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<p>I'm a huge fan of historical fiction, but I usually read a lot more war-based novels so <em>Bethlehem </em>by Karen Kelly was a welcome change and being an East Coast girl, Pennsylvania isn't too far so I was intrigued by the steel-boom era this novel was set in.</p>
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<p>The main thread that kept me reading was the interpersonal relationships between the characters - main character Joanna with her husband, and Joanna with her mother-in-law Susannah. The story started off slowly, but was told from Joanna's perspective upon moving her family into her husband's ancestral home and living with her mother-in-law, and from Susannah's point of view when she was a young girl growing up in that same home.</p>
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<p>While I can't say I related much to Joanna, her character annoyed me. Although I understood her sense of loneliness and feelings of abandonment, personally it was hard to relate because in this day and age (or at least for me) I wanted her to speak up and stand up for herself, her feelings and what she wanted instead of just catering to her husband. Of course, I know that was simply the way of life back then, it can still be hard to reconcile. </p>
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<p>Susannah, on the other hand, intrigued me - perhaps also because her story was more developed and began with her as a child so as the reader I could really get a sense of how her life was shaped by the experiences and tragedies she went through as a teenager.</p>
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<p>Overall, Karen Kelly did a terrific job of weaving the two stories together and demonstrating how Joanna and Susannah were able to cross that "in-law" divide and come to understand each other in a sense.</p>
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***This review will be live on my blog July 9th.

This family saga of the Colliers and the Parishes is told on two timelines, through the point of view of two main characters Joanna and Susannah. In 1962 Joanna moves with her husband and children into her Mother-In-Law Susannah's home. This is not at all her idea but she goes along with it at her mostly absent husband Frank's insistence. Susannah is widowed and taking care of her elderly mother on her own. Frank feels this is too much for her and so moves his family into the large sprawling estate. Susannah's point of view takes over from 1918 through the 1920s and covers the story of her family and the family of her husband to be. Joanna's point of view was more straight forward as she dealt with living in someone else's home and the loneliness caused by her husband's frequent absences. Joanna uncovers a bit of mystery during one of these absences that leads to spilling old family secrets. There were times when it was difficult for me to keep all the characters straight, with so many names (and nicknames) to keep track of that in Susannah's timeline I was not always certain which character was part of which family or who was who. I felt that this over complicated things, while in other instances the mystery was too easily figured out.
3.5 stars rounded up to 4

"I've learned a thing or two in my antiquity--chief among them that things are seldom what they seem. Often the person who appears the most...impenetrable...is, in truth, the most fragile."
I'm going to be honest: I requested this one for the cover. I am a sucker for art deco aesthetic and while I don't read a lot of historical fiction these days, I was intrigued. The book wasn't quite what I expected - this was more Women's Fiction to me, and I struggle to connect with these kinds of stories. Looking at the synopsis again now, this is really my bad here.

This one was a slow starter, friends. Kelly has quite a cast of characters spanning two different timelines and the first several chapters are spent acquainting the reader with the family tree and how they are all connected. It took until almost the halfway mark for the plot to really pick up for me, but I liked how Kelly wove the story and I was eager to see how the characters' lives intertwined.

This is a well-written family drama that follows Joanna in the 1960s and her mother-in-law Susanna in the 1920s. Joanna's a mother of two small children and the family recently relocated to her husband's family home in Bethlehem, with Susanna and her grandmother-in-law Hetty still in residence. The pieces come together slowly but when the plot really got going I was in for the long haul!

I enjoyed Kelly's writing style quite a lot and that is primarily what kept me reading. It's a solid debut and one I would recommend to readers who enjoy Women's Fiction. Ultimately this book wasn't the story I was looking for, but I enjoyed reading it.

Many thanks to St. Martins Press for sending me an eARC via Netgalley for my honest review! Quotations are taken from an uncorrected proof and may change in final publication.

This is what I wrote on my Goodreads account (my full thoughts are included in the link below on the Literary Hoarders site)

It was that ending that boosted this one to a 4-star read. All along it was good, but it was hovering between a 3 and a 3.5 to be honest. But it was the ending, the pulling together of the long-held secret and revelations that came about from that secret that brought some tears!

Otherwise, this was a story jam-packed with extraordinary (white) privilege. There was so much inside with the steel tycoons, Arabian horses, Yale crew boys, presidential dinners and lavish debutante parties that it was almost nauseating as it was becoming fairly predictable. But it's that ending....it really boosted this one for me!

There were a couple of characters inside that I wished we'd been given a little more time with - the characters are very good in here - there were just those couple that I would have liked to have heard more about.

I really, really, really hate when I have to leave a review that isn't positive. I know authors put alot of time, effort and money to write books. And for that reason, when I'm asked to review a book I want to give them the good, bad and ugly in the most respectful way I can.

There are a number of issues I had with this book. Its marketed as historical fiction, but it's really more family drama/women's fiction than historical fiction. Secondly it's marketed as "having the writing chops of Ian McEwan". I understand what the publisher is trying to do, but when the writing styles and abilities are this far off, it really does a disservice to the author. You've set really high expectations before I even open the book, and in this case my expectations were not met.

For me the big challenge in this book is keeping all the characters straight. I felt like the author throws all of them at you at one time and just sees which ones stick. They all have similar names or nicknames and it just gets confusing. In addition to trying to keep that straight, keeping the family relationships straight was confusing. I felt like I need to write out a chart. Normally I enjoy books written in alternating time periods. For some reason, this book didn't flow smoothly with this method. It was very choppy and dry and at times I had a hard time following it. This may have worked better writing in chronological order versus the alternating time periods. But even so, the story is very predictable and you can figure out the family "secret" pretty quickly. It's very transparent.

I can see where many would really enjoy this story. - there'sfamily drama and romance, but it just wasn't for me. It was too slow and fell very flat. At any point I could have put the book down and not cared to find out what happens in the end. Neither the story nor the characters were memorable.

Overall, my rating is 2.5 stars. I'm rounded down because I would not recommend this book to others to read.

My thanks to Karen Kelly, St. Martin's Press and Netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book fell a little flat for me. While it is listed as historical fiction, it didn't tell a lot of the history. So it's a cross between women's fiction and historical fiction for me, which is fine. However, it was a little slow and some of the descriptions bogged it down. Also, many characters were introduced and it became a bit hard to follow. The story follows two families that are closely linked. There are dual timelines - one in the 1920's and another in the 1960's.

The stories of Joanna and her mother-in-law, Susannah are similar and come together nicely at the end, but this whole book was just lacking something for me. I'm not sure if it was some kind of suspense or action (there was none of either in this book), or if it just moved kind of slowly. The writing was very good, and I really enjoyed the character of Susannah.

I really enjoyed this book and will keep an eye on Karen Kelly in the future! The story was well plotted and I liked how the dual times added depth and an element of mystery. The characters felt real and engaging and it was overall a clever and involving story. Recommended!

In 1960s Bethlehem Pennsylvania, Joanna moves into her husband’s family estate and comes to grips to living under the watchful eye of her mother-in-law, Susannah. The novel tells both their stories, and we slowly learn that they have much more in common than we thought, and Joanna also comes to that realization, but risks losing a lot along the way.
This book is wonderfully crafted and pulled me right in to their worlds. Each chapter ended with a revelation and I often found myself taking a few minutes before turning the page, just to soak it in. I was reading this as fast as I could, but also trying to savor each moment. I generally don’t read many books of this genre and I’m not sure exactly why this caught my eye, but it was a pleasure to read. Karen Kelly will definitely be on my must-read author list.
Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you St. Martin's Press and Karen Kelly for the ARC through Netgalley.

Really 3 1/2. I enjoyed this book - no doubt. The author takes time to develop the characters although that may explain why it felt a bit slow going for the first quarter of the book. She is exploring two different time frames and I thought those transitions were seamless.

Set in two (three) generations, Joanna and Frank have returned to his wealthy home as he will be working for Bethlehem Steel following his father's and grandfather's footprint. But Joanna is now living in a home with the matriarch (Franks grandmother) and his widowed mother Susannah. We all must admit that would be in the least intimidating. For Joanna, she is becoming flypaper.

It is about love, betrayal and secrets.... a well done love story.

PS - I don't see this as historical fiction. Romance set in a historical setting?

I was completely enraptured by this book, swept away by emotions, in love with its characters. The dual timelines wove together beautifully, each chapter leading to the next seamlessly. This wonderfully moving story of two families whose lives are entwined through friendship and marriage was heartfelt and poignant. I especially loved Susannah and her daughter-in-law Joanna, two women who appear to have very little in common; two complex women whose lives are filled with joys, sorrows, and secrets which reveal their true selves, their desires and their dreams. Bethlehem is brimming with love and family, sacrifice and devotion.

This was a slow-burn for me, but definitely one that kept me interested enough to keep reading. In the beginning, I wasn’t quite sure where the story was going when a young family moved to the husband’s home town and into the mansion where his mother and grandmother reside.

For a young mother, just the thought of living with your mother-in-law and your husband’s grandmother can be daunting. In the beginning, young wife Joanna finds it difficult to settle in and to parent her children without interference. She finds solace walking in a nearby cemetery and browsing through old family photographs while her children play. Because of this, Joanna begins to learn more about the past of her husband’s family.

When an unexpected death happens, things come to a head and Joanna learns the truth about a shocking secret concerning the family’s past. Once revealed, the secret gives Joanna a new perspective about her husband’s family.

Readers who like historical fiction and romance will enjoy this story. Be sure and have the tissues handy!

Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for allowing me to read an advance copy and give my honest review.

I would call this book a sleeper, from the description I did not expect such a haunting, timeless story of secrets, true love and temptations. The story is told in two timeframes, we start out with Joanna, she has recently moved to her husband’s large estate in Bethlehem after the death of his father. They move into his childhood home which is inhabited by his mother and grandmother. Joanna has given up her personal belongings and home to move with her children and husband so he can be closer to the family’s steel business. She is restless, lost and struggling to fit in to this type of lifestyle.
The other timeframe we follow is the life of his mother, nicknamed Sass, her early life adventures and escapades growing up with close friends and family. She was full of life and headstrong. This is the true story of the book, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. At one time, I was wondering where the tale was headed, but the last half of the book picked up and tied up all the loose ends. I didn’t even realize how invested in the story I had become until it all starts coming together. Oh, how a wicked web of lies and deception had been designed.
Touching, the ending was truly touching. I highly recommend this story, well worth my time spent with this family, Frank, Daisy, Joanna, Chap, Kat, Susannah, Doe, Baby Evans and all the others.
Comes in with 5*****’s. I thank St. Martin’s Press and Net Galley for allowing me the privilege of reading this book for my honest review.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for this ARC.

In short, Bethlehem is told in two time frames...early 1920s and early 1960s...about the Collier and Parrish Families, then and now. It’s about secrets kept and how they form the future. In the 60s, Frank and Joanna move to Bethlehem, PA after the death of his father to his family estate. Frank is working long hours, which leaves Joanna with Frank’s grandmother and mother for adult conversation, along with their two children. In the 20s, the Parrish family is elite society, as head of Bethlehem Steel. The Collier Family moves there when the father takes the job of head engineer. The families become best friends, both parents and kids. The past will influence the future.

There are many characters in this book...it took me a while to keep them all straight. The storyline was predictable, but I felt some situations were not fully resolved. The writing is beautiful, the author has an extensive vocabulary which I found somewhat annoying but it did add to the 1920 genteel society. I enjoyed the references to Bethlehem Steel (my father worked for a local steel company that was bought out by Bethlehem Steel), Devon Horse Show and Lehigh University. The story flowed effortlessly between the two eras.

This is a good book for the beach or a lazy weekend.

I love multi-generational historical sagas. Bethlehem by Karen Kelly is a perfect example of the genre. Alternating between a current day (early 1960s) storyline and that of a past generation (40-50 years earlier), the reader meets two very different women whose lives converge around family and scandalous secrets.

Joanna is a young woman from a working class background who marries into a fantastically wealthy Bethlehem Steel family, the Colliers. She and her husband, Frank, have two young children. They have been building a life for themselves when the death of Frank’s father leads to a change. Frank’s work hours with the family business increase astronomically. His mother and grandmother, alone in the ancestral home, need support. Nothing makes more sense than for Joanna and Frank to move into the mansion. Joanna is now a fish-out-of-water. The older Collier women are courteous, but aloof. Joanna feels isolated and bullied into conforming to a lifestyle she doesn’t want. Frank dismisses her complaints as unreasonable. She feels her identity melting away. Her only refuge is, unfortunately, the handsome young caretaker of the family cemetery, a man who seems to be a kindred spirit.

Joanna’s mother-in-law, Susannah Collier, is the most closed-off person Joanna has ever met. She seems to live in her own private world. Grief is understandable, she just lost her husband of many years, but Susannah’s cold shoulder goes beyond grief.

The reader is also cast back in time to Susannah’s childhood and young adulthood. Susannah Parrish, her sister India, and brother Kit, are the children of Bethlehem Steel’s chief engineer, Hollins Parrish. Kit is best friends with Chap Collier (the elder son of Bethlehem Steel’s owner) and close as well to Wyatt Collier (the younger son.) The children play together and get into all manner of mischief. For as long as anyone can remember, Wyatt has been desperately in love with Susannah and India has been infatuated with Chap.

We watch the Parrish and Collier children grow up and we follow Susannah’s successes and disappointments. She and Wyatt are the closest of friends, childhood sweethearts destined for marriage and happily-ever-after. But things don’t always go according to plan.

Meanwhile, in the current-day storyline, as Joanna’s life spirals out of control, the person who reaches out to her is Susannah, the mother-in-law with secrets of her own.

The story is lovely, full of warmth, love, and familial support. While not brimful of historical context, the period details set the scene well. The love stories are complex, realistic, and satisfying. This novel is recommended for fans of emotionally gripping multi-generational fiction.

Historical fiction coupled with a family story and the build up of relationships between adults, especially when it is a joint family. Rather unusual I thought for America.

We have Joanna from a middle class background with her two children moving to Bethlehem with her husband to a home where her in laws live. She has to find a fine balance of keeping her values and especially her parenting ideas intact, in the face of somewhat more lenient attitudes especially since money does not seem to be a problem.

Joanna is fearful that she is no longer a wife or a mother in her own right. That she is losing her identity and her spirit and she wanders away from the marriage dispirited. That is her story of the 1960s. Then we have the story of Susannah her mother in law, reserved and reticent, not really allowing anyone to get too close. There are too many secrets in the family and she is used to burying them deep underground hoping that the scandal will never be revived.

The two time lines were handled well. The two women were different in character, but both were strong women who handled issues head on. It was the women who were the main characters in the story.

The story was very well told and you do want to know how it is going to end.

Karen Kelly presents a story of temptation and forgiveness that alternates between the 1920s and 1962. When Frank Collier’s father dies, he decides to move his wife Joanna and their two children back to Brynmor, the home where he grew up. All of the possessions that reflect Joanna’s personality have been left behind and living with Frank’s mother and grandmother is sometimes uncomfortable.

Passing the local cemetery on a walk with the children, Joanna encounters Doe, a friend of the family. Doe’s grandson Daniel has recently moved in to help with the maintenance of the cemetery. Daniel is sympathetic and willing to listen to Joanna and she finds herself drawn to him.

Frank’s mother Susannah Parrish grew up at Brynmor with her sister India and brother Kit in the 1920s. The Parrish family was close to the Collier family and the two Collier sons, Chap and Wyatt, spent their time with Susannah and her siblings. From their early childhood, Wyatt has been in love with Susannah. As they grow older and Wyatt goes away to college he makes his intentions clear to Susannah, but in his absence she is drawn to someone else. When tragedy strikes, it is Wyatt who is ther for her and offers his support.

Susannah’s past makes her more sympathetic toward Joanna’s situation than she realizes. Her support ultimately helps Joanna see the path that she must take. You watch these two women grow and mature as the story progresses. You are presented with moments of joy as well as sorrow as you feel yourself being drawn into their lives. This is a story that is beautifully written and one that I can highly recommend.

This book surprised me! I went into it expecting simple period fiction, but fell in love with the characters. The book is narrated by Joanna in the 1960's as she settles in to her husband's family home, alongside her mother-in-law and her mother-in-law's mother, in Bethlehem, PA. She is getting to know her new companions and her neighbors and trying to entertain her children in the remote town on her own, feeling neglected by her hard-working husband. I wasn't connecting with her at first, but then the story jumps back to when her mother-in-law was growing up. These chapters contained more drama and intensity. I loved the storyline and the relationships so much more than Joanna and her so called "problems." There are things our parents and grandparents endured and kept secret, revealing their humanity and exposing our preconceived opinions of them. If you're looking for compelling women's fiction, look no further.

While highly unusual, I'm sorry to say that I abandoned the book after 35% read. Characters weren't interesting, and just did not hold my attention.

Bethlehem is a saga about two families during the heydays of Bethlehem Steel. Beginning in 1918 and taking us up,through 1962, the book covers the Colliers, the family of the Chief engineer, and the Parrishes, the family of the president. I will admit to struggling at the beginning with all the various children and trying to keep them straight.

This ranks more as women’s fiction than historical. I expected there to be more about Bethlehem Steel when there is hardly anything. To be honest, the book could take place in any well heeled enclave. The author does a decent job of painting the scene but nothing extraordinary.

The storyline is typical and as expected for women’s fiction. Lots of romance and secrets, deception, drama and sorrow.

My thanks to netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for an advance copy of this book.

Oh, this was gorgeous

I loved the switching beween time periods - 20s and 60s. Well written, hauntingly told story - characters you really care about

I'd not read any Karen Kelly but would absolutely recommend and will be watching out for more

This would make a great book club book and also a fantastic holiday read

My thanks to netgalley for ARC - a complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review - absolutely loved it