I enjoyed the writing and character development. Having finished the story I feel
like I am abandoning a close friendship as the characters were so so real. My one issue with the book is it contained so much - so many tragic events - it felt like that much couldn't have happened to one family. Although it does sometimes in real life I still felt it was a bit too much for one novel.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an early release in exchange for a fair and honest review.

This book really just took me for a ride. I loved the build up, the character development, and the writing. I would definitely read more from this author!

I don't often give a warning but this book had so many issues covered and was quite harrowing in parts. Family issues, abortion, surrogacy, still-birth, adoption - plus loads more! I enjoyed it despite this and was very invested in the story of Cassandra and Olivia, their lives, families, dramas and losses over the course of a few decades - 1960s - 1990s. I'll be looking for more books by this author. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC

Call My Name, by Jenni Ogden, is a story of generational family drama and despair. A lot happens within the pages of this book, and most of it is devastating and heartbreaking. The story spans the decades of the 70s, 80s and 90s in Australia, and focuses mostly on the love/hate relationship between two foster sisters. Most of Call My Name will grab the reader and carry them through these years with interest and rapt attention. Unfortunately, however, the ending is impossible to understand. I totally get the use of the title as the characters last line, but I was left truly unfulfilled by the way the author chose to end the book. I found the ending unfortunate and unexpected, thereby changing my feelings towards the book.

I have read and enjoyed other books by this author so I looked forward to what I thought would be an entertaining family saga. Instead I have been reading/listening to this book off and on for months almost willing the book to end. Olivia’s life experiences, described in great detail, are mind numbing. Using one character to cover topics like abortion and the right to have one, overseas adoptions and the challenges faced by women choosing surrogacy as a birth option is cruel punishment for the character and the reader.

A copy of this book was received from the publisher via NetGalley for review.

I loved this multi-generational story of family and friendship. Mixed into the history of the 1960s through the 1990s, Jennifer Ogden has fashioned a tale of compelling characters and their complex connections. She shows us that families and friendships are often turbulent and relationships, situations and events change us. She also shows us the power of love between friends, families and partners. This was a great book. Thanks #NetGalley #SeaDragonPress # JenniOgden

When thirteen year old Olivia finds her mother dead of a drug overdose, Cathie Tulloch, her mom’s friend from a POW camp in Sumatra, takes her in. This story covers the next thirty plus years in Olivia and the Tulloch family’s life. Olivia becomes best friends with the Tulloch’s daughter Cassandra. Ogden describes not only events in their lives but also provides the backstory for her friendship with Olivia’s mother during WWII. I think this is the type of book that one should go into blind. To speak more about the story would reveal too many spoilers. It covers A LOT of ground and I will say there are some serious triggers so if you are susceptible to those, check other reviews. It is well written and the characters are wonderful. I really enjoyed it and highly recommend it. 4.5 stars. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC.

First thank you to Sea Dragon publishing and NetGalley for providing me a copy of this book for my review.
The story is told over 30 years time, and is an absolute roller coast of emotions. It is so well written you, just continue on reading till the last page.

The story is told thru Olivia, whose mother died when she was 13. Her mothers best friend, Cathie who together struggled thru a prison stay in Sumatra during wwII adapts her with her husband William Tulloch.
She finds a family who loves her and a daughter Cassandra, whose personality at times contradicts Olivia, but they become sisters and best of friends. They both find husbands and the emotional ups and downs begin. Questions of what is love of family, friends, and children are put thru the ringer..
The contemporary issues of abortion, adoption, surrogacy, and euthanasia is equally discussed between the characters. The story also explores the issues and feelings for friendship, motherhood, grief, and ultimately forgiveness.
The story for me made me stop and consider what would I have done given the circumstances which continue to change as the story approaches the different issues.
I totally recommend this book if you want to explore issues that are not fiction to many people.
There is also a wonderful description of Australia and the pretty places to see. I have been there and reading this makes me want to return.
I recommend this book to woman who want to look at issues that are current and effect many which in some cases are wonderful and others sad.

This is the story of two lifelong friends set mainly in Queensland, Australia. It tells their stories in the 1970s and eighties. We meet their partners and their friends as well as their children. It is a very moving story but it is also perhaps a little bit too long. Olivia and Cassandra and their lives are interesting and your sympathies move from one to the other as the story moves on.

This has taken me an age to read. Beautifully written and crafting the lifecycle from pre-birth to death. Olivia, the protagonist, has a difficult start in life and at the age of 13 moves to Australia 🇦🇺 to be fostered by her mum’s best friend after her mum dies. She never fully feels part of the family, despite all assurances that she is, and so begins the symbiotic but unbalanced relationship with her foster sister Cassandra.

Poor Olivia faces unimaginable heartache with five different life events. It started to get unrealistic, but the author’s writing in the court scenes was compelling and absorbing - without being complex or stuffy.

However so much is unresolved. It was unclear when Olivia’s mum died that she was in New Zealand and not the UK, but who was Olivia’s dad? Why didn’t they adopt her or explain to her? Why did she let Cassandra rule her life? Earlier in the novel it hints at Cassandra being unwell but it’s not mentioned when she returns… or maybe the jumping timeline confused me. The relationship between Olivia and Cassandra is not resolved - this reader wanted a more satisfactory outcome.

And why oh why did Sebastien have to suffer? There was no need for this element of the book. His illness does underline the circle of life but it detracted from the core story - the struggles of Cassandra and Olivia and their children.

Overall an interesting book with themes around Abortion, pregnancy loss, child death, Surrogacy, and euthanasia. One of these themes is enough for a compelling book, but unfortunately pulling all these themes in makes it feel like the author’s thrown the kitchen sink at it. Interesting for a book group but overall I’d give it a swerve

I really enjoyed this story of Olivia and Cassandra and the various seasons of their lives. Because the story moves from childhood through various seasons and trials, victories, losses, disagreements, and hurts it takes on an epic feel. I appreciated that all of the main characters had scenes where we saw them as flawed and oh so human and yet no one is only one thing. All in all a good family drama.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review..

A first class, thought provoking novel, one I will remember for some time. I really felt for all involved, going from joy to despair, hoping that things would turn out okay for all in the end. It a strong story revolving around so many issues - family, friendship, pregnancy and surrogacy. Two very different girls grow up together after one is left an orphan and then taken into a close family as a step sister.

A story about two girls, Olivia & Cassandra who grew up together when Olivia’s mother died and she was fostered by Cassandra’s family. The book covers their relationships, husbands and children and the way in which their lives intertwine. Although there are some tragedies in the story, most of the characters are too ‘good’ to be entirely believable- I would have preferred some more negative human qualities to show through.

Although I quite enjoyed the book, I found it long, perhaps too long, and wondered what it was really about. The ending was so abrupt with the story simply stopping.

The author has used the story to document many social changes which took place in Australia, particularly around the issues of abortion and surrogacy.

I received a free copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

A long, but fascinating book, taking in many different aspects of the lives of two women bound together by love and friendship from girlhood in the 1960's to womanhood in the 1990's.
I also found it interesting because it is set in Australia, and aspects and attitudes to topics such as adoption and surrogacy are different to those in the UK at the same times.
I thoroughly enjoyed the book, and plan to read others by the same author.

This was a beautiful book about life and all its ugliness and beauty. Olivia is the main character who has led a life of mostly tragedy. She's taken in by the family of her mother's good friend after she dies when Olivia is a child. This family will be at the center of the major events of her life from that point forward.

The book follows Olivia from childhood to adulthood. From happiness to heartbreak. It truly is the description of a life lived - - and it isn't always pretty. You see things go full circle from the beginning of relationships all the way to how things come to an end.

This book kept me hooked. It isn't that it moved at a quick pace. I think it's because I could feel Olivia's pain and joy. For a character that often didn't seem to let herself feel emotions early on, she experienced them deeply later in the book.

AUDIOBOOK: I found the narration to be perfect for this book. Accents lent to the authenticity of the storyline. 4 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC and the early copy of the audio version. I chose to review both and the opinions contained within are my own.

Olivia and Cassandra are foster sisters and best friends, and what a journey their life is! This is a powerful story about love, friendship, grief, coping, parenthood and family. The book has a slow start, but once I got into I could not put it down. Their stories are tragic and beautiful, and the love and support they have for each other was tested time and time again. This book does cover some serious topics and there are potential trigger warnings.

Call My Name by Jenni Ogden is about two women and their journey through a large part of their lives. The story is told from Olivia's point of view.

What did I like?

The settings of the UK and Australia. There is a great sense of place.
The complicated back story of Olivia's mother and the relationship she had with Cathie - the woman who welcomes Olivia to her home, from New Zealand to Australia.
I liked Cathie and her husband William who together made a loving and generous family. They give Olivia so much, even when she doesn't realise it.
I liked the men in this book, to me they were the heroes! I know! I know! This is about two women and their relationship and choices! But it was the men I really liked. Ben and Sebastian made patient, forgiving and understanding husbands.
The historical setting of the events that take place are important and cover a time when the events that take place largely were affected by laws or lack of laws.
What did I not love?

There are so many issues covered in this story. Each important and worth exploring in their own right. But my goodness, how can there be so many for a couple and their extended family.  There are losses, grief, secrets and you begin to wonder what next!
Olivia and Cassandra. The two women. I didn't really warm to them. They do have a friendship but its unbalanced. As I said, they had great husbands who loved them. I guess that counts for them!
The book ends on a sad note and while there was some small resolution in the two women's relationship - I am not so sure!
Yes heaps of issues and if I listed them all here it would really give away the whole plot, so if you were to read this I'd say go in but be warned, you could be triggered.

Call My Name is an emotionally yet realistic view on love and friendship.

This book explores heavy topics pertaining to women and even though I am a woman and have my own fair share of trauma, reading and hearing about other women who go through the same amazes me how strong and resilient we a women is and has to be.

I enjoyed that it spans from the 60’s, “the hippy” era until the 90’s as it was well researched.

All in all, the writing was thoughtful and I would recommend this to other women to read.

Wow, this book….what can I say, I’ve never read a book by this author before but she is definitely going to be on my favourite authors list from now on. Read in one sitting

"Birds. His first love. Gannets, falcons...Not me, not yet."

I thoroughly savored #CallMyName. The time with these characters is well spent, and I found myself thinking about them when I wasn't reading, a sign to me that they've captured my heart. A friendship between two foster sisters, Cassandra and Olivia, is tested time and time again through, simply, life. I loved the New Zealand and Australian settings, the beaches, the houses and the descriptions of food! Terrific read, highly recommend.

P.S. Thanks to #netgalley for the ARC.