This was a really good read, it kept my attention the whole way through.
A lot of good family dynamics, a story that takes place in two time lines and a devastating
occurrence and how it plays out over time, as we follow this disjointed family through their time in Thailand and then back in the USA.
The author really keeps you engaged in all of the characters, as they live their lives in a foreign country, and then how they adapt back home in the USA, with all that happened.
Wonderful descriptions through out and a very readable book.
I would like to thank NetGalley and Atria Books for a copy of this book.

I absolutely loved this book! This book had all the things I enjoy the most in my novels: historical fiction, family saga, and character driven stories. The Thailand setting for this story was just a “cherry on top” for me. The writing style was superb, the narration moved smoothly, and the plot never let my interest go.

This is my second book by this author, and I have rated both books with 5 stars, which means that I have a new favorite author!

Thank you NetGalley, Atria Books, and the author for providing me with an ARC copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

The premise of this one was so intriguing and I found the writing to be engaging overall. The initial current day perspective of the sisters being "possibly" contacted via Skype by their brother who had been missing decades had me glued to the pages. But then the story shifts back in time to when they were children in Bangkok and this really caused the story to lag for me. I wasn't as invested in the very long backstory to how they got to present day although I think the author did a great job of writing atmosphere and setting details. I was invested enough to find out what happened to Phillip and if the man on Skype was really him but I'll admit I skimmed a lot to get to the end which was surprising and sad

This is a dual timeline story going back and forth from 1972 and 2019. In 1972 the story is set in Bangkok and 2019 mostly in the US. This is a character driven family drama mystery. In 1972 a family is in Thailand for their father's work. The son goes missing. In 2019 one of the sisters gets a phone call that someone has found her brother. Is it really him? The story goes back and forth to learn about the family and what really happened to the missing boy.

I loved this story and when in came to the last part of the book, I couldn't put it down wanting to find out what really happened and how the family was going to come together to heal at the end. The characters are well drawn out. While not always lovable, they are realistic. This book is long, but well worth the read, if you like character driven family dramas.

Once this book is opened, it is hard to put down. The very definition of a page turner. As the plot outline has been exhaustively combed in the blurb and other reviews, I'll only say that this is the kind of book I've been reading for years but which, upon completion, makes me glad I love to read. There is so much to digest in this intricately plotted, character driven family saga, told from many points of view (third person all, but well defined), related in two timelines that interweave seamlessly, incorporating a mystery at its core that takes its entire length to be unraveled. This is the first by Liese O'Halloran Schwatz that I have read, but definitely not the last. Her medical training provides an extra layer of truth, but it is her plotting and her humanity that carries the book.

What Could Be Saved is a crowd-pleasing family drama with some elements that make it stand out from the plethora of family dramas out there (Bangkok setting, a spy element). It has a bit of a mystery, though the mystery is not the forefront of the story. The story is told in a dual timeline: 1970’s Bangkok leading up to Phillip’s disappearance and present day when Phillip resurfaces. Despite its length, it reads quickly and easily and is the kind of book you want to fly through. It has the feeling of a vacation novel (i.e. multiple people living in the same house living with secret parts of their lives that all impact what happened to Phillip). But, no one family or staff member knows all the pieces to be able to put them together. It’s part expose of American expat life in Bangkok (including how badly this family treats their household help) and it gets into the underbelly of Bangkok. My one gripe is the ending is a little slow and gets overly philosophical. Overall, it reminded me of The Most Fun We Ever Had & The Last Romantics (including lots of adult sibling dynamics). 4.25 stars!

I love a book about sibling/family drama. What Could Be Saved alternates between Bankok, Thailand in 1972 and Washington D.C. in 2019. Robert and Genevieve Preston moved their three young children to Bangkok in 1972. They needed to relocate because of Robert’s job which was shrouded in mystery. In Thailand, they live in a large house with a pool, a garden, a high wall and many servants who help raise the children. Bangkok was a dangerous place in 1972, unbeknownst to Genevieve. Until their son, Philip, disappears under mysterious circumstances.
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In 2019, we meet Laura Preston, the youngest child in the family. She and her older sister, Bea, have a contentious relationship. One day, Laura receives an email from someone claiming to know Philip, who had disappeared forty years prior. Against Bea’s wishes, Laura boards a plane bound for Bangkok to find out if this stranger is really her long-lost brother.
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I loved this family drama. It’s definitely a deep dive into a multilayered story. I found myself lost in the writing and the descriptions of Thailand and its people interspersed with the dysfunctional drama of the Preston family. I also loved the air of mystery that wove its way through this story. I did find it a bit slow in parts, but it is the kind of story that requires you to slow down and immerse yourself. It’s not a quick read, but the characters and their flaws and their relationships with each other made this a memorable book.

I received a free digital review copy from Atria Books via NetGalley after this book was published.

What Could Be Saved by Liese O'Halloran Schwartz is an immersive family saga that spans five decades and two continents. The story begins in 2019 Washington, DC, when Laura, a painter in her 50s, receives a mysterious email from someone claiming to know the whereabouts of her brother Phillip, who vanished in the early 1970s when the family was living in Bangkok. Chapters then alternate with flashbacks to the earlier decades as we learn more about Laura, Phillip, their older sister Bea, and their parents's years in Thailand, the family's return to the U.S. after Phillip's disappearance, and the experiences of Noi, one of the family's servants in Thailand who relocates to the U.S. with them.

The family saga aspect of this book reminded me of Claire Lombardo's The Most Fun We Ever Had, but while Lombardo's characters navigate events and relationships that are more typically encountered in daily life, Phillip's disappearance and the family's years overseas add elements of suspense and intrigue. Much like Amity Gage's Sea Wife, What Could Be Saved is suspenseful but in a way that will keep you up at night thinking about the characters, not in a way that will give you nightmares.

While we do finally learn about the circumstances that led to Phillip's disappearance, and whether the man who reappears decades later actually is Phillip, this book is not solely about solving these mysteries. It's a page turner that reveals long-held family secrets and explores the evolution of the family's relationships in the years leading up to Phillip's disappearance and the decades after. There is a wide cast of characters, but each of them served a purpose, and I especially enjoyed going back in time to see the evolution of Genevieve, the children's mother, who in 2019 has dementia. I highly recommend What Could Be Saved if you're looking for an engrossing escape with both a gripping plot and intriguing characters.

This is a story of a dysfunctional American family stationed in Thailand in the early 1970’s. Besides the parents there are two school aged daughters and a son. The family suffered a terrible tragedy when the boy was kidnapped and never found.
Moving to more current times the two daughters are now adults and the mother has dementia. All their lives the loss and tragedy of losing their brother and a son has been a burden and a nagging mystery. The dual time lines are explored extensively and when their brother is finally found, and his story is learned, many secrets are revealed.
This is a large book, and it was sometimes difficult for me to remain engaged in the story. I found that the book did get better in the second half. I also enjoyed learning about the historical history of Thailand back in that time.

In this family drama, Robert Preston has been sent to Bangkok in 1972 to build a bridge. The bridge project never seems to get off the ground and we eventually learn that building is not his only reason for being in Bangkok. (Exactly what he is doing is always a little hazy in the book.) His wife Genevieve spends her time with a bunch of other expat wives and her lover, while not paying a lot of attention to her three young children Bea, Philip and Laura. The expats have a very callous and imperious attitude towards the young Thai women whose only choices are to be servants or enter the thriving and exceedingly disgusting sex industry. The Preston family is crushed when 8 year old Philip disappears after his martial arts class. Philip miraculously reappears in 2019.

The book flips back and forth between 1972 and 2019. I liked the fact that we are given large chunks of each time period, rather than alternating chapters. However, I much preferred the 1972 story set in Bangkok. It was more atmospheric and definitely had more drama, especially at the end when we finally learn what happened to Philip. The 2019 story is set in Washington DC and mostly consists of Philip’s sisters arguing with each other. Although the 2019 chapters dragged for me, I really wanted to hear Philip’s story and I am glad that I stuck around for it.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.

A captivating novel about the Prestons, an American family living in Bangkok in 1972, when one of their number goes missing — Philip, then age eight, and then the remaining Prestons in Washington, DC in 2019 when they are contacted by a man who claims to be Philip Preston.

Having discovered Schwarz through her previous novel "The Possible World," I was excited to revisit her possibilities with a new release. "What Could Be Saved" did not disappoint. The thoughtfulness for the story, the same relatability in her characters with their layers of truth, and her clear understanding for how to connect these two elements together properly for an organic combination in a moving, family drama was here once again from this author. I will definitely be watching out for what's to come next from Schwarz.

However lovingly this novel was pieced together, I do think it could've stood a little paring down overall. It was just a touch too long. In its longer segments especially was where I found myself tiring of the current narrative and narrator just enough to consider to putting the book down right before Schwarz changed it up, and I'd feel the relief of either returning to the other timeline or finding myself with another narrator.

But that really is a small matter, because I could not put the book down. It called to me. It's not even that I really identified with any one of the characters over any other — in fact, some were quite annoying or clearly dislikable in their all too human ways — but not only did I have to know what happened, I had to know how the family was doing.

Between Bangkok 1972 and Washington, DC 2019, we have a novel that is both family drama and a tense and heartbreaking mystery. With a carefully paced unfolding, Schwarz tells this story with so much consideration and attention, that there were times I was deceived by my head into thinking some part was unnecessary, only to be proven wrong later in the book. For instance, I couldn't get past for a while how unneeded the father felt as one of the narrators, because there are so many narrators. And then late in the story, there was a moment when my brain clicked with how exactly he fit. In fact, giving them all a voice is essential for this story — not necessarily for what they say, but for what they bring to their portion and how they are a piece of the family as a whole. Schwarz gives them a life, even if it's not the life they think they would've otherwise had.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria for this copy of What Could Be Saved by Liese O'Halloran Schwarz.

What a book, guys. This is the kind of book that stays with you for a long time after the last page. I can honestly say that this is the best book that I've read so far in 2021, it will be tough to beat.

What Could Be Saved tells the story of the Preston family, past and present. The past tells the story of the family's time living in Bangkok, the present tells the story of the family many years later, living in the US, fractured by a tragic event that impacts them all in various ways. I won't say much about the plot so that readers can discover the mysteries of the Preston family for themselves, like I did.

This book is pretty long so keep that in mind when picking it up to read. It started a tiny bit slow for me but once it picked up I couldn't put it down. I loved the way that Liese O'Halloran Schwarz was able to segue from past to present in a way that felt like a natural progression. There was a beautiful flow to this book that I'll remember for a long time to come. Enjoy, readers!

What a wonderful book this is! I was completely captivated by the story of the Preston family, and how their shared heartbreak was experienced from each individual point of view. The Thailand setting and Thai characters were also richly drawn. I imagine that this book will appeal to a very broad audience. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was a book club read for me, which meant that I went into it knowing a) that it is a new release and b) it was probably going to be good.
I was wrong. Because this book is PHENOMENAL.

This book is a multi-generational family drama that includes multiple perspectives AND dual timelines.
It begins in Washington, DC, in 2019, when Laura Preston, a reclusive artist, gets a phone call asking her to retrieve her long-lost brother in Bangkok. He’s been missing for over 40 years. Is it him? Where has he been?

Alternating between Bangkok 1972 and Washington, DC, 2019, it’s a tale of betrayal and hope and discovering that consequences of decisions made in the past can alter life so profoundly in the future. Despite the size of the novel, I found myself reading this like a quick thriller, staying up much later than intended, needing to discover what happened to Phillip.

I really enjoyed reading this book. It’s reminiscent to The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver, which I read for this book club in 2020. I love historical fiction books like this because there are just so many opportunities for learning both in my mind and my heart.

Thank you to Liese O’Halloran Schwarz for sharing this story. Also thanks to Atria Books and Net Galley for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.

Twists and Turns in a Psychological Mystery

Juggling many characters and shaping a mystery with many parts, Liese O’Halloran Schwarz produces a sharp, tense story. Most of the novel takes place in the 1970’s during Vietnam War.

The Preston family from Washington moves to Thailand for four years during this tense time in our history. Wife and mother Genevieve, is a beautiful, smart woman who is married to Robert and has three children, two daughters, Bea and Laura. and a son, Phillip. The Prestons move to Thailand when Robert is offered a job to help build a dam. Their family lives in Bangkok, in a nice home, with at least three maids/servants.

Phillip, the most sensitive of the children, disappears one day. He is taking a weekly judo class (more like vicious boxing) and never arrives home after class. His father was to pick him up but has forgotten and for some reason, Phillip never makes it home. The family is devastated and after leaving no stone unturned to find their son/brother, the family finally returns to the United States.

Many years later, his sister Laura receives an email from someone who claims that Phillip is alive. Laura contacts the writer and travels to Bangkok alone to find her brother. Not seeing her brother for forty years is quite a shock and there are many questions. Philip is also a mystery. Laura’s re-introduction to her brother was the most interesting event in the novel.

The plot moved along, there was always something happening and Schwarz painted an excellent picture of their lives in Bangkok and Washington. The dynamics of the family were ever-moving and the author deftly moved from different time periods and places. The reader had clear descriptions of every character, their personalities and motivations.

The last quarter of the book became a bit tedious. It seemed that any unanswered questions were jammed into the last fifty pages. The strength of the novel was in the historical and political commentary juxtaposed with the mores of rich Americans versus the Thais with neither money or education.

My gratitude to NetGalley and Atria for providing me with this book for an honest review.

I have just finished reading What Could Be Saved, by Author Liese O'Halloran Schwarz

This is the first book that I have read by this author

The book is about an American family who live in Bangkok in the 70’s, however the book takes part as well in Washington DC in 1990. It is in this time that they are contacted by a stranger telling them that their brother who disappeared in the 70’s as a young boy is still alive

The family has been seeking the whereabouts of the brother with no results for so many years.

This is a story that can not be rushed, and has a great deal going on in the lives of the family members. I did enjoy the story, however felt it was a bit on the long side.

Thank You to NetGalley, Author Liese O'Halloran Schwarz and Atria Books for my advanced copy to read and review

#NetGalley

Oh wow did I love this book. A gripping story about an American family told in 1972 when they were living in Bangkok and in present day 2019. I loved the alternating timelines and points of view in this story. Each character was developed beautifully and there were times when I loved them all and times when I hated them all. Schwarz really understood the dynamics of this family and it made the story all that much stronger. Central to this story is Phillip Preston who disappeared when the family was living in Bangkok and then a man saying he his Phillip appears forty years later. While lengthy, I loved every minute I spent with this book. I learned a lot about Bangkok in the 1970's and what life like was there for locals and ex-pats. This story managed to break my heart and then put it back together all in 500 pages. Can't recommend this enough.

**I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

The Preston family of 5 are expats living in Bangkok in the early 70s. They live in a beautiful house and have servants helping raise the kids, while both parents hold secrets. Robert Preston works for American intelligence (his family thinks he is relocated to Bangkok to work on the construction of a dam) and Genevieve is having an affair with his boss. When their 8-year-old son Philip goes missing, their life implodes, and they eventually move back to America without knowing what happened to him. Alternate to 2019 in Washington D.C., now a family of 3 with the mother suffering from memory loss, they are contacted by someone who claims to have located Philip. The story unfolds between past and present where secrets are revealed, and love and loss are expressed beautifully by the author.

This is an emotional journey driven by an underlying family tragedy. I really enjoyed the writing style and the flow of the book between past and present. I like quick reads usually, and this is not one. There are some heavy topics, but still highly recommend this book.

I REALLY enjoyed this book! What a read! It had everything one could want in a literary fiction book: an intriguing story, interesting characters, a page-turning mystery, and plot twists that have you gasping and talking aloud to yourself. It's best to go into this one knowing nothing but what you've read on the dustcover jacket, and just let the story unfold and wash over you.

If there is one "complaint", it's that this book didn't need to be quite as long as it was...which is what kept me from giving it five stars. A bit more tightening up could have made this even better than it was. But either way, make sure you read this one, folks! It doesn't disappoint!

Pros: This is a compelling sibling story about an expat family.

Cons: The structure of this book felt disjointed and inconsistent. It also felt longer than it needed to be.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for the opportunity to read this book!