Title: Every Time We Say GoodbyeAuthor: Natalie Jenner
Series: Jane Austen Society #3
Published by: St. Martin's Press on May 14, 2024
Genres: Historical Fiction
Pages: 336
Format: Hardcover
Source: St. Martin's Press
Book Rating: 8/10
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.
Review:
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.
This novel is available now.
Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from one of the following links.
Thank you to St. Martin’s Press for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.
About Natalie Jenner
Natalie Jenner was born in England and emigrated to Canada as a young child. She obtained her B.A. and her LL.B. from the University of Toronto, where she was the 1990 Gold Medalist in English Literature at St. Michael's College, and was Called to the Bar of Ontario in 1995. In addition to a brief career as a corporate lawyer, Natalie has worked as a recruiter, career coach, and consultant to leading law firms in Canada for over two decades. Most recently Natalie founded the independent bookstore Archetype Books in Oakville, Ontario, where she lives with her family and two rescue dogs. A lifelong devotee of all things Jane Austen, "The Jane Austen Society" is her first published novel.
Photograph courtesy of Author's Website.
