications of extra-marital intimacies.
(I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book)
first reviewed at Reading Is My SuperPower
I first met Vivien Lowry in Bloomsbury Girls and found her to be equal parts tragic and vibrant as a character, so I was very intrigued by what kind of journey Natalie Jenner would take her on in Every Time We Say Goodbye. (Note: it’s not necessary to have read the other books in this series to follow this third book. It works just fine as a standalone, though some of its references to the other books may have you bumping them up to the top of your TBR list!
There are several plot threads that weave through the pages of Every Time We Say Goodbye, spanning a variety of personalities across two timelines a little more than ten years apart, and presenting readers with a profound study in contrasts. On the one hand you have the glitz and glory of the Italian film industry, ushered into its heyday as American directors, actors, writers, etc fled the fear-mongering of the McCarthy era for the freedom found in Italy. Freedom from the anti-Communist witch hunts, though, came with strings attached – strings held by the Vatican who kept tight control over what could & couldn’t be portrayed in movies (more than one very weighty & timeless contrast there). And then there are the WW2 Italian resistance fighters, the refugees of war, the soldiers haunted by images they can’t forget, and the families left without answers. A world away from the film industry in many respects and inseparable from it in others. I loved these contrasts – and others – that Jenner captures so vividly, and I often caught myself thinking about the poetry of them as I read this moving story.
I enjoyed seeing famed film stars of the day like a young Sophia Loren, Ava Gardner, and Gina Lollobrigida as ‘regular’ people (while still being set apart… another contrast) and getting an inside look at the workings of a movie studio in the 1950s in post-war Italy. But really this is just the canvas on which Jenner paints a poignant picture of grief, love, faith, and friendship -the means that connects the main players whose paths otherwise would not have crossed. The real story in Every Time We Say Goodbye is of brave women who dare to do courageous things. Whether they gave up their life, their love, their child, their career, their dreams, or even their regrets, I was fascinated by these vibrant characters who dared to do what was right for the sake of more than just themselves. This, to me, is the strength of Jenner’s latest novel and what kept me turning the pages.
Bottom Line: Nothing about Every Time We Say Goodbye played out the way I expected it to but the story ended up being so much more meaningful because of the unexpected turns it took. As with the other book I have read by Natalie Jenner, I closed this one with a deep sense of thoughtfulness, pondering the lessons can be gleaned as well as their continued relevance. I enjoyed reacquainting myself with Vivien and other familiar faces from Bloomsbury Girls, and I equally enjoyed the parade of new personalities that Vivien encounters in the world of Italian cinema. Some parts of the novel dragged a bit in the middle, in my opinion, overladen with more telling than showing, but not so much that I lost interest in the overall story. Mainly due to the fascinating profile of the young, female assassin for the Italian Resistance – it completely captivated me, and I loved the way that Jenner intersects this character with Vivien’s story too. Another meticulously researched and immersive novel from a rising star in historical fiction.
Reviewer’s Note: Followers of my reviews may want to be aware that there is some occasional, mild cursing (plus one profanity), innuendo, and non-explicit closed-door implications of extra-marital intimacies.
(I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book)
first reviewed at Reading Is My SuperPower
June 15, 2024
Complex, compelling, and immersive!
Every Time We Say Goodbye is an alluring, atmospheric tale set in Italy, predominantly during 1955, that immerses you into the life of British screenwriter Vivien Lowery who, after having her latest London play fail miserably with reviewers, travels to Rome to start a new career using her writing talents in the film industry while also discovering the fate of her late fiancé who never made it back from the war.
The prose is seamless and expressive. The characters are compassionate, intriguing, and scarred. And the plot, including all the subplots, intertwine and unravel effortlessly into a vivid tale of life, loss, family, friendship, self-discovery, regret, grief, sacrifice, love, war, and the glitz and glamour of cinematic theatre in the 1950s.
Overall, Every Time We Say Goodbye is a lush, intriguing, absorbing tale by Jenner that does a lovely job of blending historical events, palpable emotion, and thought-provoking fiction.
Thank you to St. Martin’s Press for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.
Every Time We Say Goodbye is an alluring, atmospheric tale set in Italy, predominantly during 1955, that immerses you into the life of British screenwriter Vivien Lowery who, after having her latest London play fail miserably with reviewers, travels to Rome to start a new career using her writing talents in the film industry while also discovering the fate of her late fiancé who never made it back from the war.
The prose is seamless and expressive. The characters are compassionate, intriguing, and scarred. And the plot, including all the subplots, intertwine and unravel effortlessly into a vivid tale of life, loss, family, friendship, self-discovery, regret, grief, sacrifice, love, war, and the glitz and glamour of cinematic theatre in the 1950s.
Overall, Every Time We Say Goodbye is a lush, intriguing, absorbing tale by Jenner that does a lovely job of blending historical events, palpable emotion, and thought-provoking fiction.
Thank you to St. Martin’s Press for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.
June 6, 2024
Natalie Jenner is such a force in the historical fiction genre. I’m always in awe of how impressively researched her stories are while keeping them gorgeously entertaining. And they always transport me to a time and place that envelop me as if I’m alive in the story, experiencing it firsthand. They are so vivid and cast the most interesting and fascinating of characters - some real, some fictional - all brilliantly depicted.
Every Time We Say Goodbye takes us readers to 1950s Italy - where Vivien is a script doctor working in the world of Italian cinema and finds herself seeking answers to find out how her fiancé was killed in the war. It includes dazzling movie stars, handsome men, post war resistance, gorgeous Italian settings, and the struggles of moviemaking under the strong arm of the Catholic Church and its’ restrictions.
A stunning and sweeping tale that expertly balances tragedy, hope, and new beginnings in the world of The Jane Austen Society and The Bloomsbury Girls - but can most definitely be read as an incredible standalone novel.
Every Time We Say Goodbye takes us readers to 1950s Italy - where Vivien is a script doctor working in the world of Italian cinema and finds herself seeking answers to find out how her fiancé was killed in the war. It includes dazzling movie stars, handsome men, post war resistance, gorgeous Italian settings, and the struggles of moviemaking under the strong arm of the Catholic Church and its’ restrictions.
A stunning and sweeping tale that expertly balances tragedy, hope, and new beginnings in the world of The Jane Austen Society and The Bloomsbury Girls - but can most definitely be read as an incredible standalone novel.
May 6, 2024
Wow. This book floored me with its stunning complexity and interwoven storylines. My favorite thing about Natalie Jenner’s writing style is the expertly crafted balance between unflinching, emotional depth and cozy, hopeful lightness. Her books always make me feel as if I’m stepping inside a BBC period drama.
Every Time We Say Goodbye has a secondary World War II timeline, woven between the central 1950’s chapters, so it’s simultaneously about the war and about the aftermath a decade later. The main character, Vivien, is a writer who travels to Italy when she’s asked to work on a screenplay at an Italian movie studio. But work isn’t the only reason Vivien says yes to the trip. She’s still haunted by her fiancé’s death during the war, and determined to uncover what really happened to him while he was in Italy. I absolutely loved Vivien’s emotional journey and the touch of romance in the story, too. I honestly couldn’t guess what would happen next at any given moment! As a screenwriting fellow, and someone with two film degrees, my inner film geek had too much fun with all the cinematic Easter eggs, classic movie star cameos, and Italian Neorealism references.
One of my grandfathers, as well as a great-grandfather and great-uncle, fought in World War II, so I’ve always been fascinated by the bravery and determination of the people who lived in that era, as well as the impact the war had on the “greatest generation.” Every Time We Say Goodbye truthfully captures this moment in history without ever losing hope or lingering gratuitously on the darkest aspects of the war. I can assure you this book will uplift you with its triumph of the human spirit, even though it might make you a little emotional at times. It’s a beautiful story about healing and finding peace without forgetting important lessons from the past. An all-around fantastic read and one I know I’ll be thinking about for a long time!
***Thank you to MacMillan Publishers and NetGalley for providing an advanced copy of Every Time We Say Goodbye to review.
Every Time We Say Goodbye has a secondary World War II timeline, woven between the central 1950’s chapters, so it’s simultaneously about the war and about the aftermath a decade later. The main character, Vivien, is a writer who travels to Italy when she’s asked to work on a screenplay at an Italian movie studio. But work isn’t the only reason Vivien says yes to the trip. She’s still haunted by her fiancé’s death during the war, and determined to uncover what really happened to him while he was in Italy. I absolutely loved Vivien’s emotional journey and the touch of romance in the story, too. I honestly couldn’t guess what would happen next at any given moment! As a screenwriting fellow, and someone with two film degrees, my inner film geek had too much fun with all the cinematic Easter eggs, classic movie star cameos, and Italian Neorealism references.
One of my grandfathers, as well as a great-grandfather and great-uncle, fought in World War II, so I’ve always been fascinated by the bravery and determination of the people who lived in that era, as well as the impact the war had on the “greatest generation.” Every Time We Say Goodbye truthfully captures this moment in history without ever losing hope or lingering gratuitously on the darkest aspects of the war. I can assure you this book will uplift you with its triumph of the human spirit, even though it might make you a little emotional at times. It’s a beautiful story about healing and finding peace without forgetting important lessons from the past. An all-around fantastic read and one I know I’ll be thinking about for a long time!
***Thank you to MacMillan Publishers and NetGalley for providing an advanced copy of Every Time We Say Goodbye to review.
May 18, 2024
OH. MY. HEART.
Look, I'm not sure what I can say that hasn't already been said by better review writers than I'll ever be, and I'll forever be grateful for their words that will do this book justice when a non-writer [me], cannot.
What I CAN say is this: I am SO GLAD that I took a chance with "The Jane Austen Society" four years ago - I cannot imagine missing out on these gorgeous, lush, fantastic books. I am so glad that the author had more stories to tell within the JAS world, and that we get the opportunity to visit with these friends over and over again. I am so glad that Vivian [such a great character] got a really excellent story herself , and that through her story, I learned new [and heartbreaking] history of that time that I was completely unaware of.
I knew when I had book hangover before the book had even hit 50% that this book was going to be a huge winner for me - and the ugly tears that flowed at the end proved it was just that. This was, quite simply, absolutely fantastic.
I am not sure who picked the narrator for this book, but they deserve a ginormous prize. Juliet Aubrey is an amazing narrator [and it turns out plays a fantastic character in one of my favorite British shows], and just brings Vivian and the cast of characters that surround her to life and brings you right into the story until you almost forget that it's not 1955 and you are not in Italy. She does such a magnificent job and I can only hope that she decides to do more narration in the future [I need to say that all the narration for the three books in this series has been nothing less than freaking fantastic and it's been an a joy to listen to each one].
Thank you to NetGalley, Natalie Jenner, Juliet Aubrey - Narrator, St. Martin's Press, and Macmillan Audio for providing both the eBook and audiobook ARC's in exchange for an honest review.
Look, I'm not sure what I can say that hasn't already been said by better review writers than I'll ever be, and I'll forever be grateful for their words that will do this book justice when a non-writer [me], cannot.
What I CAN say is this: I am SO GLAD that I took a chance with "The Jane Austen Society" four years ago - I cannot imagine missing out on these gorgeous, lush, fantastic books. I am so glad that the author had more stories to tell within the JAS world, and that we get the opportunity to visit with these friends over and over again. I am so glad that Vivian [such a great character] got a really excellent story herself , and that through her story, I learned new [and heartbreaking] history of that time that I was completely unaware of.
I knew when I had book hangover before the book had even hit 50% that this book was going to be a huge winner for me - and the ugly tears that flowed at the end proved it was just that. This was, quite simply, absolutely fantastic.
I am not sure who picked the narrator for this book, but they deserve a ginormous prize. Juliet Aubrey is an amazing narrator [and it turns out plays a fantastic character in one of my favorite British shows], and just brings Vivian and the cast of characters that surround her to life and brings you right into the story until you almost forget that it's not 1955 and you are not in Italy. She does such a magnificent job and I can only hope that she decides to do more narration in the future [I need to say that all the narration for the three books in this series has been nothing less than freaking fantastic and it's been an a joy to listen to each one].
Thank you to NetGalley, Natalie Jenner, Juliet Aubrey - Narrator, St. Martin's Press, and Macmillan Audio for providing both the eBook and audiobook ARC's in exchange for an honest review.
April 8, 2024
I read both The Jane Austen Society and Bloomsbury Girls by Natalie Jenner so I was thrilled to get an early copy of Every Time We Say Goodbye. I have to say that I was somewhat disappointed. I loved everything about the first two books, the characters, the English setting, the time period. This one takes place in Italy. I never warmed up to the characters even Vivian and a few others who appeared in the other books. They and their storylines just did not capture my imagination. I did find it interesting that there was a strong American influence in Italy’s film industry as many left America during the McCarthy era. The influence and control the Catholic Church had over the industry was fascinating too. I remember as a child that they had the Legion of Decency which controlled what movies, books etc you could watch, read. Overall this was an ok read for me.
April 25, 2024
This is one of those books that I was so grateful for it to be over. There were way too many characters, side stories, meandering plots, and I felt absolutely no connection to any character.
The audio was difficult in that the narrator's accent was extremely strong and there were so many characters and side plots that I never quite knew where we were at or who anyone was.
This is book three of a series so I wonder if I was at a disadvantage not having read the prior books.
Overall, this book absolutely was not for me. The writing was well done and if you absolutely love WWII historical fiction and film you will likely enjoy it much more than I did.
Thank you to St. Martin's Press, MacMillan Audio, and NetGalley for the copy.
The audio was difficult in that the narrator's accent was extremely strong and there were so many characters and side plots that I never quite knew where we were at or who anyone was.
This is book three of a series so I wonder if I was at a disadvantage not having read the prior books.
Overall, this book absolutely was not for me. The writing was well done and if you absolutely love WWII historical fiction and film you will likely enjoy it much more than I did.
Thank you to St. Martin's Press, MacMillan Audio, and NetGalley for the copy.
May 17, 2024
I've so loved the audiobook! Upped my rating. Updated- 5/17/24
Happy Publication Day! I've been looking forward to listening to the audiobook after reading ARC late last year. Updated- 5/14/24
Enjoyed this. A bit darker than I was expecting. Tearjerker ending.
History of film making was interesting but it did slow the story down a bit. I'm looking forward to listening to audiobook when it is released. There was a lot going on and I think a second read would help wrap my mind around the story. (Which was totally my mind being scattered not the author's fault.). 11/30/23
Happy Publication Day! I've been looking forward to listening to the audiobook after reading ARC late last year. Updated- 5/14/24
Enjoyed this. A bit darker than I was expecting. Tearjerker ending.
History of film making was interesting but it did slow the story down a bit. I'm looking forward to listening to audiobook when it is released. There was a lot going on and I think a second read would help wrap my mind around the story. (Which was totally my mind being scattered not the author's fault.). 11/30/23
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