If you like generational stories, you will enjoy Five Oaks. Julie Hensley did a great job in crafting a wonderful book.

Woman’s strength, woman’s survival and woman working together to create a beautiful story. I absolutely adored this book! Loved every page.

this is the story of three women, spanning several decades, set in the Arkansas mountains. enjoyed the all-girl characters..

This book was really just okay. I enjoyed reading the stories of the three generations of women, I just felt there was a little too much description at times. I also felt that I too quickly forgot who was who - maybe I'm the problem there and not the book, I can't decide. However what I really did not like were the depictions of abuse of fish and other animals, and did we really need to read about a trip to a slaughterhouse? That just felt totally unnecessary and added absolutely nothing to the story.

Thank you to the publisher for a copy of this book in return for an honest review.

I love a book with a (largely) all-female cast, so I was super excited to be able to download an ARC copy of Five Oaks on Netgalley through Lake Union Publishing.

First, and perhaps most important, I need to give Julie Hensley her flowers for her beautiful prose! This was such a lyrical read; the pages flowed over me so smoothly at times it felt like I was the one rocking in a water-side hammock.

Any sort of sibling bond exploration will always get kudos from me, and this was no exception. I loved the ebb and rise of Sylvie and Wren’s relationship as they tackled growing up female and all the hard things that come along with that.

The only true downside in my opinion was how disjointed the story felt as whole since we are always flipping back and forth between 3 timelines. This could just be a me thing! Maybe I don’t read enough books that are structured this way to fully appreciate it.

Otherwise, I found this to be an engaging, moving read about a family through the warped lens of time.

(This last paragraph may be considered a mild to moderate spoiler. But it involves a trigger warning that I think maybe should be applied to this book before release.)

Lastly, something that ended up bothering me a bit more than i realized until I sat down to write this review, is the sexual assault of an underage character…and the sex act that takes place between two minors that ends with one of them throwing up. While this maybe didn’t come completely out of left field, it was jarring to me. Almost triggering. There was also a r*pe kit being performed. None of these scenes are graphic at all, but the implications and suggestions were enough to turn my stomach a bit.

I would just suggest treading lightly with this one if you know these are themes/situations you struggle with.

I don’t really have strong feelings about this story one way or another. The writing is absolutely beautiful, and the author paints a picture of times very long ago and not so long ago as the story transports the reader across multiple timelines. The characters are compelling as well. However, I found it difficult to keep track of the different characters in each timeline. And I kept waiting for something “big” to happen but it never materialized for me. A lot of potential but not fully developed for me.

This book focused on several generations of a family. The stories felt incomplete at the end. Parts of the story held my interest and other parts were slow.

3 stars
This is a coming of age story, spanning over several generations. Our cast of characters is 11 year old Sylvie, her older sister Wren, their mother Margret and their grandmother Georgia. We learn Georgia and Margaret’s story as well as Wren and Sylvie’s.

This book did drag a bit, sometimes it would pick up the pace and flow well and other times it felt like I was going to be stuck on the same chapter forever.
I thought this book ended wonderfully though, with all four women ( grown up Sylvie and Wren) together at a crucial moment in each of their lives!

This was a good read. I do wish the ending had gone a little deeper into each of the stories and maybe tied the three timelines together a little bit more.

‘In the Arkansas mountains, three generations of fiercely determined young women are poised for self-discovery in a decades-spanning novel about the bonds of family and secrets.
The halcyon days in the Ouachita Mountains are not what they appear. When the truth comes to light—about mothers, daughters, and sisters—no one in the family will ever be the same.’

Five Oaks, told from a singular point of view and alternating timelines, unfurled in such a languorous way in its depiction of generational history.
The words strung together to form sentences, paragraphs, a novel, were intricate and balm-like and purposeful. I sincerely appreciated Hensley’s style of storytelling very much and look forward to reading more of it. My only complaint is I was left a little wanting at the end, still looking for answers to these questions that linger.
No doubt about her talent though. She’s got it in spades.
 
Thank you NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for this arc in exchange for review.
 
Pub date: 5.27.2025.