Nell always felt like the odd family member out, but a deathbed confession from her dad “you were never really mine to love” has Nell very confused. Annie, Nell’s mother is suffering from dementia and is giving Nell very confusing messages. As Nell is trying to decipher these messages, she soon discovers that her mom has buried the most difficult heartbreaking parts of her past very deep.

This story is told in two different time frames “then” and “now.” And from two different perspectives Nell’s and her mom Annie’s. This book broke my heart! It was a beautiful story of family and love, and the bonds that bind you together. I thought the story was very well written, and even though it is not a thriller at all the mystery of the secret kept me guessing. I had a difficult time putting this down because I just had to know how it all played out.

The Impossible Truths of Love by Hannah Beckerman. Tells the story of Nell who is with her dying father....I always loved you even though you were not mine to love. This was a well written story with Then and Now story lines. The characters are descriptive. You can feel the emotions emitted from the characters. The distain from Clare, confusion from mom with dementia and the depression after Danny's death and anxiety when it was her baby. Very well done. I will recommend this book. Thank you for the opportunity to review this book.

Completely gripping, I struggled to put this story down. Told from two alternating perspectives in the past and present, it kept me guessing the whole way through. Well written a characters that made you care, unimaginable loss, love and family relationships. Just wonderful.

This tale is of a young woman, Nell, who starts to query her biological relationship to her parents after her father offers a questionable statement on his deathbed. Nell questions if she is who she thought she was, her difficult relationships with her sisters and why her mother was always so protective of her.

It explores parental and sibling relationships and the secrets that families keep which become skeletons in closets. Nell uncovers some momentous family history that was kept from her by her parents.

I particularly liked Elsa's character, although there was doubt placed upon her role by Nell's mother Annie.
Plenty to keep you guessing in this story.

A really beautiful and poignant read . When Nell's father Is dying he says something to her which unsettles her and as her mother has dementia she can't ask her what it was he meant. The story alternates between now and then and she discovers a secret that will have a great effect on her life. Dont want to spoil the the story by giving anything away but it is beautifully written and it tells of love,loss,family and holds your interest from the beginning. A brilliant 5🌟read I loved it

What a wonderful page-turner!
Beautiful and heartbreaking in equal measures, The Impossible Truths of Love follows the story of Nell as she discovers her family have been keeping a secret from her.
What follows is a sensitively drawn story of grief and love and I don't mind admitting to reading some through watery eyes.
For Nell there is a mystery at the heart of her thread that had me turning the pages for answers, but Annie's story is equally gripping. Hannah Beckerman carefully weaves a picture of a grief stricken family that really touched me.

Thank you to NetGalley and to Lake Union Publishing for the opportunity to read this advanced copy.

As I have loved this authors previous books I was eager to get this one started and I certainly wasnt disappointed , as it lived up to my expectation and more. This story touches on many sensitive subjects which takes you on a journey of love, loss, grief and dementia to name but a few.
Nell is the central character who is left bemused when her dying father Bill utters words that Nell cant comprehend and as her mother Annie is suffering from dementia Nell is forced to embark on a mission to seek out answers. This story is told through both Nell and Annie and both are written with raw emotion that is heart wrenching.
The Impossible Truths of Love is a fabulous tale that will stay with me for quite a while and is definitely worthy of 5 stars.
My thanks to Net Galley and the publishers for the digital ARC.

To simplify, this is the story of Nell who was swapped as a baby when born. The swapping was not intentional but the carelessness of the hospital staff. Nell discovers this secret after her father passes away and her mom struggling with dementia. So she has to grapple with the sense of identity, her place in the family she has known all her life and grief.

I must say this book has been an interesting ride. Grief is the major theme. Losing one's parent to the unknown as well as losing a baby to SIDS aka Cot Death. So I would advise you to read with caution. I really liked the writing.

Despite dealing with heavy topics, it felt light, natural and sort of mysterious. I did enjoyed this book a lot which is unexpected. I particularly like the ending which lead to numerous possibilities. Overall, do give it a read when you want are in the mood to contemplate.

Thank you NetGalley and Amazon Publishing UK for the ARC.

I have to confess I wasn’t convinced when I first started reading #TheImpossibleTruthsofLove by Hannah Beckerman. There were a few words I had to look up, which always alienates me. ( I worry that the book will be too high-brow for me and hard work.) If you feel the same, DO NOT let it put you off. The book is really accessible and engaging. Once I got into it I did not want to put it down and absolutely loved it.
This is Nell’s book, but the insight into her mother Annie’s life through the flashbacks were fascinating and well done. I really enjoyed joining Nell on her journey to try and understand her past and her place in her family. The story is clever and extremely moving.
Highly recommended.

Every mother’s worst nightmare. It is impossible to imagine something so traumatic revisiting any woman. Yet for this mother a second series of events occur that will cast a long shadow over her life, her happiness and that of everyone in her family. A tragic mistake, bureaucracy intransigent in the face of any suggestion an error may have occurred , followed by a lifetime of events based on errors of judgement. A heartbreaking story from which there can be only losers. Any conclusion only more devastating than a train crash in slow motion whilst the reader awaits the final denouement. Many thanks to author, publisher and NetGalley for this ARC which has succeeded in drawing on every emotion possible. from a reader.

I would describe this as a slow-moving, well-written mystery. It’s not at all like a typical mystery, but when Nell’s father makes a cryptic deathbed comment under the influence of morphine, Nell begins to wonder if there is something behind the statement that would explain why she’s always felt like such an outsider from her family. She’s several years younger than her older sisters, and she was so gifted in the sciences she went on to earn a Ph.D. in genetics research, wildly more educated than the rest of her family. When her mother, who is battling dementia, also makes strange remark in between moments of lucidity, Nell decides to investigate more.

The story alternates between the grief of the matriarch, Annie, after she loses her five-week-old son to sudden infant crib death and the present, in which Nell is grieving the loss of two parents because even though Annie is still alive, she doesn’t recognize her daughters much of the time.

My problem with this novel is that the grief of these two women is so well-written, I had no choice but to live their grief along with them, which made this such an unenjoyable read, and I simply couldn’t wait to be done with it. I speed read the last fourth just to get it over with.

Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this novel.

Amazing book that tugs at your heartstrings and won't let go. Even having finished the book yesterday I can't get it out of my mind. So many social issues are touched on including dementia, adoption, and the inner workings of the family dynamic. The characters are engaging and the storyline well written.

The Impossible Truths of Love by Hannah Beckerman

As Nell's dad lies in hospital dying of cancer he tells her that he always loved her, even though she was never really his to love. This sets off a chain of events as Nell tries to uncover what he meant by this. Nell's mum has dementia and is increasingly confused, so her comments raise more questions than they answer.

WOW! What a book, one of my favourites of the 70+ I have read this year! I raced through it as I had to find out what really happened and I guessed wrong at least 3 times! I loved the dual timeline, Nell's mum Annie in the past and Nell in the present, and the characters were all so well drawn. The writing was exquisite - such beautiful prose and some really heartbreaking descriptions of events. I'll be checking out other books by this author. Very highly recommended - an exceptional book!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book.

Lovely. Beautifully-written book about choices and love and family - primarily told through Nell, daughter to aging parents and sister to complicated siblings. I related to much of this as helping and watching aging parents is a sobering, scary, sad experience common to do many of us. There is a clever twist which is fine in a respectful way that doesn’t seem hokey or forced. I’ll read more from this wonderful author. So grateful to Lake Union / Amazon UK publishing for the advanced copy.

Thanks to NetGalley for the preview of this book.

First, HARD warning. No where in the book description does this book indicate it is about loss, family members death, and dealing with grief. If you have recently experienced such a loss, or the loss of a child, this could be a very difficult book to read- it hits very close to home, and hits hard. I was unprepared.

Normally this is the type of book I really enjoy. Family saga, relationships, hidden secrets. It started off very good (with the exception of the hard gut punch from loss) and moving right along. But about half way through, the writer begins to unravel. In the interest of keeping suspense, she gets very wordy and begins talking in circles. I was getting impatient and thinking "enough already". A few of the story lines are a bit unrealistic in their pacing (pieces come together too conveniently), and one of the characters is unnecessarily mean. As the book moves on, she begins to repeat herself, and gets a bit preachy in the "lessons learned" section. By the last 10% I just wanted the book to be over. I get it, you've drilled the difficulties home! It is too bad, because with a little bit of editing, a bit of cutting, this book could have been very good all the way through. The book is emotional and exciting, but by the end it looses the rhythm.

I would try another book by this author, but I hope she would be a bit more practiced and brush it up a bit before publishing.

Wow. Thanks to #NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review

Once I saw this recommended by #MarianRecomends I knew I wanted to read it. Fortunately a speedy response from the publisher was forthcoming * and I dived in straight away.
This is an emotional wringer. The ordinary family tale of a happily married couple, and the surprise pregnancy which brings Danny into the family. Life after that is never the same.
Told in my favourite style, the dual timeline: the slow unfold of the past, twinned with life in the ‘now’ , We see how the past impacted the lives of those in the present , even though they were unaware of all that had occurred. Insight into the characters slowly emerge like the pictures developing in a photographer’s dark room.

Now that her parents are ill, her dad hospitalised, her mum with dementia experiencing fleeting visits to her own past from the present day, Nell is trying to uncover the unnerving secrets across which she is stumbling during the inevitable house clearance.
Brilliantly heart rending.

Nell is by the bedside of her dying father when he tells her how much he loves her 'even though you were never mine to love.' These turn out to be his last words to her and she is left with a sense of mystery which deepens when her mother, struggling with Alzheimer's, lets slip some other information which challenges everything Nell thought she know about herself and her family.

The novel is written in turn from the perspectives of Nell in the present day and Annie, her mother, over thirty years earlier. We see Nell struggle with the mystery of what her father said to her and we also see Annie struggle with grief and depression. This becomes quite repetitive at times and I'm afraid I was totally unmoved by Annie's grief because of this. I found I didn't engage with any of the characters until near the end when Nell came to life a bit more and also when a subsidiary character took front stage.

This was a difficult book for me to like. It should have been heartrending but in fact the main emotion I felt was ennui at having to read about the same thing over and over. Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC.

Thank you Netgalley and Amazon Publishing for the opportunity to read and review this.

This is a beautiful and heart-aching story to read. Told between 'Now' following Nell's thoughts, and 'Then' following Annie's thoughts, through their grief and tragedy's that follow and the impact it has on their life.

As you read on, you begin to understand the thought process and pain both characters go through, as more secrets are revealed, which ultimately makes them who they are at the end of the story.

Beautifully written. A definite must-read.

The jacket of Impossible Truths of Love hints at long held family secrets, and I don't want to spoil anything for readers, but those secrets could have triggering potential for some. It ran a little heavy for me, but I think it was well written and will certainly touch the heartstrings of those it doesn't hit too close to home for.

A deathbed confession, well, not really but a deathbed conundrum is what Bill Hardy gave to his daughter Nell and one that she simply can't forget.

I absolutely adored this read, which is quite unlike my normal choice of reading matter. Why? Well it had a keen eye for observation of family relationships, the secrets that are buried in the most conventional of surroundings along with the contrariness of emotions.

At the time we are reading Annie, Nell's mother is suffering with early-onset dementia and is unable to respond to Nell's enquiries but as the reader we go back in time to hear Annie's voice from before Nell was born. Her story is heart-breaking and has a strong thread of realism running through it.

This story of love, loss and siblings is outstanding and I highly recommend it.