On one level I Couldn’t Love You More is a story that’s been written many times. Three generations of women; each life adversely impacted by a man; the horror of what befell unmarried women who fell pregnant in the sixties, especially if they are Irish and Catholic.

But this is not a book of well-trodden themes on repeat. Esther Freud has created a cast of totally believable characters and immerses the reader in the lives of Aoife, Rosaleen and Kate with such intensity that I couldn’t turn away, even when the story lines were heart-breaking.

The structure of the book is intricate. There are no early explanations of how the characters are related; the thread of each woman’s story is interwoven with that of the others in such a way that it can feel confusing and disjointed, especially in the early chapters of the book. Past and present tense, first and third person narrators, chronologies which vary for each of the women - this may appear off-putting and certainly for me initially it was a little bewildering - but I was compelled to press on because the quality of the writing was so high and it was clear that everything would fall into place as I got to know the women and their lives.

And it did. This was a superb read. Shocking in places, heart-breaking in others. Often it made me angry, not once did it feel unbelievable. All of which is testament to how strongly I identified with these women and their voices. The men too, are sharply drawn and I was thankful that within the cast of male characters there were a couple of decent ones because overall men do not come out well in this book. It is not a feelgood read but neither is it as bleak as it might seem. What shone out for me was the resilience of the women and the love they had to give.

The end, when it came, was perhaps a little too easy. And I very much wanted to know more. But perhaps that’s the hallmark of a great novel. Throughout, Esther Freud has consistently accorded her readers respect and intelligence and as I reflect, already I can understand why she would not choose to spoon-feed us the final details. I Couldn’t Love You More is a book which will stay with me for a long time. I highly recommend it.

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I Couldn't Love You More is a sweeping story of three generations of women, crossing from London to Ireland and back again, and the enduring effort to retrieve the secrets of the past. It’s London, 1960, and Aoife Kelly—once the sparkling object of young men’s affections—runs pubs with her brusque, barking husband, Cash. Their courtship began in wartime London, before they returned to Ireland with their daughters in tow. One of these daughters—fiery, independent-minded Rosaleen—moves back to London, where she meets and begins an affair with the famous sculptor Felix Lehmann, a German-Jewish refugee artist over twice her tender eighteen years. When Rosaleen finds herself pregnant with Felix’s child, she is evicted from her flat, dismissed from her job, and desperate to hide the secret from her family. Where, and to whom, can she turn?

Meanwhile, Kate, another generation down, lives in present-day London with her young daughter and husband, an unsuccessful musician and destructive alcoholic. Adopted and floundering to find a sense of herself in the midst of her unhappy marriage, Kate sets out to track down her birth mother, a search that leads her to a Magdalene Laundry in Ireland and the harrowing history that it holds. Stirring and nostalgic at moments, visceral and propulsive at others, I Couldn’t Love You More is a tender, candid portrait of love, sex, motherhood, and the enduring ties of family. It is impossible not to fall under the spell of this tale of mothers and daughters, wives and muses, secrets and outright lies. Compassionate, moving and utterly captivating to read. Highly recommended.

A real emotional roller coaster. I was so gripped with reading the story of these three unique women that I was up to the early hours finishing it. Each had their life effected by the actions of a man. Each coped in a different way.
Highly recommend

It's one of those "me not the book" case. It's well written and the characters are interesting but it's also heartbreaking and very sad.
I will try to read it again in the future.
At the moment is no my cup of tea.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

Esther Freud’s latest offering is a challenging book to read, not just because of its melancholy subject matter, but also because of its complex structure, which makes it difficult to get a foothold on both the story and its protagonists. Persevere though, push through the overwhelming miasma, and you’re rewarded with an intimate, immersive tale of love, loss, estrangement and regret.

Set in Ireland and London, and spanning from WWII to present day, it’s the story of three generations of Kelly women — Aoife, Rosaleen and Kate — linked by blood but forced apart by the iron-clad fist of Catholicism.

Freud shines a light on an Ireland subservient to the will and strictures of the Catholic Church. On a severe, patriarchal society, where men rule the roost and women are voiceless. Where desire is a sin and unwed motherhood an unforgivable, filthy stain.

It is by and large a demoralizing and depressing read. The passages depicting the life of young girls in the Church’s notorious mother and baby homes are especially hard to stomach. But Freud is astute enough to weave into this darkness tiny moments of joy. Moments that, as a reader, you cling to in expectation of an upturn in the sombre mood of the narrative. This comes — eventually — but not until the closing pages, which are all the sweeter for being so longed for.

As wretched as it is, this is a novel saved by two things: Freud’s poetic, intelligent prose, and her sublime characterization of the three female protagonists. I ached for each one, felt the cut of their personal pain: the hurt of rejection, of abandonment. Freud allows a tiny kernel of hope, and as this took root and grew, I prayed for an outcome that would justify my faith in the power of maternal love. She didn’t let me down.

What a sad book, redeemed by the women coming together in the end. But, it is so well written.

You look at Ireland today and it seems impossible to believe the hold on it and its people the Catholic church had so recently.

That men had such control over women and women, to a large extent acquiesced. It's a story of men behaving badly and women dealing with the consequences.

Somehow, and only somehow this is saved from feeling liking a misery memoir by the quality of Esther Freud's writing. I think it is partly because of the way she never wallows in things, she states them and moves on.

Whilst totally engrossing at the time the novel suffers from a sense of deja vu. You know things are going to go terribly wrong and desperately hope things will get better.

I read this as an electronic copy and because of the way they story moves through generations of women it would have been easier to follow in a print copy.

A great story following the lives of three generations of women set in London and Ireland. A great plot that follow them from the second world War to current times and the challenges faced by women and the stigma of unmarried mothers and religion lost connections with families secrets and more. I will definitely explore more work by Esther Freud

I find this book difficult to review. I think this is more about me and my reaction to the pandemic rather than any fault of the book or the author. It is well- written, well-researched and deals with important themes. But it is very sad, and I feel that there is so much sadness and loneliness in the world at the moment that I find it hard to read about more.

Thank you NetGalley for providing me with this eARC in exchange for an honest review!

This is a heartbreaking novel that takes place across the span of three generations of Kelly women - Aoife, Rosaleen, and Kate - and explores institutions known as ‘mother and baby homes’. It is clear that Esther Freud undertook extensive and complete research on the subject as the story is very well fleshed out; she discusses the strictures of Catholicism and the condemnation of unwed mothers through the three different women at three different times. There is a strong theme of loneliness interwoven with the unconditional and undying love of a mother, alongside a briefer discussion of the restraints that the men in these women’s lives placed upon them. It is an incredibly painful and bittersweet story, and introduced me to something that I wasn’t previously aware of and was devastated to discover did, in fact, exist. My only issue was that I found it a bit difficult to follow at the beginning and that there were a couple of things that felt randomly placed, lacking an introduction into the story, an ending, or an explanation.

(3.5)

I am not sure what to make of this novel. I found it uncomfortable reading in parts which didn't flow for me. The writing was strong, about three woman, Aoife, Kate and Rosaleen. The story is about love, motherhood, secrets, betrayal and lots and lots of lies. Read this novel and judge for yourself.

I give this a 4-star rating.

I WANT TO THANK NETGALLEY FOR THE OPPORTUNITY OF READING AN ADVANCED COPY OF THIS BOOK FOR AN HONEST REVIEW.

3.5 stars

I really, really wanted to absolutely love this book as other readers have but I just couldn’t gel with it. The characters were well written and the heartbreaking tales were entirely credible. Perhaps the content just didn’t grab me... The sorrow and pain and unfairness may have just made this book a little too sad for me to enjoy.

Do read the other reviews though as “I Couldn’t Love You More” has quite clearly touched the hearts and lives of many readers!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.

A fabulous read. This is the story of the lives of 3 different generations of women, intertwined with secrets. This is a story of darkness and grief, and one that will stay with you forever.

Thanks to NetGallery for the chance to read this advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

It’s London, 1960, and Aoife Kelly—once the sparkling object of young men’s affections—runs pubs with her brusque, barking husband, Cash. Their courtship began in wartime London before they returned to Ireland with their daughters in tow. One of these daughters—fiery, independent-minded Rosaleen—moves back to London, where she meets and begins an affair with the famous sculptor Felix Lehmann, a German-Jewish refugee artist over twice her tender eighteen years. When Rosaleen finds herself pregnant with Felix’s child, she is evicted from her flat, dismissed from her job, and desperate to hide the secret from her family. Where, and to whom, can she turn.

A book so full of sadness, you read it and feel its weight, but there are glimmers of joy and they lift you to a place of hope. Three women also defined by the men they become involved with, each of them restricting in their own way. I felt genuine sadness at some of the plot lines, not just in the wider scope, but the impact it had individually.

This is a first for me by the author and one I enjoyed and would read more of their work. The book cover is eye-catching and appealing and would spark my interest if in a bookshop. Thank you very much to the author, publisher and Netgalley for this ARC.

I Couldn't Love you More tells the story of three women over a large period of time (between 1940 and 1990); three women related by birth: Aoife, Rosaleen and Kate. All three women have a story to tell involving a convent in Ireland that apparently helps women 'in the family way', women that need help and find themselves without means or family to support them. This in many ways was a difficult read, because although fiction, these places existed and it would have been so hard to feel that desperate. As in so many novels, the situation would have been so much easier if family supported each other or asked for help but it highlights the prejudice at the time, the prospects for an unmarried woman.

This is my first Freud novel though I have read good reviews about Hideous Kinky. She writes beautifully but uses words wisely; setting a scene, without over-describing, exploring character emotion effortlessly. I felt more in tune with Rosaleen and Aoife than Kate but they all struggle through issues related to the male figures in their life; time does not change much.

Overall I really enjoyed this novel and will read more of Freud's work in the future.

Thank you to Netgalley and Bloomsbury publishing for my arc of this lovely book.

This is not a new story... generations of women ,moulded by the catholic church and its attitude to marriage and illegitimate babies.
For me,this was definitely one of the better told stories.
I kept telling myself one more page,as I got so invested in the three womens lives.
It was only my kindle dying that had me stop,and by that point it was way past bedtime. Hours past.
Three women also defined by the men they become involved with,each of them restricting in their own way.
I felt genuine sadness at some of the plot lines,not just in the wider scope,but the impact it had individually.

A really really good read.

Beginning in 1930s Ireland, Esther Freud’s I Couldn’t Love You More spans three generations of women, each connected to the other. Aoife leaves the family farm as soon as she can, travelling to London where she becomes a window dresser, only to return with her husband and their three children in tow. Rosaleen follows in her mother’s footsteps, leaving as soon as she can, soon finding herself caught up in an affair with a sculptor she meets in a Soho pub. Felix seems overjoyed when she announces her pregnancy but events take a turn which leaves her alone and desperate. She does what so many Irish Catholic girls did before her and turns to the Church, taken in by nuns at a mother and baby home. In the 1990s, Kate struggles with her husband’s alcoholism, caring for six-year-old Freya while longing to find her birth mother.

Sadly, Freud’s is a tale which is all too familiar but she handles it beautifully, interweaving the three strands of the women’s stories. Rosaleen’s plays out against a background of ‘60s Bohemian London in stark contrast to the draconian rules of the convent she finds herself in. Aoife remains haunted by her disappearance while Kate’s constant sightings of women who could be her mother bring home the pain of not entirely knowing who she is. So much sadness and longing is woven through this story of loss, grief and motherhood but its ending offers the prospect of hope and reconciliation while neatly steering clear of the saccharine.

What a beautiful book. " I couldn't love you more" by Esther Freud is one of those rare books that wants you to enquire what each character is up to. It takes a while to work out how the three different time lines and characters link but that doesn't matter and it keeps you reading.

It's a book mainly about women (although men do feature), and their relationships with each other. Three female protagonists, each with their own struggle and how they overcome it.

‘I Couldn’t Love You More’ is a moving, thoroughly involving account of four generations of women, separated through fear, ignorance and the stranglehold felt from the patriarchy and the Church. We begin very near the end of the story in the summer of 1991 when Kate is taking her daughter Freya on a journey to the Convent of the Sacred Heart outside Cork. She is on a mission to track down her birth mother about whom she knows nothing.
After this Prologue, Freud takes us back to Ilford in 1939. Kate’s grandmother, Aoife, has escaped rural Ireland and meets her husband-to-be Cashel Kelly who persuades her to return to all that she has turned her back on. As a farmer’s wife, it’s clear that Aoife’s main role is to keep her husband fed and watered. However, not all of her daughters are as biddable. Rosaleen, separated from her parents during the war years, yearns for more and, like her mother, heads to London as soon as she leaves school.
Sadly, secretly she’ll creep back to have her baby at the compassionless Sacred Heart a short while later, and yet her own mother will never know. There is a great deal left unspoken in this story and missed opportunities for rifts to mend. The silences emphasise the pain, the loneliness and the emptiness felt across the generations. Esther Freud’s non-linear narrative is extremely effective in allowing the reader to appreciate how decisions made in the past all play their part in affecting future behaviour and beliefs. This is a really memorable story which brings us face to face with cowardly behaviour and institutional corruption, and allows us to celebrate courageous women.
My thanks to NetGalley and Bloomsbury Publishing for a copy of this novel in exchange for a fair review.

A story of family; three generations of women, from WW2 in London, to Ireland in the 60's, to the present day.
Three stories told concurrently; Aoife, Rosaleen and Kate – live in very different times and move in different circles, but they are all irrevocably damaged by a series of events that shape all of their lives.
The hardship of war and the true human cost takes the Kelly family down a path that it will never, truly recover from. A story that spans an ambitious historical and social landscape, encompassing a part of our very recent history, where women were dehumanised and vilified when they found themselves in a situation that was already frightening and utterly life changing. They were cast aside and hidden from ‘decent’ society, treated like dogs in a place that purported to offer sanctuary and by women who were supposed to be of a ‘higher calling’.
A book so full of sadness, you read it and feel its weight, but there are glimmers of joy and they lift you to a place of hope.
Esther Freud’s prose are sparse; you need to have your wits about you, but she is worth the concentration. I felt as if I were in a whirlpool; pulled in a vortex of emotion where every page drew me closer to its centre and closer to the beautifully flawed and damaged women at the core.
This melancholic examination of the relationships between mother and daughter has taken its toll on me; I still feel the heaviness of it, a book well written and a book well received. Thank you

Wonderful. A while since I have read Esther Freud and thoroughly enjoyed this. Stories of three generations of women, all with very different lives but all connected by darkness and secrets.