All the Forgiveness explores a Midwestern family that is burdened with hardship. Since Berdie was nine, she has been forced to care for her siblings due to her emotionally absent mother, Polly, and alcoholic father. We follow Bertie through to adulthood and her marriage as she carries the burden of guilt while she tries to come to terms with the tragedies that have shaped her life.

My Two Cents

Elizabeth Hardinger has written a beautiful historical fiction but a harrowing story that explores family, depression, alcoholism, secrets, loneliness, and forgiveness. These themes usually are ones I love, however, the hardships and sadness that Bertie endures was a bit much for me, making it a difficult read. I wanted to escape from her troubles, not want to pick the book up and struggle to finish reading the story.

This is interesting historical fiction. The reader should know that there are times when it might help to sound things out but the use of dialect adds to the atmospherics. A good read.

Historical fiction told in a lyrical style .Bertie is a strong character. A young woman facing family responsibility. A story that drew me in was sorry to see it end an author to follow.#netgalley#kensiingtonbooks.

We meet fifteen year old Albertina "Bertie" Winslow at the beginning of the twentieth century growing up on the family's hardscrabble farm in rural Kentucky. She has quite a hard life in the early 1900's as she faces loss, neglect, and poverty within her family. She is a complex character who perseveres despite everything stacking up against her. The story spans a couple of decades and takes Bertie from a young child to a young woman. As we tag along with Berties' journey, we view the vivid descriptions of life down home, and the rawness of the Kentucky/Missouri/Kansas patterns of speech and old-fashioned colloquialisms used. The author managed to bring both the stark beauty, reality and fragile hope of a farming family in the early 20th century America to life on the page.

Her story was both heartbreaking and fascinating. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this novel and highly recommend it. What a wonderful debut by Elizabeth Hardinger!

My thanks to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you NetGalley for an ARC. 3.75 ⭐️ for this turn of the century story that’s follows a young girl, forced to care for her siblings as her mother’s mental and eventually physical health deteriorates and her father’s neglect and drinking escalates. We follow Bertie through adulthood and her eventual marriage as she comes to terms with the guilt and tragedies that have marked her young life. This was a good read but the vernacular of the time got to be much for me and I also wished poor Bertie got a break at times. But Bertie is a strong one and you know she’ll persevere especially with her devoted husband at her side.

All the Forgivenesses was just an okay read for me. I am giving it three stars. I would be interested in seeing what else Elizabeth Hardinger will release next.

oved, loved, loved this book granted to me by Netgalley, Kensington Books and the author in exchange for an honest review.

Told in the thick Kentucky accent of the early 1900's, this story is stunning. How the author managed to write an entire manuscript in this dialect is impressive to say the least.
The story is told in the voice of Bertie who we follow from a very young age into her married adult life. Life then was a daily challenge for adults as well as for the young. So much was expected of the children, and the adults, babies never seemed to stop coming.

Bertie is given many responsibilities at a young age, by 9 she is killing chickens to put dinner on the table, responsible for the care of her siblings, hauling water, doing laundry and many other daunting chores. Education, school and playing were not in the plan.

What was most fascinating to me was the way Bertie owned her responsibility and family obligations. She owned them when they weren't even hers to own. The family dynamics and individual personalities made the story feel completely real. Harboring anger, resentment, and jealously among siblings was a daily occurrence.

As family secrets unfold and Bertie is reeling from life's losses, events happen and she finally begins to understand and accept the love and gifts shes been afforded.

Hardinger explores the trials and tribulations of the early 1920's as told through the voice of 15 year old Bertie. Bertie is dealt a hard life. She loses her mother at 15, is left to care for her 2 sisters and 2 twin brothers with a drunk for a father. Her 2 older brothers do what they can, but they are also trying to make a life for themselves. Bertie marries young, and eventually ends up in the oil fields of Kansas.

While this novel definitely imparts upon the reader the hardships of living during this time, and the many responsibilities women, even young girls were expected to just live with, it's also a story of family loyalty and love. Bertie and her husband do love each other and their family. They do the best they can with what they got.

Written in the vernacular of the time, which would normally drive me a little crazy, it totally worked. It was a beautiful story, I couldn't put it down. You can't help but admire Bertie. Reminiscent a little of "Christy" or "The 12 mile straight" by Eleanor Henderson, it's a must read. Thank you to NetGalley for providing an ARC for review.

Thanks to netgally and the publisher for a chance to review this book.


Fifteen-year-old Albertina “Bertie” Winslow has to be one of the strongest characters in fiction. A poor child who lives in a time when women and children were used and abused at will, Bertie is determined to make the best of life for her and the young siblings she has to raise. 5 stars highly recommended.

What a gem of a story, this is a beautifully written book! This will go down as one of the best books I’ve read this year, it has all you can ask for, love, loss, heartache, hope, faith and a great storyline. I laughed, cried, and felt so many emotions, you will also fall in love with Bertie, Sam, Opal and all the others. I had a hard time putting this one down once I got started. The writing is superb, the research is excellent, the character development is well done, and what a great story of country life in the early 1900’s.
I so enjoyed this from start to finish. Bertie’s life was filled with strife, hard work and so many challenges, but she went against all odds and made the best of it. I loved the way the story was told by her, and the descriptions of the countryside, the tarpaper houses, learning to drive, traveling in the wagon, all of it was done with poetic prose. Bertie had no idea how truly special she was. What a great story!!!
This one comes in with a high 5*****s. I thank Kensington Books and Net Galley for allowing me the opportunity of reading this book for my honest review

Oh, I loved this! And I’m so sad it ended. Bertie! I would very happily read a full Little House in the Prairie-length series about Bertie and her life.

Bertie is so hard on herself and has a hardscrabble farming life in the early twentieth century Midwest, and she broke my heart constantly by feeling like she didn’t deserve happiness and by never realizing the valuable sacrifices she made for her family.

Hardinger offers up so many crisp and varied details of the time, she captures Bertie’s speech patterns so fully, and, most importantly, she transports the reader into the gruff but hopeful mindset of a young woman forced to grow up too quickly and who must for years push away any hopes for something easier or full of joy. And all of this is set against the backdrop of her endless daily and bone-wearying tasks of plucking chickens, caring for siblings, carting water, and all the rest. When the promise of a better life started to glimmer at the edges of her vision, I almost cheered.

I was given a copy of this book by Kensington Books and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

'As we know, forgiveness of oneself is the hardest of all the forgivenesses' - Joan Baez.

This book was just perfection.Set in Kentucky and Missouri, All the Forgivenesses is a beautiful story of family, of loss, of shame and ultimately of forgiveness.It is 1906 and Bertie is six and a half when we first meet her. She's tasked with looking after her younger brother Timmy who she adores. After a day of feasting, her and her extended family take a siesta only to find that Timmy, who is three, has awoken, wandered off and tragically died.

Here begins Bertie's story of shame and guilt which she continues to carry with her for the rest of her life. She has four younger siblings and a mother too exhausted and broken to carry on living. Her father is a drunk and a wastrel who she comes to despise. She has no choice but to step up and do her all to keep her family together. She meets Sam who she marries at 16, and he turns out to be a truly good man, taking on and loving her younger siblings like they were his own. Tragedy strikes again as Sam and Bertie's first child dies and she goes on to miscarry time and time again. Life doesn't feel worth living, Bertie is empty of emotion. After being estranged from her younger sister Dacia for six years, Bertie's salvation arrives in the form of Dacia's three children who are sent to Bertie and Sam with a note. They are in bad shape and to see them blossom with the love and care bestowed upon them was my favourite part of this wonderful book. The ending is sublime, but I'm not going to spoil it for anyone. Truly wonderful, I adored every single word.

All the Forgiveness is told in the voice of Bertie, a teenage girl from the south in the early 1900’s. Hardinger does a remarkable job catching the feelings and reactions of a young woman going through tremendous hardship over and over again. Hardinger also does an incredible job capturing the love of family, responsibility, mothering and creating kinship without blood. The book has a very Where the Crawdads Sing vibe, but being based off of the author’s family puts it into a tone less of mystery and more of contemporary fiction. Some that don’t love character driven novels may find it a little slow, but I found it incredibly engaging. My only criticism is finding the uneducated talking voice to be a bit kitschy. Great from start to finish.

I loved All the Forgivenesses by Elizabeth Hardinger. Inspired by the author's mother and female relatives, this is the story of Bertie who becomes mother to her younger siblings. She married at a young age to provide for her family. Hardinger did a great job describing Bertie's hardscrabble life, dysfunctional parents, as well as Bertie's dialect. I could not wait to get back to the story each day to find out what happened next. A big thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for providing the pre-published copy in exchange for my review.

As I read the last few words of this beautiful novel I am saddened by it being finished. Choose to savor the language of All The Forgivenesses. For its rich in unconditional love and grace. I regret not having highlighted passages throughout the book but look forward to relishing it again and again.

I received this from Netgalley.com for a review.

This story is told by Bertie. At 15, she is forced to take over full care of her younger siblings and the household. Bertie marries young, grateful to find a husband willing to take on the care of her sisters. As time moves on, Bertie comes to better understand herself only by confronting wrenching truths. She open herself to joy and learns how to not only give, but receive love.

Great story, well told. Spoken in language and vernacular of the time period, Bertie's voice is realistic throughout the book as she grows from a child into an adult.

4.25☆

This sample definitely makes me want to read the book when it becomes available. I could have done without the pig butchering detail but I realize it adds to the everyday harsh realities that Bertie was accustomed to. Overall, I think the excerpt does its job which is to demonstrate that it is a difficult and “unforgiving” world that Bertie lives in. I think it shows promise and would definitely be interested in reading the full ARC.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with this preview.

I can't wait for ALL THE FORGIVENESS to be released with a full galley. The excerpt was phenomenal! Being 27 years old born and raised in the South, I've always found myself interested in history. One of the best ways to learn is to immerse yourself in a story like this that takes you back to that time. Bertie suddenly finds herself having to be an adult at fifteen taking care of her siblings. A common trend in this era I've noticed is that you had to grow up quickly. I can't wait to be able to read the full novel.