Florence Adler Swims Forever tells the story of the death of a daughter and her parents’ decisions meant to protect their remaining daughter. While the novel was very well written and engaging, I think the author could have separated the main plot from the subplot into two separate novels in order to further develop both stories. The reader didn’t get to see the impact of the parents decisions.

A champion swimmer dies in a freak accident. Her grieving family conspires to keep the news from her sister, who is hospitalized with an at-risk pregnancy. As the weeks go by without word from her sister, the expectant mother becomes more and more concerned and offended, especially since the sisters fought the last time they talked.

This primary plot is the strongest in the book, with the most developed characters. It is loosely based on a story from the author's family. Unfortunately, there are many subplots, with many subsidiary, less-developed characters, which detract from the primary storyline. So much time is spent on the subplots that the primary plot resolves in a rush, almost off-page.

Still an enjoyable, thought-provoking exploration of the deceptions and sacrifices that underlie relationships.

Many thanks to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review..

Florence Adler Swims Forever is an enthralling tale of heartbreak, love, and doing what you have to do to survive. Set in the 1930s, the backdrop of Hitler’s rule set a tone that continues through the whole story. You see parallels of what families in America were going through, while having insight of what was going on in Germany. You learn about the sacrifices you have to make for you family and sacrifices that you have to make to survive. Thank you so much to the publisher for giving me the chance to read this, this is a story that will stay with me.

Florence Adler Seins Forever is a story about family and how they aren't always blood relations.

This historical fiction book focuses on Florence's family and her closest friends and the issues they face in 1934. This book is about family and how they deal with secrets and hardships. Will they be able to stick together or come apart?

Florence Adler Swims Forever is a historical fiction novel, written in reference to family members of the author. This is a story of family, both by blood and by choice, and the lengths they will go to do what they perceive is best. It was an interesting story and the author's note at the end explaining the real versus the fiction parts is appreciated. I received a complimentary copy of this book from NetGalley and the publisher. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

I want to thank NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for giving me the chance to read an early copy of Rachel Beanland’s debut novel, Florence Adler Swims Forever, which is scheduled to publish July 7, 2020. It takes place in the early 1900’s.
Since I grew up in New Jersey and got to visit Atlantic City, this family drama had my attention immediately. The author tells the reader that her inspiration for this story comes from a real tragedy.. There really was a Florence, a great great aunt, who dreamed of swimming the English Channel.
The Adler family tries to hide what happens to Florence to protect their older daughter Fannie, who is confined to a hospital bed during a difficult pregnancy. Thus, the title!
Another piece of the book involves the family Patriarch, Joseph, when he procures a student visa for a young woman to enable her to get out of Germany as Hitler comes into power. Jews are no longer permitted to attend universities etc. It turns out that Joseph had a romantic connection to Anna’s mother and hadn’t told his wife.
There are several other problems but everything revolves around Florence and keeping her secret. This is a heartwarming saga about three generations of the Adlers. The characters are well defined. Granddaughter Gussie was the best! You can almost hear the ocean and smell the fresh salt air! And of course there was the frozen custard and taffy to buy on the boardwalk!

Florence Adler Swims Forever is a captivating story that captures a picture of a family struggling with different problems. The characters in this book were perfect. I was captured in this story within the first few minutes of reading it. The writing style was easy to read and kept you within the story. I have this book 4 stars mainly because I wish the ending would have been different, but otherwise I love that it was based off of true events. I would recommend this book!

Rachel Beanland's debut novel is a character driven, three generation family saga which tells the story of what happens to the Adler family over the course of the summer of 1934. Set in Atlantic City, the author captures the physical setting and time period well.

Joseph and Esther Adler have rented their home to vacationers for the summer and are staying in the apartment over their bakery where they raised their family. Staying with them are their daughters Florence (home from college and training to swim the English Channel), and Fannie (pregnant and on bed-rest), their granddaughter Gussie, and a young German woman, Anna. Told in the alternating voices of the characters, the reader gets to know each of them well.

Tragedy strikes the family early in the story, and the decision is made not to share the news with Fannie so as not to put her already high-risk pregnancy in further jeopardy. But keeping secrets takes a toll on everyone; tensions build, other secrets are laid bare and they too have consequences. By summer's end, things are very different for all members of the household.

This is a promising debut and rates a 3.5 star rating from me. While I was immediately drawn into the story, the characters never really took hold of me as I had hoped they would. Nevertheless, I will definitely be keeping this author on my radar!

My thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for allowing me to read a digital ARC in exchange for an unbiased review. All opinions stated here are me own.

This was a little up and down for me, as it got very slow at times, but overall I still really enjoyed it. I liked the story flipping back and forth between characters to get all of their perspectives. I also couldn't believe when I got to the the end that it was based loosely on a true story. I think this made me like it even more! My biggest complaint is just that so many characters story lines were left as loose ends. I still have so many questions about what happened to each one of them.

Thank you Netgalley for a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This hitorical fiction from debut author Rachel Beanland is based off of a true family story and takes place over the summer in Atlantic City in 1934. This book is a family saga featuring the Adler family and how far they will go to protect their loved ones after a family tragedy. The story has several characters and is told by several viewpoints which is what I enjoyed.

What an emotional read! Set in Atlantic City in 1934, this read tells the story of how a tragedy affects extended family members. Told from multiple perspectives, Rachel Beanland slowly fleshes out the multiple characters, painting them so realistically that they actual live and breathe and evoke your sympathy and tears. Loved Gussie, Joseph, and Stuart. Beanland also has the reader contemplating several moral dilemmas- what would you do - keep the tragedy a secret, offer Isaac a way out, honesty in relationships. With all the flashbacks I was unsure of how I felt about Florence. The only let down for me was the ending which left things hanging. I am left worrying about Fannie and Anna’s family. Knowing this is based on a real person was an added bonus. This was a great read. Many thanks to Rachel Beanland, Simon & Schuster, and NetGalley for affording me the opportunity to read an arc of Florence Adler Swims Forever to be published on July 7th.,

With her debut novel, Rachel Beanland has a winner! Based on a true story and characters amongst the author’s own forebears, this novel is a wonderful saga about the lengths family members will go to protect their own when tragedy strikes. It also gives the reader some historical insight into how the rise of Nazism in Europe is affecting the world in 1934, even the world of Atlantic City, New Jersey, where the story takes place.

Florence Adler, a 19-year-old champion swimmer who has plans to swim the English Channel that summer, tragically drowns while training. After she dies, her family — pressed especially by her mother — decide to keep her death a secret from Fannie, Florence’s older sister who is hospitalized because of a difficult pregnancy.

Told from multiple points of view, the story allows the reader to understand and to feel what each of the numerous family members and related characters are going through as they try to cope with Florence’s death — and to keep it a secret from Fannie until her baby is born. This is a beautifully written story that makes for a wonderful read, and I definitely look forward to the author’s next novel!

What starts as a simple book about family is so much more. In 1934 the Adler family is expecting an exciting summer. Their daughter, Fannie, is expecting her second child. Their other daughter Florence has been training to swim the English channel. In the midst of all this excitement, Joseph Adler opens the Adler home to the daughter of a childhood friend. The young lady, Anna, is Jewish and has applied to all colleges in Germany to continue her education but has been denied. Mr. Adler has vouched for Anna and she will attend college in America.

Into this simple life, tragedy arrives. Florence dies. Fannie is in the hospital on complete bed rest with a difficult pregnancy. Mrs. Adler makes the decision not to tell Fannie, fearing the shock could create issues with Fannie’s pregnancy. Imagine trying to act happy when you are grieving the loss of your child!

Rachel Beanland has written a book that captures how messy life can be. This poor family goes to extremes to protect their daughter’s unborn child. They also have to deal with the shady behavior of their son-in-law and watch their granddaughter to be sure she doesn’t spill the beans to her mother. Fortunately, Fannie delivers a healthy baby. It would be heartbreaking for any additional tragedy to befall this family.

This book also shows that in spite of the difficulties in life, family will be there for you and help overcome obstacles. While the Adlers endure so much, you find yourself hoping that they will manage to emerge stronger and they do.

The book is a bit of an emotional rollercoaster but the story is far from simple. The characters are complex and flawed. Much like life, they do the best they can. In this particular set of circumstances, it is exactly enough.

This review contains spoilers.
Florence Adler Swims Forever is a great beach read. The writing pulled me in from the very beginning. I love that though this is not a true story, it pulls from real people and events from the past. The only character I had trouble with is Isaac. He wasn't fully developed as a character and I couldn't fully believe that he would pick up and leave his family. Definitely a book worth reading.

If you want a story about keeping a secret this one is for you. At the beginning of the summer one sister goes into the hospital in order to keep from losing her baby and the other sister drowns in the ocean off of Atlantic City. For the next two months the Adler family has to keep a secret from their daughter Fannie and pretend that Florence is still alive and busing swimming.
I read this book in a couple of days. The story is broken into three parts (June 1934, July 1934, & August 1934) and within each part each character gets a chapter. I think that format of the book really helped it flow and kept me reading. It was such a great book that I was surprised when I read the Author's note that it is based on events in July of 1929 within her own family. If you are looking for a pleasant historical read grab this one. And if you are interested in female swimmers also give this one a read.

The world teeters on the brink of war and the lives of Jews are threatened across all of Europe. One Jewish young woman is lucky to escape when her parents send her to New York to live with friends. Why exactly were those friends so willing to host this young woman? What else is involved? When the host's daughter, Florence, drowns in a sudden accident, long-buried secrets suddenly begin to resurface.

“Florence Alder Swims Forever” is a wonderfully poignant story written by first-time novelist Rachel Beanland.

Set in Atlantic City in 1934 over the span of three months, the novel focuses on the Alder family. Daughter Florence Adler, an accomplished swimmer, is training to swim the English Channel. Her parents, Esther and Joseph, who have successfully turned a small bakery into a thriving success, watch Florence’s niece, the precocious Gussie, while her mom, Fannie, is hospitalized due to a difficult pregnancy. Because of tragedy, Esther chooses to hide this information from Fannie with assistance from Isaac, Fannie’s husband. Also involved in the conspiracy are German refugee, Anna, who has unclear ties to Joseph, and Florence’s coach, Stuart, who does the best to distance himself from his racist family.

This novel is told in the differing points of views of the above characters as we experience the impact of not just hiding the one secret, but many others. Ms. Beanland has a superb mastery of each of these storytellers. While these individuals are certainly flawed, that is part of what makes these characters so captivating. Once I started reading, I could not put this book down.

“Florence Alder Swims Forever” is rich in history in the time of rising anti-Semitism in Europe, though at its heart, this novel is compelling family drama. It’s because of this that you’ll find yourself angry at the very same character who you were sympathizing with pages before.

Thank you to Rachel Beanland, Random House Publishing Group, and Net Galley for a chance to read and review this novel.

This is an interesting story about what a family will endure to protect and preserve itself. One thought that pervaded the pages was how much do we ever know about our relationships? How easily are we deluded? How often are we duped? Do we ever find a way to understand those we love through those that have loved them? When you only look forward for thirty years why are you surprised by the knockout punch the past throws? And at the end of the story I had to wonder what the future would hold. Forgiveness? Loss? Unrequited love? Surely understanding, love and compassion – please let there be that.

I wonder how I would have interpreted much of this story if I had little or no knowledge of the religion that defined the lives of the Adlers. Thank you NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for a copy.

This is a solid read. It begins with a tragedy and explores how the characters deal with the aftermath. A little girl, her mother, grandparents, father, and a family friend grapple with tough decisions during the summer of 1934. I felt sorry for most of the characters, particularly Frances, who wasn't told about her sister's death due to her high risky pregnancy. The declopmemt of the story is good. I liked the cover art.

I absolutely loved this debut novel by Rachel Beanland, a historical fiction account which takes place in Atlantic City in 1934 and is based off events in the author's family. Told from 7 distinct voices and viewpoints over a single 3 month summer period, this story will pull at your heart and make you think about choices a parent will make out of love, and the far-reaching consequences those decisions can have across family and even future generations (as is evident from the autobiographic note the author shares at the end). Beyond the beautiful descriptive imagery of Atlantic City in the 1930's that made me feel as if I was transported back to this era, I think what is staying with me most about this novel is the underlying story of parents and family struggling to do the "right" thing under tragic circumstances, when in reality there is no one right answer. Their humanity, love and struggles are timeless, as relevant and real today as when this story took place nearly 90 years ago. Highly recommend this debut novel - there is much more here than a summer beach read to experience, feel, unpack and reflect on. Thanks to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.