Loved this book and wallowed in the brilliant use of different time lines which really was handled well. Lots of well developed characters each with their own story and their inter-dependent plots too. I think I’ve read that the author has written short stories before this and that does make sense as there are numerous fascinating short stories making this book a fabulous read.

This is such a beautiful and emotional read, I instantly fell in love with the characters, well not Sonny 🤬.

The relationships (positive and negatives) between the characters were both endearing and frustrating, I was constantly battling with wanting to either hug or slap them.

The different timelines really demonstrated the growth of the characters, especially Marnie 🥰, her and Alice showed perfectly that ‘parents’ aren’t always the nurturers and stability that children need.

If you are looking for a book which will grab you emotionally and enable you to experience different timelines/POVs, add this to your TBR.

1993, New England. Marnie, a young addict, anxiously waits in a get-away car for her drug dealer boyfriend to hold-up a pharmacy.

1940, Spithandle, England. Teenager Alice experiences first love, but in the uncertain times of war, the future that awaits her is one she could never have imagined.

In a sweeping novel that covers six decades, Susan Buttenweiser tells the tangled stories of grandmother Alice and her granddaughter Marnie, taking you on a journey filled with tragedy, loss and heartbreak, but also of fierce love. 

The novel unfurls in multiple timelines, weaving between vignettes of Alice and Marnie's lives, and of the tempestuous relationship of Alice's son/Marnie's father, Sonny, and Marnie's mother, Denise. At first, the chapters feel very much like linked pieces that fit together via common themes (perhaps hinting that Buttenwieser has previously concentrated on short stories), and it takes a little while to sense the shape of her writing, but there is a compelling flow to it that gradually emerges, enhanced by a recurring motif of the pull of the sea. Different narrative styles are used well too, flipping between nostalgic remembrances and cutting scenes that anchor you in time and place. 

Beginning with the tense scene where Marnie sits waiting in a car for the man who has brought her to rock bottom, Buttenwieser's prose lays bare the hard knocks life has visited on this family, and for a book that is under 300 pages, she covers a lot of ground. Alice was my favourite character. Her wartime coming-of-age tale slowly unravels with of the pain of first love, tragic partings, and the upheaval that set her on a path to a new life in America. There is a hazy quality to the parts of Alice's story set in England, but once Buttenwieser moves her across the Atlantic, you really feel the immediacy of the troubles of her adult life and her yearnings for connection. In stark contrast, the sections of the story about Sonny and Denise's relationship are as as gritty as they come straight out of the gate, holding nothing back in terms of the drama of marital strife, domestic violence, and addiction. Somewhere in-between lies Marnie, constantly torn between warm childhood memories, and the harsh realities of a life in freefall.

The themes of trauma give you a repeated battering, and there are lots of tear-jerking lows, but there is warmth here too. Golden moments of friendship and support of wider family shine through, and the bond that Alice and Marnie share is lovely. Alice's strength in trying to off-set the toll of the family dysfunction that has echoed down the generations is very powerful too.

This is an impressive first novel. It takes a toll on your emotions, but leaves you in a heart-warming place where the hopeful shoots of healing promise better things to come. Just what I want in a sensitively written family drama.

What a heartbreaking story! It made me sad, it made me cry and it made me angry. Never angry at Alice, whose life was changed forever when she was evacuated during the second world war, or at Marnie whose drug habit and desperation are what open the story. But mainly at Denise, married to Alice’s dreadful son Sonny, whose behaviour is so awful I wanted to scream at her.

Her drinking and irresponsibility result in Alice becoming Marnie’s main carer. Some of the things that Sonny and Denise do without giving a thought to Marnie make you want to cry out in horror. There is a chapter when it’s Marnie’s birthday and she is having a sleepover. Denise promises to be there but after getting drunk and going off with some man she just met, she turns up plastered and causes a scene in front of all Marnie’s friends. My heart went out to poor little Marnie.

But Marnie always has the love of her grandmother to hold on to and no-one could love her more than Alice. So what has gone wrong when we first see her shooting up and selling drugs? And who is Jimmy. her ‘boyfriend’ and dealer?

But I think what upset me most was the lack of light in the darkness, the lack of hope in the desert of despair. It just kept going from bad to worse, and I prayed that it would change for Marnie at least. Even one of the more minor characters hits rock bottom at one point after his wife dies of cancer.

Yet it’s a brilliant book, especially as it’s a debut, but I really needed a break from all the sadness every now and again.

Many thanks to @Tr4cyF3nt0n for inviting me to be part of the #CompulsiveReaders #blogtour and to NetGalley for an ARC.

A bright, hopeful and powerful novel. This book was written in an easily accessible way that was quick to read and absorb. I wish there was more backstory on Alice, and I wanted the book to go a little deeper into everything. It feels like it skimmed the surface with most of the relationships, and I also wanted to know more about Denise. But still, an enjoyable novel with clear messages of hope and love.

Susan Butterweiser’s debut begins with Alice, a British woman, who arrives in America, alone, in 1942, aged sixteen, before taking up the story of her granddaughter, Marnie, living out of her car and running drugs with her boyfriend in the 1990s.
Alice’s son grows into one of those boys who are perpetually in trouble, a violent drunk, none of which changes when he becomes a father after a one-night stand. Alice takes in Marnie’s mother after a particularly severe beating, devoting herself to raising her granddaughter who she adores and who adores her. Her grandmother’s death is a hammer blow to Marnie who loses her way, seemingly following in her father’s footsteps.
Butterweiser’s novel tells Alice and Marnie’s stories through several timelines beginning in 1940, flitting back and forth, a style which felt uncomfortably disjointed to begin with. The narrative settles down into a series of vivid yearly episodes unfolding Marnie’s life and the difficulties posed by her chaotic parents. Alice and Marnie are both engaging characters, the bond between them touchingly depicted. Alice does her best to provide Marnie with the security a young child needs, conscious of her own struggles as a lone parent. I enjoyed Butterwieser’s novel, unjudgmental in its portrayal of parental dysfunction while quietly underlining the importance of family and stability.