I wanted to like this book based on it's description but thought it was just ok. Maybe it was the author's writing style plus the sad stories. The later part of the book was better than the first. I rate it as average.

This was a difficult book to get into because the POV changes were not clear and it was very abrupt. I enjoyed learning about these characters but it took longer than normal to finish.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

A heartfelt tale of three generations of women in London and Ireland. The secrets, lies, expectations, and societal norms wreak havoc on each generation differently, yet the common thread of "a woman's place" runs through it all. The unwed mothers' institution is filled with sorrow and longing. Very poignant read.

A heartbreaking saga of three generations of women and their struggles, secrets and sorrow. The sense of deep loss and abandonment was palpable and times, uncomfortable. The book is beautifully written, just perpetually melancholic.

An entertaining read that follow three generations of women with their similarities and differences. We experience their ups and downs and adventures in life and love. This book lets you see the characters at the high and low points of their lives. The book starts in the 60's and goes into the late 90's and provides a small taste of the life in each period. I found the characters to be believable and engaging. A nice read.

On the surface, I Couldn't Love You More was a story of three generations of women. But it was so much more than that. It was a tale of loss, betrayal, abandonment. The raw pain and sorrow I felt while reading was so powerful. Esther created a book that was so poetic and lyrical. I was not expecting to be moved by this so called historical, generational novel. I can't even understand what to classify it as. To break it down so simply does not do it justice.

Thank you to Netgalley for the opportunity to read this brilliant book.

I really liked this book from the perspective of three different Irish women in the same family. This would be a good book club discussion group.

I chose to read this book because of its settings being England and Ireland, as well as the themes of marriage and motherhood.
The stories of the 3 protagonists each have merit and interest, as we learn about their youth, how they met the men in their lives, and the decisions they make, as well as the consequences of those decisions.
The 2 difficulties I had while reading were: 1) trying to keep straight the flat characters as they were dropped into the story, keep track of all their names, and how these characters related to our round characters, Aoife, Rosaleen, and Kate and 2) the location and time period when the story line would shift within a chapter; it took time to figure out if I were dealing with the characters present or some type of flashback, and if so, when/what age.
The build was slow and I felt like an investigator trying to gather facts, while weeding through what was important and what could be put aside, until things came together, which took a while.
The story was sad and dealt with difficult topics, and I just couldn’t connect to the characters or the story due to the breaks in reading to investigate the story.
#ICouldntLoveYouMore #NetGalley
Thank you, Ecco and NetGalley for an ebook version in exchange for my honest review.

Unfortunately, this just wasn't for me. Alternating viewpoints and time periods aren't my favorite in a novel and made this a slog.. If you don't mind that sort of thing you might enjoy this more than I did. I might try again some other time..

This is the three-generational story of three women: Aoife who's married to a controlling man named Cashel, their daughter Rosaleen who has an affair with Felix, a man twice her age, and Kate who is married to an alcoholic, Matt. Set in both London and Ireland from WWII to our present day gave it an interesting look at how life changes. For example, I don't remember the last time I heard anyone use the expression "illegitimate baby" and I certainly hope and pray that Catholic convents are not how it and the nuns were portrayed in the book.

The first 1/3 - 1/2 of the book was very difficult for me to get into, in part because I didn't know the connections of the three different POV's. For that reason I was dragging a little. I actually was confused during much of the first third or so.

Motherhood is at its core and integral to the story's plot. I wasn't very interested in Aoife's story but I was really curious about Katy and secondarily about Rosaleen's POV. Being a mother of five, certain aspects of the book really resonated with me; however, there were other parts of the women's stories that I couldn't connect with at all.

Overall I thought it was definitely worth reading and would encourage others who might pick it up to read and think it's confusing or too slow or whatever to hang in there because the second half of the book gets really interesting.

I would like to thank NetGalley and Ecco for an e-ARC of this book in exchange for my opinion. #ICouldntLoveYouMore #NetGalley

This novel just didn't impress me. It was so depressing and made me uncomfortable. I don't mind a sad story, but this one was unbearable. I didn't like the different point-of-views. Also the writing was clunky and lacked punch.

This was my first time reading a book by Esther Freud and I am sure to pick up more of her work after reading this book. In what was a familiar tale, 3 generations of women struggle to trust the relationships they find themselves in and are left to deal with the repercussions. The book looks at three different timeframes, jumping between Ireland and London, and articulates in poignant ways how different the conditions were, and yet how limited the choices can still be, at times.

This was a well-crafted, well-told story of three women who we come to feel for and know. I find it such a skill to tell a strong story from multiple perspectives without having at least one of those perspectives be weaker or less interesting. And her weaving of facts about the living conditions in the women's laundry homes in Ireland were shocking but not done to shock. They were shocking in their impact, in how long they endured, and the systems that propped them up.

Ultimately, it's the relationships between the women and their families that shine most brightly and what will stick with me. I won't be forgetting this book anytime soon.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for gifting me a digital arc in return for an honest review.

What a deeply sad but wonderful story. It's about being a mother and the lengths you go to both find yourself in the midst of being a mom and lose yourself.

It's a story of three women, and at first their three stories are a bit jarring. You can't tell how they all fit although they book even tells you. I think Kate's story of 'now' was the easiest to read. Her struggles and juggles as a mother and wife while also working as a teaching and practicing artist are easy to understand and identify with. Rosaleen is an easy second to understand as you learn of her affair with an older man and her easy, simple life. It's Aoife's story that a struggled through more and found it more of a distraction than an addition to the story.

These three women are at very different stages of their life and it all revolves around their love of their child but also their journey to discover themselves (and be surprised by what they are capable of) and to understand what they want from life. It was mesmerizing and hard to stop reading once you started. As I was completely swept away with the story, it was easy to love this one.

<i>A huge thank you to the author and publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.</i>

Wow, this was such a heartbreaking novel about three women, whose whole lives were controlled by the structures of the Catholic Church, and the men in their lives. Some parts were hard to read but you absolutely get the feel of the power and unconditional love of mothers.

The only issue I had was the beginning was a little confusing but once I got into the story I was immersed with the characters. I was both sad and angry for them, and so thankful that I live in an age where I have more choices.

I loved how this spanned the generations of women in one family and highlighted the struggles that women faced vs the men in the novel. It was sad and infuriating at the same time. I couldn't love you more became a dark foreshadowing for all three women and how they were treated by not only their husband/romantic partner but their families and community.

DNF at 28%. For a story line I feel I've read many times before, it was too complicated to follow. I am no stranger to alternating perspectives or time jumps, though the transitions between for this one felt very rough. The female characters felt one-dimensional and males stereotypical - not one elicited enough caring for me to continue slogging through. Many people may like this latest spin on the Irish tale,. I was really in the mood for a sweeping, multi-generational saga, though this was not the one..

Thank you to NetGalley, Ecco, and the author for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This novel entwines the stories of three Irish women living in London. Aiofe leaves rural Ireland for London in the forties, and meets a pub owner who only wants to return and run a farm. They persevere and save through the war and its aftermath, sending their daughters to the safety of an Irish boarding school. Rosaleen flees to London in the sixties, falling deeply in love with a much older Jewish artist. And then there's Kate, also an artist, but forced to put her own ambitions on hold as her daughter is young and her partner prioritizes his music and his drinking over childcare.

At first, the book feels like three unconnected stories woven together, but Freud slowly reveals connections and parallels that unify the novel. The novel looks at the choices that women have been allowed to make over the years and how those choices, or lack of choice, form them. Freud is such a fine writer and has so fully developed each of her three protagonists, that I never felt frustrated when the novel switched from one to another. As each woman's story is told, it deepens the other stories as well, and in the end, all was pulled together into a single cohesive whole. I was impressed with Freud's writing and her skill in both telling a story and how well she developed her characters. I'll certainly be reading more by this author.

Heartbreaking and beautiful, this novel follows three strong women who must make life changing decisions that have the potential to alter and strain their family ties. Different expressions of love are explored, from parental enduring love to fragile first love and more; it is the ongoing theme of the story and a powerful bond that factors in to the choices each must make. The beauty of the Irish countryside and the glitter of the city’s avant garde art scene contrast with the horrors of the Magdalene Laundries and wartime cities under constant threat of bombing as Aoife, Rosaleen and Kate journey along their paths to find answers and fulfill their destinies.

Be still, my heart.

This one is hard.

Heartbreaking. Heart wrenching.

I Couldn’t Love You More is a story of generational trauma. It’s a story of anguish and pain and the guilt we heap on women while simultaneously destroying them.

My heart literally ached while reading this. My chest was heavy and the tears flowed freely. By the last, I was sobbing and smiling and basically an emotional wreck.

Easily one of the best books of 2021.

(This has also led me to read and research Ireland’s history with mother and baby homes. It’s one of the worst things I’ve ever encountered and I will never not wonder how anyone could be so cruel and deplorable. It’s an absolute atrocity.)

While this book centers on three generations of women, I feel that the title refers to the men in their lives. When Rosaleen's lover tells her "I couldn't love you more," he seems to be telling her that his love for her is enormous. But what it really means is that he is incapable of loving her enough, he just can't. When she becomes pregnant, and he has a medical emergency that brings his wife, Rosaleen finds herself alone and unable to go home to her family. Years before, her mother, Aoife, fell for and married Cashel Kelly, a strong, romantic man, who never connected with his eldest daughter- he couldn't love her, and he wanted her erased from their lives. Rosaleen ends up in a home for unwed mothers run by sadistic nuns and, while she is determined to keep her baby, that isn't the way things work out (think of the movie Philomena from a few years back). The third woman in the story is Kate, who we know to be Rosaleen's daughter, grown up and in her own difficult marriage to an alcoholic. Again, he loves her, but is not able to love her, or their child, enough to stop drinking. Kate is longing for her lost mother and sees her in every woman she encounters. Adopted by a loving couple, she ultimately takes steps to find answers to the mystery of her birth. The novel is told in alternating chapters of each of the women, and often changes to first person.
This is not a new story, but it is told in such an engaging way that it is a worthwhile read. I felt for each of these women and relationships with men who just couldn't love them more.
Thanks to #netgalley for an advance reader e-book of this novel.