This is a beautifully written book, based on a true story (the author's own) . It was emotional, and you just felt everything the author was feeling, and what the characters were feeling too. Highly recommend for a powerful read.

Atlantic City in the summer of 1934. A tragic accident strikes a Jewish family. A secret leads to a series of events.
A tragic death deeply affects this family. The secret of the death is kept from a woman in her seventh month of a high-risk pregnancy. We see the characters cope with grief and watch a romance bloom.

This book is a beautiful and heartbreaking character-driven family drama. This book deals with grief and different ways that people process it. I liked that Judaism is a central theme. The prose was wonderful. I loved that we got seven different perspectives so that we can understand each character and watch their development. Gussie was my favourite character.

TW: death, loss of a loved one, loss of a child

3.5 STARS (rounded up) - Florence Adler Swims Forever is a story about a family's loss and the tenacity of the human spirit as it explores just how far family will go to protect those they love.

I enjoy a good family saga - the characters, the issues and often, the secrets. I particularly love it when a story has been inspired by true events. In this instance, the story is based on the author's own family (which she details at the end of the book). When a tragedy happens to the Adler family, they decide to withhold the news to spare one family member. But as family tensions rise and more secrets and true feelings are revealed, we witness how this once tight family struggles to endure.

This was a quiet read set in 1930's Atlantic City and is told by several members of a Jewish family and their friends, giving readers a look into how different people deal with loss. Some characters are showcased more then others with one in particular being an easy person to hate, another easy to love (wee Gussie) and the others falling somewhere in between.

The story touches on several issues but none of them had a lot of depth and the story, at times, dragged a bit - particularly in the middle. I think if I had known the book was based on a true story beforehand, I may have found these slower bits and the ending, which was abrupt and oh-so-tidy, a little more tolerable.

This was an impressive and enjoyable debut that had a little bit of everything - romance, tragedy, and enough family secrets to keep me intrigued. It was a touching story about the strength and perseverance of family.

Thank you NetGalley for an advance copy of Florence Adler Swims Forever.

This novel is based on real-life events which happened to the author's family. The year is 1934 and Florence Adler, a young woman, is determined to the English Channel. Her family lives in Atlantic City and her older sister Fannie is expecting her third child. All seems well until the unthinkable happens and the family is plunged into a web of lies and deceit. Embedded in this drama is seven year old Gussie, Fannie's little girl. Gussie is recruited to help keep a dreadful secret, one which could prove deadly, and in the end the secret is revealed.

Along with the family drama, there is also a second story line which involves Anna, a Jewish girl whose recent arrival from Germany produces many more problems and questions for the family. Anna is desperate to have her parents immigrate to America, to escape Nazi Germany.and Florence's father may be the key to their escape.

This book sounded promising and interesting but I could only rate it three stars because it did not sustain my interest nor my attention. This is the type of book you could have on audio while doing some menial chore. It is not a complicated story and the conflicts presented were predictable and unremarkable. The most interesting event happened at the beginning of the book and the rest of it was mediocre. It is a tale to illustrate how far people will go to protect their loved ones. It would have been better to have the climax of the book involve the reveal of the family secret and the repercussions. For me, this novel fell flat in many places, one being that of the ending..

Atlantic City, 1934.

This book is about a family, the Adlers, who very soon into the book, are hit by a tragedy- a horrible, life altering tragedy. A decision is made to keep this news secret to protect a fragile member of the family. We see different POV’s as each person affected by this tragedy copes with the loss and the secret. I liked getting to know each person on their own and their backstories. The author developed each character fully. The highlight was 7 yr old Gussie, who stole the show whenever she was around.
It took me a little while to get into this book, as initially everything and everyone felt flat. As I kept reading, I became totally invested in all their lives.
This was 1934- anti Semitism was alive and thriving in the United States. How this affected the Adlers, who were Jewish, was an important aspect of the story.
I feel the ending could have been improved. There was a “happy ending”, but there was also an unfinished ending, in my opinion.
All in all, I really enjoyed the book. I loved knowing that the Florence of the title was a real character.

This is a debut novel from this American author. An historical fiction, it is set in 1934 Atlantic City. Florence is a competitive swimmer and is training to swim the English channel. Her sister Fannie is in the hospital on bed rest as she is 7 months pregnant and her second child, who was born two months early, did not survive. Fannie's first child is Gussie and she has been staying with Fannie's parents. When tragedy strikes this family they decide to keep things from Fannie in order to protect the pregnancy. This lovely novel captures the heartbreak the family endures, but there is also humour and romance - all set in the spectre of antisemitism and the rise of the Nazi party in Europe. What makes it even more compelling is much of the story of based on the author's family history. This is a great recommendation for anyone who enjoys historical fiction or family drama.

This is a lovely debut novel which is set in Atlantic City in the summer of 1934. The book is a tribute to the author’s Jewish family, and is a combination of fact and fiction.

The book introduces the Adler family who rent out their home each year for extra income and reside in their seaside apartment each year. Joseph and Esther are the parents of Fannie and Florence. Fannie is married to Issac and has a 7 year old daughter Gussie. She has suffered a loss of a pregnancy last year and is presently experiencing a high risk pregnancy this summer. Her marriage is an unhappy one. Florence is home from college and is training with her long-time friend Stuart to swim the English channel later in the summer. The family has also taken in Anna, who is the daughter of a woman that Joseph was once engaged to in his homeland, now invaded by Nazi Germany.

When a tragedy strikes the family early in the book, Esther decides that the tragedy needs to be kept secret from Fannie until the baby is born - a difficult challenge given the close-knit nature of the community. This proves to be an extremely difficult summer for the Adler family - one that is full of secrets, isolation and awakening.

The story is told from multiple points of view which lends perspective and insight to the reader. I felt connected to each of the main characters. I love that many elements to the story are indeed fact and I applaud the author for creating this labour of love. The story provides the reader with insight into the problems that the Jewish community experienced worldwide. I could feel the love this family had for one another and the difficulty experienced keeping this secret.

I recommend this book to those that love historical fiction.

Thanks to Netgalley and Simon & Schuster Canada for the ARC of this book in exchange for the honest review provided here.

I loved every single word of this historical fiction. Beautifully written. The characters are well developed. A tragedy strikes a Jewish family in the 1930s after a family member’s drowning. Each and every character s affected in their own way. .... heartwarming. Thruthfulmand based on the author’s own family. Couldn’t put the book down.

I thought this was a beautifully written story and did not expect the tragedy to happen so early on in the story. The author has a natural talent of conveying emotions and detail of ordinary and tragic life events. I sometimes find stories with numerous characters to be confusing but I found this to be easier to follow along because each individual had a unique perspective. An excellent debut novel.

Florence Adler Swims Forever by Rachel Beanland
Publication Date: July 7, 2020

Description from NetGalley...
“Atlantic City, 1934. Every summer, Esther and Joseph Adler rent their house out to vacationers escaping to “America’s Playground” and move into the small apartment above their bakery. Despite the cramped quarters, this is the apartment where they raised their two daughters, Fannie and Florence, and it always feels like home.

Now Florence has returned from college, determined to spend the summer training to swim the English Channel, and Fannie, pregnant again after recently losing a baby, is on bedrest for the duration of her pregnancy. After Joseph insists they take in a mysterious young woman whom he recently helped emigrate from Nazi Germany, the apartment is bursting at the seams.
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Esther only wants to keep her daughters close and safe but some matters are beyond her control: there’s Fannie’s risky pregnancy—not to mention her always-scheming husband, Isaac—and the fact that the handsome heir of a hotel notorious for its anti-Semitic policies, seems to be in love with Florence.

When tragedy strikes, Esther makes the shocking decision to hide the truth—at least until Fannie’s baby is born—and pulls the family into an elaborate web of secret-keeping and lies, bringing long-buried tensions to the surface that reveal how quickly the act of protecting those we love can turn into betrayal.”

Thank you to @NetGalley @simonschuster @simonschusterca for the digital ARC in return for my honest review.

My thoughts...
This book is based on Beanland’s true family story. The author tells the story through a Jewish family residing on the New Jersey coast in 1934. The book’s events take place as the Holocaust is approaching in Europe. The book’s focus is more on the family, and the Holocaust is a background story for one of the characters. The story reminds me of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel; in fact one of the husbands annoyed me as much as Joel Maisel did. Overall, it was a good read. A touching story that depicts loss, rebuilding lives, loyalty and the strength of the human spirit.

This was such a lovely book!

It begins with a death that shatters three generations of a family, and I honestly had no idea what would happen next--how do you build a story around a death? But this was truly a sweet, heartbreaking novel, and it was absolutely wonderful to read. I can't really say much without spoiling, but I really loved this novel. It's quiet, but you feel for the characters and understand all the lies they're telling themselves and each other. Also, do yourself a favour and read the author's note!

Rachel Beanland takes readers back in time, to the bustling beaches and boardwalk of Atlantic City, in 1934.

Florence Adler, loves #swimming 🏊‍♀️. This particular summer, she is planning on conquering her dream: swimming the English Channel, from #pincenez #france to #Dover #england. Florence’s dad, Joseph, the owner of Adler’s Bakery, wishes he could join Florence across the pond. But business and obligations are keeping him in his beloved beach town, but he has provided everything Florence needs to conquer the Channel. Her Mom, Esther, really never supported the whole swimming thing. Why couldn’t Florence be like other Jewish daughters? (marriage, children, etc, like her older sister Fannie!). Then, (it’s not a spoiler), a tragedy strikes the Adler family, and the matriarch, Esther, makes a decision, with only the best intentions in mind, that affects the entire family. The tragedy has something to do with Florence (obviously?).

I absolutely adored reading @rachelbeanland’s #debut novel #florenceadlerswimsforever. It is based on a true story that happened in her own family, (to her great aunt), and Gussie (from the book, and who is the cutest & most precocious 8 year old ever), is based on Rachel’s grandmother. The story goes beyond the beaches of #atlanticcity, to events in #Florida, #westpalmbeach, #palmbeach, Germany, and #Vienna.


I give this book #5 🏖🏖🏖🏖🏖. Congratulations @rachelbeanland. Thank you @netgalley for the e-arc in return for my honest review. Available 07/07.

I received an ARC in exchange for honest review. This novel was sad, beautiful and very well-written. The characters were layered, likeable and complex - which is what makes novels successful in my books. The story of Florence Adler incorporated the smaller stories of many people in her lives - and seeing each unique perspective and the way they tied together was one of the best parts of this book.