This is an extraordinarily accomplished debut from Francesca Jakobi, a profoundly moving, melancholic, perceptive and complex psychological portrait of the self destructive and lonely Gilda, a middle aged German Jewish woman with alcohol issues. She is a twice divorced, desperate, obsessive and troubled mother seeking ways to connect with her son, an unmoving, angry and resentful Reuben, who coldly rebuffs her efforts. Reuben has married a non Jewish woman, Alice, whom he clearly adores and loves, a love that Gilda fails to comprehend as she makes the ill advised decisions to stalk Alice and begin to emulate her. Why does he love Alice, yet reject her, his mother?

There is little to like in the unprepossessing Gilda we initially encounter but Jakobi deploys skill and effortless expertise as she elicits a more positive and sympathetic response from the reader as she reveals the pain and horrors lurking in Gilda's personal history. In a narrative that goes back and forth in time, we learn of Gilda's pre-war years in Germany, her ghastly and awful family who reject her, being sent to a boarding school out of the country and of her father's hand in her marriage to a much older man, Frank, a business associate of his. It is barely surprising that Gilda struggles with the roles of wife and mother, circumstances have dictated that she is ill equipped to fulfil them. She loves her son, Reuben, but has fails to bond with him as she walks out on him when he is a child. It is the humanity and compassion in Alice, with her ability to see beyond the brittle and unsettling facade that Gilda presents to the world, that offers hope.

Jakobi is a naturally gifted writer which she ably demonstrates in this powerful, emotionally heartbreaking and instructive novel into what created the dysfunctional Gilda. This psychological drama serves as a salutary reminder of all those people who might be a difficult presence in our lives and urges us to consider just how they might have ended up as they have. This tale of love, loss, being a mother, mother-child relationships, and family is thoughtful and utterly mesmerising. Jakobi captures the changing position of women through the years with Gilda and Alice. A brilliant read with its humour and unexpected turns. Many thanks to Orion for an ARC.

Don’t judge a person by the first few chapters. This exquisitely written book about maternal love is heart wrenching and tear provoking. I really didn’t like Gilda in the beginning of this book, thinking she was unfeeling and selfish. However as the storyline unfolds I became more empathetic towards her and her very real love for her only son. The characterisation is spot on and the setting in both timelines is immaculate. A very accomplished book and very well deserved 5 stars

I have mixed feelings about this book. It was interesting but I'm not sure it is a book you can enjoy. It is a tragic complicated story about love and betrayal and the impact of poor decisions. And maybe at the very end, there is some hope.

Gilda was German born and sent to the UK to study in 1929. At 18 she is arranged to marry a business contact of her father's, twice her age. She is unable to cope with married life, or the burden of a child, and her decisions lack maturity or thought. She stumbles through life making one bad choice after another, with very little support or guidance from husband, friends or family.

The story felt original and I enjoyed the psychology of Gilda's thoughts and actions. She isn't a likeable character but the writer builds the sympathy angle well. The thing I felt most distracting was the constant back and forward switching between past and present, from paragraph to paragraph. I wasted so much time figuring out where in the story I was.

I found this book very dark and disturbing, and I also loved it, the bitterness seemed to come through the pages while you read them. Excellent book. Highly recommended.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Francesca Jakobi for the copy of this book. I agreed to give my unbiased opinion voluntarily.

Bitter? It left me bruised. This may not be a comfortable read but it is a stunning piece of work.

By and large, this is a book that doesn't really have much going on. It's a look at the fairly mundane life of a lonely woman. Well, mundane with some odd moments that are less than normal. Gilda is twice divorced, and when her beloved son marries she feels even more alone. At times, reading about Gilda is painful. Her actions can be cringeworthy. But they're bit farfetched. We see a woman clinging to hope, wanting to feel loved and welcome. Those feelings are uncomfortably relatable for most of us at times. Gilda has lived with them for most of her life.

As the book progresses we learn more about the past. Chapters take us on flashbacks. We visit her childhood in Germany as her Jewish family feel the growing influence of the Nazis. We watch her growing up, through school in England, her marriages, her divorces. We see it all from her perspective, and that's why I dislike the title. I never felt Gilda was bitter, just damaged. Yes, she could lash out but it was clear that she was hurting. Had this been a story from someone close to her I could believe they felt she was bitter, but as I read I just found myself concerned for her well-being.

Jakobi writes these characters for people-watchers. They have careful flaws and weaknesses. They each carry secrets and baggage. It's rare to find such quantity of that quality, and the author deserves incredible respect and praise for delivering it in a debut novel. It's a deftness that lifts this story to the level it is.

We all know someone like Gilda. Not the same story of course, but we know people who hurt. Many hide it well, a mask shown to the world to protect them from more hurt. Often, we see there mask and go along with their disguise. Maybe we're the close friend who says nothing out of respect, or maybe we play along to avoid dealing with it. This story is a majestic, glorious look at one of those people. It is careful to avoid demonising anyone and treats everyone fairly - even if not always at first glance. It's the hurt of love, and the sacrifices we make, the pain we carry to protect others. And a saddening look at how that hurt can grow. It's a bittersweet read of tragic beauty.

This is a gripping portrayal of a woman consumed by guilt, lack of self-worth and jealousy. The narrative takes us back and forward in time almost seamlessly as we see Gilda, lonely and unloved and without any relationship with her son who has just married and go back to find out her story and why she has found herself in this position. The writing is skilfull, the characters finely drawn, there is a real sense of 1960s London. Although Gilda is clearly unhinged at times we still feel sympathy for her. Motherhood can be hard at the best of times, Gilda has no role model to follow and Reuben is not always a kind person in adulthood. . A great, atmospheric read.

I loved this book. It was one of those that you feel compelled to keep reading even though you don't want it to end. Once I had finished I was really quite sad I hadn't savoured it a bit more. It is so beautifully written and I recommend highly.

Bitter is the story of Gilda, married young, divorced soon after, who walked out on her son Reuben when he was a tender age. Since then, her relationship with him - and with just about everyone else she's been close to - has been difficult. The novel opens with Gilda at Reuben's wedding, seething with resentment, anaesthesising her feelings with whisky, and, at heart, desperate to begin again.
The story follows the first few months after the wedding and Gilda's attempts to claw her way back into the family. She soon becomes stalker and saboteur. We also see her early life and unravel the processes that brought her to this point.
In less skilled hands, Gilda could easily be offputting, too caustic and hopeless, but the novelist has succeeded in making us feel her vulnerability and yearning too. Gilda does some outrageous things but I never found myself questioning whether they were plausible or whether she'd get away with them. Despite the extreme emotional landscape, it never seems overdone or far-fetched, and the more Gilda examines her mistakes, the more we realise how trapped she was by circumstances and history. A memorable and moving read. I look forward to seeing what the author does next.

You know when you’re reading a book and there’s a flawed character who has all the right intentions but goes about everything in completely the wrong way? That’s exactly how I felt about Gilda Meyer, the main character in Bitter. Gilda lives on her own in London near to her newly married and highly ungrateful son Reuben and his wife, Alice. She’s had a hard life, emigrating from Germany as a Jewish refugee during the war and consequently never really fitted in. She is told to marry an older man by her father, who sees the nuptials as a chance to further his business interests and when she falls pregnant Gilda finds herself woefully unprepared for the life of a young mother. Through a series of flashbacks, we explore a complicated mother/son relationship and witness her awkward attempts to right the wrongs of the past.

Bitter is such a complicated emotional tangle of a book – but I loved every second of it. Gilda is a flawed individual and an unreliable narrator (she drinks a lot; we witness her making up fantastical stories to impress her friends) so it’s often left up to the reader to quite literally read between the lines. Gilda’s viewpoint is also tainted by the twin forces of motherly love and mother’s guilt so you’re often able to see the situation far more clearly than she is. I would hazard a guess that she suffered from post-natal depression following Reuben’s birth but Gilda sees the period as evidence of her inability to be a “proper” mother, something that has cast a perpetual shadow over her relationship with her son. Yet even through his diffident and often downright rude treatment of his mother, Gilda’s love for Reuben never wavers. The more Reuben pushes her away, the more Gilda clings to him – her desperate attempts at getting his attention becoming more and more extreme. I spent a lot of my time reading Bitter thinking “Gilda, no!” but at the same time I completely understood why she would behave in that way. As uncomfortable as it was, it made for a very compelling storyline.

I loved the honesty of Bitter and the originality of writing about a toxic relationship from a mother/son dynamic. I thought that the single person point of view worked exceptionally well as from the outside Gilda appears to be a very unsympathetic character; a distant alcoholic who has never been able to bond with her son or show him affection. Her obsession with Reuben’s life and her interfering ways could have turned her into a real villain but I felt like Gilda’s character was so engaging that I was completely on her side. Many of the scenes were incredibly poignant and the writing so subtley nuanced that I was completely engrossed within the narrative from start to finish.

I consistently felt that as Gilda’s behaviour became more extreme that her fragile relationship with Reuben and Alice was liable to come crashing down around her ears so I was on the edge of my seat as I approached the ending. It’s not often that you find out the big final reveal in a book at the same time as the characters so it’s testament to the excellent writing that I didn’t see it coming – but I loved the way that things played out.

Overall, Bitter is a brilliantly written book with a very original premise, well rounded characters and an enthralling storyline. I felt like I had been sucked into the vortex of Gilda’s guilt/love downward spiral and the more desperate she became the more captivated I was – like watching a slow motion car crash, I simply couldn’t look away. Often uncomfortable but thoroughly engaging, I thought that Bitter was a fantastic read.

Rarely have I been so emotionally engaged with a first person narration or changed my allegiance quite so emphatically as her story unfolded. At first it appears that Gilda is reaping what she has sown throughout her first marriage and her son’s childhood. The way she tells it, she consistently failed as a wife and mother, and we should not be surprised that she has ended up alone and (almost) friendless, excluded from her son’s life yet fixated on his happiness with his young wife to the point of stalking her. As I learned of her monstrous parents and her unhappy childhood, though, and the events leading up to her current situation, the more I came to sympathise with her and by the end I would have defended her just as vigorously as her friend Margo. Gilda suffers from rock-bottom self-esteem, bad luck and poor choices but not everyone else’s motives are quite as they seem.

The pacing of the revelations is spot on. I was so wrapped up in the action (skipping back and forth between 1960s London and 1930s Hamburg) that, as slow on the uptake as Gilda, I always failed to notice the hints the author dropped and was surprised when a different slant on events was revealed. Brilliantly done. I thought it finished at just the right point, not too neatly and on a tentatively hopeful note. I do love that in a novel.

I can scarcely believe this is a debut novel, wish the author the massive success she deserves and look forward to seeing what she tackles next.

With thanks to Orion/W&N via NetGalley for the opportunity to read this brilliant book.

À moving thriller leaving you wondering at every page what will come next.
I fully recommend this different novel.

There are a lot of good things in this book. The title is so apt and the "bitterness" is truly evident. The author has captured exactly the fractured nature of the relationships between Gilda, her husbands, son and friend. She portrays this in the fractured nature of the writing which moves from one period to another and looking from the singular but warped points of view. The reader comes slowly to the realisation that most of the action takes place only in the mind of Gilda. However all this is part of what i didn't like about the book i didn't feel involved with the characters or the storyline fully partly because i couldn't find any mitigating factors in Gilda or Reuben in particular.

I would certainly read other books by this author even though this one wasn't my hugest hit

Bitter is a very emotionally written book. It follows the life of Gerda who walked out on her husband and son for another man. Her son never forgives her for divorcing his father as it held a stigma in those days. He was bullied and teased at boarding school and grew to hate his mum.
When he falls in love with Alice and they marry Gerda starts watching and following them everyday. She thought Alice a most unsuitable wife for her son and when she shows her kindness she starts to feel differently about her. It tells the story of how lives are affected by resentment and jealousy. I was gripped from the start and read it in 2 days.

I read a galley proof copy of Bitter courtesy of Net Galley and the publishers, W&N in exchange for an honest review. I can't say I enjoyed this book as it is an uncomfortable tale of a sad, misunderstood middle-aged woman who has been taken advantage of since she was a young girl. But it is easy to read, skips along at a good pace, many chapters so small chunks if that's how you like to read. It does skip back and forth in time and in the copy I read this happened without line or paragraph breaks; the final, published version may be different. But I didn't find it hard to follow. I would recommend it and it's an excellent first novel.

An unusual story of motherhood,marriage ,divorce and life. How we are shaped by events through our childhood and yet can still manage to change and understand with the help of a little kindness.

Bitter is a really interesting and unusual book. Gilda is a woman who feels her relationship with her son is strained. When he marries his new wife she sees a side to him that she didn't know- a warm and loving side. Gilda is consumed by jealousy and obsession. What I particularly liked about this book was that the mother/son relationship isn't something you often see portrayed in books. I found it gripping throughout.

I found this book really engrossing and really well written. Quite a slight plot, it nevertheless totally engaged me. Following the life of Gilda, it slowly reveals what has led to her to this point in her life where she is middle-aged, lonely and bitter. Not particularly likeable, I found myself rooting for her and hoping that she could find her happy ending. I recommend this as a moving and involving novel.

Published on goodreads: Absolutely marvellous. A wonderful, poignant emotional journey and a compulsively readable story. One of the best I have read in many years

Francesca Jakobi has given us a compelling, moving, and, at times, appalling picture of a misunderstood and much maligned woman. The novel begins with a depiction of Gilda’s estranged son’s wedding. During his speech, he turns to his wife, Alice, proclaiming that she has ‘taught him what love could be’. From this we infer that his mother did not. However, Gilda does not have a trouble-free youth herself. Sent to England from Nazi Germany in the 1930s, she grows up feeling unwanted and friendless, with the exception of the ever-loyal and fairly appreciated Margot.
Gilda’s parents arrange her marriage to a much older businessman, Frank, who is kind enough but neither one of them feel more than a luke-warm affection. When Reuben is born it is clear that Gilda suffers from undiagnosed post-natal depression and it is only when she begins working with refugees in WW11 London that she has a fleeting sense of her potential. Always concerned that she is not a good enough mother, her relationship with her son Reuben feels detached and she has so little self-esteem that she slips into the notion that he hates her. Passed between Gilda and her second husband Leo and Frank and his second wife Bertha, it is clear that Reuben learns to blame his mother for all his troubles and resent her for her distant parenting. Unsurprisingly, the middle-aged Gilda who narrates the story is a very unhappy, unfulfilled alcoholic.
One of the real strengths of this novel is the way in which Jakobi uses the first-person narrative. Through her own distinctive voice, Gilda is exposed as a self-pitying, tough, angry, jealous, thoughtless, insensitive woman and yet, over the course of the novel, she is, at the same time, revealed as well-meaning, loving, and desperate for approval. Her daughter-in-law, Alice, whom Gilda initially resents, sees her for who she truly is and gradually the two women begin to appreciate each other. By the end of the novel, tenuous new shoots are growing out of the very fragile plant that is Gilda’s family as she learns to tend it in a more sustainable way. This is a moving and subtle novel which reminds the reader that judging and labelling people neatly, in this case in the roles of victim and perpetrator, is rarely the whole story.
My thanks to NetGalley and Weidenfeld and Nicholson for a copy of this novel in exchange for a fair review.

An enjoyable engaging and enthralling read. Recommended reading makes you question your own parental relationships. Well written intelligent. Definitely recommended.