Love Untold is a story about family, female love and forgiveness that encompasses four generations emotionally and insightfully. Whilst there are many heartbreakingly poignant moments in this family drama, the humour also defines it. Grace is almost ninety, well-liked, loving but still grieving for the daughter she lost. Elin is Grace's granddaughter, but she thinks of her as a mother. Becca loves her great grandma and has never known her grandmother. As her ninetieth birthday approaches, Grace, desperate to heal the rift with her daughter, decides to contact her, aware of the fallout that will ensue.

Immersive and character-driven, this is an addictive read. You quickly warm to the beautifully flawed characters, and what happens to them matters. I enjoyed the believable family dynamic, the characters' vibrancy, and the eloquently poignant conclusion.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher.

would like to thank netgalley and the publishers for letting me read this emotionally charged book

oh my goodness where to start with this one

grace the matriarch of the family is about to turn 90 and doesnt want a party
elin her granddaughter is planning a surprise birthday party for her
beca, graces great granddaughter is just about to finish her gcses and is about to start her life journey after school

life is good life is stable but all grace wants is to see her daughter alys, who she hasnt seen for 30 years...

oh my goodness me what a rollercoaster of emotions with this one... i was crying at the end of this book, what a journey and the surprises just kept coming and coming with this one...

it just shows you how we all assume things about each generation and how wrong we are

cant praise this book enough or the author who has managed to write a book with so much understanding of families and emotions and the era that some of it has been set in...

A lovely warm, well written book about love in all its many forms. The author manages to portray a 4 generation family of women without making them caricatures in anyway and allowing this reader to laugh and cry along with them. I did find the divorce lawyer a bit unbelievable, but a very minor quibble!
thank you to netgalley and transworld publishers for an advance copy of this book

I received this ARC from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This story of 4 generations of women in the same family moved me so much and brought me to tears at some points, it’s written so beautifully that once you read the first page you don’t want to stop.

I could see members of my own family reflected in the characters in this story and that just made it even more poignant for me.

Grace, Elin, Beca and Alys are all strong, complex, fierce women who are just as complex as everyone else who is reading this book and I enjoyed each individual story all the way through the book, the added humour sprinkled on top was just perfect.

This book is an absolute triumph and I didn’t want it to end.

Four women, four generations of Meredith women, decades of lies, half-truths, and silence.

Grace Meredith is eighty-nine years old. Widowed in her thirties, left to bring up a teenage daughter, Alys, she ran a boarding house with her friends John, and his sister Cassie for years until Cassie and John's ill-health forced them to move to a home where she visits them every day. Despite her age Grace swims daily, either in the hideous swimming pool in her garden or wild swimming in the sea, and does yoga several times a week.

Thirty years ago Alys and Grace had an almighty row and Alys disappeared, never heard of again. But Grace has recently received a postcard with a picture of Welsh hills on the front, painted by Alys Meredith. Is she strong enough to reach out to her wayward daughter, now seventy years old, and heal the rift? But what will her fifty-one year old grand-daughter Elin think about it? Elin has told everyone that her mother is dead, including her own daughter Beca. A respected head teacher at the local school, Elin couldn't bear anyone to find out the truth about her mother. Elin is busy organising a surprise birthday party for Grace and as usual it has got completely out-of-hand, exasperating both her husband Greg and Beca.

Finally, Beca, sixteen years old, artistic and musical but not good at lessons, constantly at odds with perfectionist Elin who sees education as a gateway to the world, she knows she is about to fail all her GCSEs and disappoint her mother, again.

Everyone thinks they know the truth, but they are all keeping secrets, will Grace's party be a joyous reunion or a day of tears and recriminations?

Told from each woman's point of view this novel criss-crosses backwards and forwards in time, stopping on key events in their lives. This was funny, sad, engaging and thoroughly enjoyable. Truly a cwtch.

I received an ARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

A wonderful read. A very true depiction of relationships between mothers and daughters. Beautiful, poignant and with lovely characters.

Another great 5 star book from Ruth Jones. Based in Wales the story is off different female generations of the Meredith family. Grace is almost 90 with a daughter, granddaughter and great granddaughter but life hasn’t always been kind to them individually and as a family. A great read, great characters and easy length chapters. I laughed on occasions as I could hear Nessa from Gavin and Stacey speaking!!
Thanks to Ruth and her publisher. Also thanks to NetGalley.

We follow four generations of a family throughout a period of time. Grace wants to reconnect her family and make amends but it isn't that simple.

This book was so heart-warming but also so heartbreaking. At times, it did feel a little bit slow but it all seemed to make sense to the plot line.

The ending was heartbreaking and I was not at all prepared for it. I hardly cry at books but this really did get me choked up and I loved how it all played out.

I rated this 3.5 stars.

This book was absolutely brilliant! Having never read any of Ruth Jones' novels previously I was really excited when I was given the chance to read this via netgalley. An absolutely excellent book, written through the eyes of four generations of the same family. Each family member are fighting their own battles with relationships, friendships and family life, and the way that each characters story intertwines through this book is amazing. An emotional novel that was easy to read and flowed so easily with each of the different character! Highly recommended; many thanks to @netgalley and @ruthjones for the opportunity to read this brilliant book, and I will be definitely reading more by Ruth in the future!

This beautiful, multi-generation story examines the lives and loves of four women, played out against the backdrop of a planned surprise party. About to turn ninety, Grace is aware that time is running out if she is to repair the rift in her family. Estranged for thirty years from her daughter, Alys, Grace has raised her granddaughter Elin and Great Granddaughter Becca.
Grace was widowed at a young age and, with her daughter, relocated into the home of her friends, brother and sister, John and Cissie. The subsequent years saw her relationship with Alys deteriorate dramatically, leading to full estrangement when granddaughter Elin was a young teen. The present day sees Elin wrestling a career as a headmistress with the challenges of an unacademic daughter. When Elin learns that her husband is leaving her for a younger woman, her life begins to spiral out of control.
This incredible story is packed with some of the most fabulous characters imaginable. Seeing Becca flourish as her friendship with free-spirited Soozi developed was beautiful. Beca’s story was an absolute joy to follow; her initial awkwardness transformed into a remarkable strength of character which saw her support the amazing women in her life.
My favourite character was definitely Grace. As the chapters fell away, I began to understand how much of herself she had sacrificed to support her family and friends. Her relationship with John was rather special, yet I felt saddened that the story picked up too late to learn more about Cissie.
The cast is beautifully developed and perfectly characterised. I could honestly imagine Grace striding into the sea for her bi-weekly wild swim. Equally, the images of Alys, discovering her lowest points were gritty without being depressing. I felt waves of sadness when I imagined how desperate she must have been to surrender access to her child.
Ruth Jones creates characters whose stories are just bursting to be told. I found myself turning pages into the wee small hours as I couldn’t bear to miss what would happen next. As the story swaps from one character to the next, the overall picture gently forms, leading to a quite spectacular conclusion with a most satisfying finale.
Straight into my top ten of the year!

I've red Ruth's previous 2 books and really enjoyed them so had high hopes for Love Untold. The verdict? It absolutely blew me away. Definitely her best and my favourite out of the 3.
Love Untold is a beautifully written and poignant read that sparked so many emotions it's hard to know where to begin with my review.
Told in various characters viewpoints and over different timelines it could have been confusing but the writing is so superb it just flowed naturally between the different points of view and various years.
I adored the family saga element and loved the characterisation that develops throughout the book. Beca was definitely my favourite character alongside her Great Grama Grace.
I absolutely flew through this one and finished it within 2 days.
The ending is where it really got me though. Part of it I was expecting but it also really took me by surprise and I don't mind telling you I was a complete sobbing wreck by the time I turned the final page. I feel writing that is so powerful that it provokes such strong emotions has to be applauded.
Simply incredible.

Love Untold is a story of four generations of women and how their relationships with each other have impacted and directed their lives. I really enjoyed getting to know each character and the development of the story. I also really loved the setting of Wales and the extra reference to welsh language and culture.
I found it a little bit slow to start but then was gripped and found myself not able to put it down. Despite predicting the big twist fairly early on it was an enjoyable and heartfelt novel that really emphasised the importance of second chances and mending relationships.
Really enjoyed this book by Ruth Jones and I look forward to reading her other books as well.

I was approached by Transworld publishers and asked if I would like to read a review Untold Love by Ruth jones and knowing how much I enjoyed us three and never Greener I jumped at the chance.

Untold love is similar to us three in that it jumps between characters viewpoints, each chapter is from one of the characters perspectives, it flows wonderfully, right from the word go you understand how each character feels, you get drawn in to their family and feel this pull to keep reading to find out what is going to happen.

It's a very easy read, at first, I was unsure where it was going to take me but, as the story unfolded, I stopped trying to second guess what was going to happen and just followed the family’s life. With every word you read, you felt all the love and hate that was being thrown around, I was drawn in and felt as if I was a part of it. This book oozes love, hate, forgiveness and loss, a real mixture of emotions, it just constantly keeps you wanting more.

My one criticism of this book would have to be when Welsh dialect is used in places. I absolutely loved that it was used as it was all in keeping with the characters but, I had no idea at times what it meant and had to look it up to translate it. Maybe a page at the back/front with translation would be useful.
Ruth Jones is definitely an author I will be keeping an eye out for in the future.

Thank you netgalley and Random House UK, Transworld Publishers for giving me the opportunity to read and review Untold love by Ruth Jones.

This is a difficult book to review for me, it doesn’t really slot into any particular genre. It’s a book about the women in a family, Grace, the matriarch who is approaching her ninetieth birthday, her black sheep daughter Alys, her headmistress (in more than just job title) granddaughter Elin, and her great-granddaughter Beca and Grace’s two friends from childhood, John & Cissie.
It tells the story of their lives and each of them narrate parts of it.

I can’t say I didn’t enjoy it but I can’t say I was enthralled either - it was just a nice story. In a sense I kept waiting for something to happen. Yes, there’s a twist at the end and no didn’t guess it.

Thanks to Ruth Jones, the publishers and to NetGalley for an advanced e.copy of this book. The opinions in the review are entirely my own.

Love Untold tells the story of four generations of women in a family, all grappling individually with some big issues.

Grace is approaching her 90th birthday and is super fit for her age, but  is coming to terms with the decline in health of her husband John and his sister Cissie.

Her estranged daughter Alys has been sober for 30 years but as she gets into her 70s her rootless existence is becoming more of a struggle and she starts to regret losing the bond with her family.

Alys' daughter Elin was brought up by her grandmother and has had a successful career as the headteacher of the local secondary school. However, her marriage to Greg has broken down and she discovers he is having an affair with the younger, hippy, yoga loving, vegan  Fleur.

Elin's daughter Grace has just finished taking her GCSEs, but is dreading the results as she is not naturally academic and worries about disappointing her mum. All she really wants to do is play piano and when she meets the gregarious singer Soozie, her passion is ignited, in more than one way!

Ruth Jones' writing style is humourous and frank and I really enjoyed this one! I love all the references to the Welsh language and culture and it was fun to look some of these up. The main four characters were very likeable, but i particularly warmed to 90 year Grace!

A complex family saga told with warmth, humour and great skill by Ruth Jones, and unsurprisingly, it is delightfully Welsh in both its settings and characters. Gavin and Stacey fans will recognise many of the catchphrases and observations I can now appreciate were Ruth's influence.

In Love Untold, we meet four generations of the same family, the mothers and daughters. Grace is approaching her 90th birthday. Her daughter, Alys, disappeared 30 years earlier, leaving Grace to raise her granddaughter Elin, who is now in her 50s and mother to her own daughter, Beca. Elin and Beca believe Alys is dead (in Elin's case, she definitely wants to believe that), but Grace has reason to believe Alys is very much alive. Perhaps, with such a milestone birthday approaching, it's time to find out? Time is, after all, not on Grace's side. But each of their lives is about to implode spectacularly, even before Alys reappears.

This novel is about a lot of things - prejudice, fear, trauma, misunderstandings, addiction, secrets and resentment, and the terrible things that happen when all of those things collide. But ultimately it's about love, forgiveness and courage - the courage to love who you love, the courage to be yourself, and the courage to own your mistakes and choices, and make amends for the past.

An absorbing and compelling read that I thoroughly enjoyed.

Thanks to Netgalley, the author and the publisher for an ARC.

Absolutely loved this book from start to finish. The characters are well written and the family dynamic is really strong between Grace the matriarch. Alys her daughter and her daughter and Granddaughter. Grace and Alys have been estranged for decades mainly because of misunderstandings, not helped by Alys's alcohol problems. As Grace approaches her 90th birthday, major events occur which rock the lives of the whole family..

This is another surefire winner from Ruth Jones and well worth reading.

It took a while for me to get into Love Untold, I think maybe because of the alternative perspective chapters and the scene setting being a little slow. However once the characters were established I finished it very quickly. It was great to read from the viewpoints of the women from four generations of the family, with their own secrets and reasons for behaving the way that they do. It made a lovely change from the crime thrillers that I’ve been reading more recently, and I really like Ruth Jones’ writing style. Overall I would recommend for anyone looking for a heartwarming read.

The story follows four women from four different generations. It explores relationships with mothers and daughters, grandmothers and granddaughters and great grandmothers and great granddaughters.

I loved the previous two books Ruth Jones has written and found them to be a guilty pleasure of mine! Unfortunately I did not feel the same about this book. I found the story line unoriginal, dull and predictable.

I absolutely loved this latest from Ruth Jones. A wonderful insight into a possiby
perceived dysfunctional multi generational family, and so wonderfully Welsh!!
Grace is approaching her 90th birthday, she is still remarkably fit, practicing yoga and going wild swimming in the sea all year long, in her beloved West Wales. Her head teacher granddaughter Elin is planning a special surprise birthday party for her, much to the stress of her family near Cardiff. As we meet and get to know the family and friends, the past and present unfolds and erupts. No spoilers!!!
There is always love at the core to this story which is wonderful and heart warming. The knowledge around the issue of alcoholism is spot on, it doesn't mask or play it down. How the generations have reacted to life and love between 1950 and the present is also spot on. Made me feel so grateful to know this time of understanding and freedom....yet we still have a way to go.
A fabulous book of family love and strife....what we all may go through or experience. Love how we are gently reminded of how we can be seen or judged, and what our fears may be. I got alot out if this book, and has left me thinking!!!!
Thank you Random House and NetGalley for the early read. Just brilliant!!