Literary Quicksand readers might remember my reviews of author Natalie Jenner’s first two novels: The Jane Austen Society and Bloomsbury Girls: two engaging, well-plotted books with interesting characters and fascinating glimpses into history. Jenner has a talent for creating hopeful books that don’t shy away from the complexities of her characters or the times in which they live. Today, I am excited to reveal the cover of and more information about Jenner’s next book: Every Time We Say Goodbye, coming May 14th, 2024. I know many of our readers will be glad to escape once more with Jenner into a new story and can’t wait to share future reviews and thoughts about the book with you.
Summary
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 at a crossroads in 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 Vivien’s last chance for theatrical success. With her future in London not looking bright, at the suggestion of her friend, Peggy Guggenheim, Vivien takes a job as a script doctor on a major film shooting in Rome’s Cinecittà Studios. There she finds a vibrant moviemaking 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 permeate the very soul of Italy.
As Vivien tries to forge a new future for herself, she also searches for the long-buried truth of the recent World War and the fate of her deceased fiancé lost in battle. Every Time We Say Goodbye is a bold and moving 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.
(Every Time We Say Goodbye is linked to The Jane Austen Society, & Bloomsbury Girls by characters, but is a stand-alone novel.)
A Message from author Natalie Jenner
Hello Dear Readers,
Every Time We Say Goodbye was the hardest book I will ever write, and the most rewarding.
It all started when I learned about the world-famous Cinecittà movie studio in Rome being used as a war refugee camp in the 1940s. People who had been stripped of everything—homes, possessions, even their most basic humanity—suddenly found themselves confined to life inside a “dream factory.” I decided to set my third novel during a very specific, very cool time in history—la dolce vita of mid 1950s Rome—while exploring the incredibly complex and haunting legacy of that city under German occupation during the Second World War.
I also wanted to know why Vivien Lowry, a character from my book Bloomsbury Girls, had been so angry all the time! I wondered if a woman could make the biggest mistake of her life and move past the regret in a way that benefitted her and the world around her. I never intended to write a dual timeline. I had been working on Every Time We Say Goodbye for nearly a year when the voice of a young female Italian resistance fighter codenamed la scolaretta—the schoolgirl assassin—suddenly showed up on the page one day. Having witnessed the bravery and sacrifice of so many to keep us safe during our world’s most recent challenge, I wanted to pay tribute to them. How fortunate am I, through the intimate and emotional power of historical fiction, to have the opportunity to do so.
I packed everything I could into this book: love and conflict, faith and religion, censorship and resistance, art and moviemaking, fashion and food, and cameos by favorite actresses such as Sophia Loren and Ava Gardner and characters from both The Jane Austen Society and Bloomsbury Girls (I, myself am terrible at goodbyes!).
I hope, more than anything, that Every Time We Say Goodbye gives readers the entertainment, inspiration and food for thought that nourished me throughout its writing.
Best wishes, Natalie
Cover Reveal!
Quick Facts
- Title: Every Time We Say Goodbye: A Novel
- Author: Natalie Jenner
- Genre: Historical Fiction
- Publisher: St. Martin’s Press (May 14, 2024)
- Length: (336) pages
- Format: Hardcover, eBook, & audiobook
- ISBN: 978-1250285188
Advance Praise for Everytime We Say Goodbye
- “I’m in awe of Natalie Jenner’s new novel, which surprised me at every turn. At times it reads like the juiciest historical tell all, boasting cameos by enduring household names like Sophia Loren and Gina Lollabrigida, and featuring a party where Ava Gardner dances on the table. But most importantly, this is a story about damaged people who are still blinking into the light after the nightmare of the Second World War. This beautiful book balances and explores the most heroic aspects of humanity, and by extension the most evil. Every Time We Say Good Bye is a heartbreaking, engrossing, and thoroughly dazzling work of art that would make the filmmakers at the center of its story proud.” —Nina de Gramont, New York Times and #1 Sunday Times bestselling author of The Christie Affair
- “Every Time We Say Goodbye welcomes back beloved characters from Jenner’s previous novels along with a new fascinating cast in Italy for the production of post-war films. Well-researched and written in a perfect blend of harrowing and heartwarming, this is another fabulous Natalie Jenner novel that historical fiction fans will adore!” —Madeline Martin, New York Times bestselling author of The Last Bookshop in London and The Librarian Spy
- “In her latest novel, Every Time We Say Goodbye, Natalie Jenner deftly weaves in elegant prose, the lives of the incredibly unique characters working to create a controversial war film at the Cinecitta in Italy, and the effects they have on each other and society. An emotionally poignant tale, that explores the human condition before, during and after war, and how those experiences change some while others remain unapologetically stuck. Ultimately, readers will find themselves swept along on a vivid journey through 1950s Italy, wading through the pains of the characters’ pasts and the sacrifices they made, in order to find a way to their hopeful future. Every once in a while, a story comes along that really grips you and inspires you to contemplate the choices we’re all given, and Jenner has done that here. An absolute page-turner, I couldn’t put this captivating book down.” —Eliza Knight, USA Today bestselling author of The Mayfair Bookshop and Starring Adele Astaire
About Natalie Jenner
Natalie Jenner is the internationally bestselling author of The Jane Austen Society and Bloomsbury Girls, which have been translated into more than twenty languages worldwide. 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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