As much as I loved her first two books, this book fell short for me. I enjoyed the premise but there were so many characters and moving parts that it felt very fragmented and hard to follow. I don’t think I’ll remember much again all, which is very different from her other books. There was also, in my opinion, a ton of telling versus showing and that made me feel disconnected during the reading experience. Regardless I appreciated the advance copy from NetGalley and the publisher and I wish this book the best!

I was a little lost at the start of the book and there are a lot of characters to keep track. of. It dragged a bit in the middle and lost my attention

Every Time We Say Goodbye is a deeply moving, thoughtful, and thought-provoking novel. It's literary fiction at its finest.

The plot, centered around the world of post-WWII Italian cinema, is not a barn-burner of a thriller, but serves as a glamorous vehicle to explore themes like grief, trauma, and redemption. American expatriates escaping the McCarthy witch hunts allow for discussion of subjects that are all too relevant today. And it wouldn't be Italy without love, even when it's 'amore molto complicato'.

I'm rating this book 4 1/2 stars, only taking off the final half star because the author does get a bit preachy towards the end. She also has a tendency throughout to unnecessarily spell out the bigger points she wants to make long after her audience has understood them and is ready to move on.

Otherwise, this is a big win for Natalie Jenner, showing a lot of growth as a writer. It snuck under the radar at the end of December to become one of my favorite books of 2023.

Natalie Jenner's "Every Time We Say Goodbye," was a unique piece of historical fiction dating back to post WWII and taking place in Italy. Though I have yet to read any of Jenner's other titles, I understand some of the characters are featured in her other books! Can't wait to read those. 
In this one, Vivan Lowry is in a battle with the church over her latest play. She relocated to Italy from Great Britain after less than glowing reviews of her last screenplay. She's also interested in finding out more about her assumed dead fiance after discovering he wasn't killed during the war, but taken as a prisoner of war. Vivian experiences a bit of culture shock from her home of Britain, to the boldness of the men and the overreach of the church in Italy. Determined to make her play a success she forges her own path in Italy, connecting with her friends, a Sister in the church, and her own new romantic relationship. It's interesting to see how she deals with and changes from what has happened in her past, as well as how society changes after a war. 
Most books talk about occupied and post-war France, but there aren't many that dive into Italy during the same time. This one throws some light on that period, covering the resistance, collaborations, and the guilt survivors felt after the war. If you're into historical fiction with solid research, lovely writing, and finely crafted characters, check this book out when it is released in May 2024. Until then check out Natalie Jenner's other works!

Thank you to @netgalley @stmartinspress and @authornataliejenner for the early read! It was an honor.

I loved Natalie Jenner’s previous books so I was delighted to receive an ARC of her latest novel, “Every Time We Say Goodbye.” This novel focuses on post-war Italy in 1955, where the main character, Vivien Lowry, has gone to write screenplays in Rome, escaping a nasty review of her latest play performed in London. She also hopes to find information on her late fiancee, who she recently discovered did not die in North Africa in 1943 but instead was taken to Italy as a prisoner of war.

Interspersed throughout the 1955 narrative is the 1943 account of a young female resister (La Scolaretta or Schoolgirl in English) who assassinates a German officer, one of several assassinations of German officers she carried out during the war in German occupied Italy. While in Italy, Vivien encounters some of the individuals who were involved in La Scolaretta’s resistance activities.

The novel’s characters are complex and well-drawn, and the book brings to life post-war Italy with its beautiful descriptions of the countryside as well as a critical examination of post-war Italian politics and the role the Vatican played in everyday life there. There’s a plethora of books on German occupied and post-war France but very few that describe the Italian experiences in those same time periods. This book sheds a light on that era, describing as it does the resistance, collaborations and the guilt felt by survivors after the war. I highly recommend this book to historical fiction fans who enjoy well-researched books, with beautiful prose and finely drawn characters.

I have very much enjoyed Natalie Jenner's books and this was a great addition. Her approach to the WW2 era/post war feels very fresh and interesting to me.
Thanks to NetGalley and St Martin's Press for the ARC to read and review.
This book has a lot going on! It is primarily the story of Vivien, a playwright who moves to Italy to try to resurrect her career. She suffered terrible losses during the war and is working to resolve herself to the aftermath. She becomes involved with several romantic figures but this is not a romance book. It is a study of how people react to the horrors of war.
There are many characters in this book, in fact some seem to be random and name dropping. The main characters are quite well done and fully fleshed out.
There is so much poignancy to this story.
I have seen little historical fiction from the era set in Italy and I loved that! So interesting to see how the Vatican/ Catholic Church responded to the war the changes brought by its aftermath.
Highly recommended for those who enjoyed The Jane Austen Society and The Bloomsbury Girls. Very high quality historical fiction.
4.5 stars

Every Time We Say Goodbye, by Natalie Jenner, will be an important novel of 2024!

I just finished the #netgalley which I was saving for Christmas. This is a story about hard things - her characters in the 1950s and their interrogation of the messy period of the second world war when Italy surrendered to the Allies but was promptly invaded by Hitler, who conducted a slaughter and rape campaign with the resulting chaos of escaping POWs, shifting allegiances and brave resistors. The counterpoint is the later-timeline of the thriving Italian cinema industry where gritty Vivien goes to be a script doctor and search for information about her fiancé David who was killed in the war with very little information at the time, but later, described as having escaped a detention camp in Italy. The grimness of the backstory is balanced by the fascinating lives of movie writers, producers and actors, beautiful vignettes in Rome and Italian villages, despite the heavy hand of the Vatican who can shut down movie productions on “moral” grounds, like bedroom scenes, or movies asking questions about the neutral/complicit response of the Catholic church to the Holocaust. Fantastic writing and deeply real complicated characters kept me reading toward the hope and redemption, even in the face of heartbreak.

Two things: I was at first disappointed that Jenner wasn't offering another literary-Anglophile story with beautiful narration. Her first two novels, The Jane Austen Society and Bloomsbury Girls, delighted me so much. This new novel has much higher stakes and sterner subject matter. And she pulled it off brilliantly. Also, if like me, you avoid woman-facing-away war novels for the masses, be assured this is a much higher literary achievement and also completely readable. You'll care about the characters and consider your time well spent.

Coming in May 2024. Thank you to #nataliejenner, #stmartinspress and NetGalley for the advance copy in return for an unbiased review.

#worldwar2fiction #thejaneaustensociety #lml_reads #cinecittà

I very much wanted to love this book as Bloomsbury Girls was such a favorite of mine, but I guess I am just not as captivated by the movie industry and Italian politics as I was by a bookstore (!) and England. I found there to be too much description (for me) of Italian places and the role of the Catholic Church. I also just did not resonate with any of the characters even though I had loved the main character (Vivien) in the previous novel. Hopefully others have a better experience.

I stumbled upon The Jane Austen Society and loved the storyline and writing. I followed up with the Bloomsbury Girls and enjoyed the bookstore plot. I believe Every Time We Say Goodbye is the final installment in this trilogy but the storyline tie in was tenuous. This is Vivian's story..she has a failed attempt as a playwright in London and moves to Italy to work in filmmaking. There is a dual timeline plot that works well to develop the story. This is a darker story than I expected, there are many characters to keep track of and I found that I didn’t really connect with any of them. I know this story will appeal to many readers but it was not one I loved so much I couldn’t put it down.

Natalie Jenner’s debut novel, The Jane Austen Society, was a welcome and inspiring read in spring 2020. Set after the devastation of WWII, a community is formed by a love of Austen and the desire to preserve Chawton cottage. Jenner next took one of the characters to a London bookstore in Bloomsbury Girls. And now, in Every Time We Say Goodbye, Jenner takes Vivian Lowry from the bookstore to post-war Italy, working as a script doctor in the movies after her play is a flop. Vivian carries her own war wounds: her beloved fiance disappeared in Italy during the war, necessitating some difficult decisions and leaving her heart hardened against further heartbreak. She takes lovers but avoids love.

Post-War Italy is a glamorous time and place, the novel filled with up and coming actresses like Gina Lollobrigida and Sophia Loren, aggressively pursued by street photographers. It is also a time and place of great contradictions, as Vivian says, a “former Fascist regime…shapeshifting into an ostensible democracy that was heavily influenced by a sensorial church and half-heartedly administered by the police.”

The church is policing the movie industry, censoring anything that is critical of its role under Fascism or what it deems immoral. And yet Catholic church leaders hide their own sullied characters.

The director of the movie Vivian is working on wants to make a movie about the woman he loved, a teenaged Resistance courier who was brutally murdered. Her story is revealed in alternating chapters.

The novel has it all: passion and love, glamor and the grim reality of war, refugees and orphans and the priviledged rich, the imperious authority of the church, scandalous men, and women struggling to live and work and love. Vivian’s insights into the conflicted times are eerily reflective of our own. She struggles with how a few men could “conjure a false enemy and unfounded fear across several nations,” and wonders if it is possible to “eradicate” this hate for good. The impact of movies to tell transformative stories of truth is also central.

You don’t have to have read the previous novels to enjoy Every Time We Say Goodbye. I loved being carried away into this rich and conflicted world.

Thanks to the publisher for a free book.

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC of this historical novel.

This book is not part of a series but it does take place in the same world as Jenner's previous books, The Jane Austen Society and Bloomsbury Girls, both which I have read. You don't have to read those other books to understand this one.

The author obviously did a ton of research for this story. It takes place in Italy a few years after the second world war, when everyone is still coping with loss and love, betrayal and hope. Vivien, the main character, heads to Italy in attempt to learn more about what happened to her late fiance during the war. She works for the complicated and romantic world of the the Italian cinema, becoming embroiled in a romance and the various trials and tribulations of her new friends and coworkers.

I felt this book was just a lot - a lot of information, a lot of viewpoints, a lot of stories to tell. I think it would work better as a PBS series. It was a bit overwhelming for me. Slow at first but the second half picked up a bit.

Three stars.

In 1955, Vivien Lowry is facing the greatest challenge of her life. Her latest play, the only female-authored play on the London stage that season, has opened in the West End to rapturous applause from the audience. The reviewers, however, are not as impressed as the playgoers and their savage notices not only shut down the play but ruin Lowry's last chance for a dramatic career. With her future in London not looking bright, at the suggestion of her friend, Peggy Guggenheim, Vivien takes a job in as a script doctor on a major film shooting in Rome’s Cinecitta Studios. There she finds a vibrant movie making scene filled with rising stars, acclaimed directors, and famous actors in a country that is torn between its past and its potentially bright future, between the liberation of the post-war cinema and the restrictions of the Catholic Church that permeates the very soul of Italy. As Vivien tries to forge a new future for herself, she also must face the long-buried truth of the recent World War and the mystery of what really happened to her deceased fiancé.

Every Time We Say Goodbye is a brilliant exploration of trauma and tragedy, hope and renewal, filled with characters both real and imaginary, from the author of the novels The Jane Austen Society and Bloomsbury Girls. I have just discovered Natalie Jenner in the last year or so and am in love with her writing style, research, and insights into different eras of history. Thank you to NetGalley and the pubisher for allowing me to read this newest book by this author.

I absolutely adored “The Bloomsbury Girls,” so I was thrilled to read an ARC of “Every Time We Say Goodbye,” While I haven’t read “The Jane Austen Society,” I hear that his book weaves in storylines from both of Jenner’s previous two novels. But I feel like this can exist as a standalone book. Perhaps reading all three novels would help a reader to pick up on more nuance sprinkled throughout the novel. Bringing up characters and events from previous historical novels is reminiscent of how Beatriz Williams’s writing.

I was a Film Studies major, so I jumped at the chance to read historical fiction about Italian Cinema during WWII.

I also love reading books about strong women who support themselves as working writers.

Vivienne lives in Rome after a theater she worked at in London was destroyed. She is a playwright hired to fix a struggling screenplay. The timeline jumps between events in 1943 and 1946.

I found Jenner’s characters to be complex and realistic. 4/5 stars. Thanks to NetGalley for giving me a sneak peek in exchange for an honest review.

It took me a long time to read this book. It is very well written and covers a topic that i know very little about. I did read the other 2 books by Natalie Jenner but felt i needed a refresher - perhaps i should read them again - it would help to read them all in order and to have them fresh in one's mind, i think. I liked it but it wasn't a page turner for me - i enjoyed the romantic side of it but didn't really get into the religious or cinematic components - but that is just me - some may really enjoy these segments of history. It will be a great read for historical fiction buffs so if this is you - grab a copy !!

I really enjoyed this book and it’s duel time storyline . I can tell that these books are well researched and you end up learning so much by reading them . It’s a throughly enjoyable read .
Thanks to the publisher for letting me review the book

Every Time We Say Goodbye
Natalie Jenner
May 14, 2024
St. Martin's Press
Thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the e-ARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.
The bestselling author of The Jane Austen Society and Bloomsbury Girls returns with a brilliant novel of love and art, of grief and memory, of confronting the past and facing the future.
This was a bit darker than I expected. It was a tear jerker but it was slow going for me.
3 stars

A bit darker than I was expecting. Tearjerker ending.

While I enjoyed the history of film making it did slow the story down a bit. I'm looking forward to listening to audiobook when it is released. There was a lot going on and I think a second read would help wrap my mind around the story.

Every Time We Say Goodbye is another heart penetrating novel by Natalie Jenner. When I read one of her books, I cannot help but write copious amounts of notes. There are numerous lines of profound wisdom, complexity of thought on societal issues, poetic and literary insight, intense interactions and behavioural observations on the pages. Natalie makes me think and dig deeper to grasp the truths that are often hidden under layers of facades. In Every Time We Say Goodbye, I was moved by the complexity of the characters, their situations and lessons learned. And even though this is a fictional world, the astute realism is unforgettable and far-reaching.

Natalie’s stories, like with Jane Austen’s, focus on the importance of friendships and family. And Every Time We Say Goodbye is no exception. In fact, her current novel takes us through the horrors of war and how it affects those important relationships. The sense of loss is truly felt through Vivien and others. Whether from known deaths on the battlefield or of loved ones gone missing in action. It awakens in us core emotions and makes us wonder how we would react in the same situations.

This story poses the question: how do we move forward after war has invaded our lives? Especially since it can change a person—not always for the better. Finding closure for the living can be hard. Tabitha has experienced the loss of freedom and her home. Not something Vivi had suffered but ‘she did understand the unique pain of not knowing what has happened to someone you love.’ As she says: ‘There is nowhere for the grief to go; there is nothing to move on from.’ These two women’s experiences are different but they both share the outcome: 'How could she trust anyone or rely upon the appearance of things that could vanish.’

Too often people get stuck in a cycle of grief and anger. This is a big part of Vivien’s journey. And the message that Sister Justina delivers to Vivi forces her to look at her beliefs. Does she really need to change to survive? And what has it changed her into? War has affected her deeply but the nun says don’t change so much you lose your own self. Those who fought in the war ‘lived and died as they believed. There must be faith…’ Changing because of anger serves no good purpose. Vivi has felt the horrid effects of war and it has made her angry because of all she lost: including a marriage to a man she loved profoundly. As she said to Claudia: ‘We would have been married but for the war.’

War can make a person feel helpless. Unable to control the narrative. ‘The blame fed her (Vivi’s) anger and the anger fuelled her writing...’ She could control the story and outcome on paper-–exact revenge and ‘she could write a complete, if not happy, ending.’ Vivi as a writer, is also a woman of observations. The people she encounters in her search to find answers of what happened to her fiance, David, leave her with more questions and meanings to sort through. I found Sister Justina’s conversations very moving and certainly her advice to Vivi very helpful. And her friend, actress Claudia, throws a few curve balls that also contribute to her awareness of the effects of life choices and learning to be true to yourself. What is the secret ingredient missing in their lives? Vivi eventually learns once she understands Claudia’s choice and what it really means. And how she herself has forgotten a simple truth on her journey of survival. Although Vivien has learned much about the horrors of war and how it can rob you of hope and trust, she wants to honour David’s eternal optimism, his thoughtful and generous heart. And so, her journey leads her to turn a corner…

There are many comments in this novel on war— that it is ‘a fearful following of destruction’. Even a great loss of trust between people. And people are forced to make difficult decisions—never knowing what is the best solution. As Levi states: he ‘didn’t feel there was much choice at all.’ Who could he trust? There is a repeat of this question throughout the novel. And there are so many harbouring secrets of the past. Levi, like many, tried to save casualties along the way. In this case, he was trying to save a baby who lost a family. He became this baby’s protector so when the child is taken from his arms to safety, it hits him hard. It’s that need for the human touch, connection and family preservation that bursts through during the battles. Keeping siblings together. Maintaining the bonds. All the important things ‘that tether us together’, when threats come fast and hard.

War causes division, despair and distrust. As previously mentioned, the novel shows the importance of family (and friends) which is very much a Jane Austen concern. These kind of relationships have a positive impact on the developing individual. Where is it we learn trust first—if not between child and mother or father and with our siblings? Vivi has had no experience with children but when an eight year old asks her how will she know when she can trust someone, Vivien says she will know the more she lives and the more she meets people. Experience and gut extinct will help us identify it. But war can rob individuals of that vital support structure.

Vivi feels such a strong loss when her actress friend Claudia leaves. She tries to reckon this pain. ‘After all, friends (are) not family.’ But aren’t they in some small way when you let them enter your heart, take them into your confidence and trust? I think Vivi is trying to make sense of this. She feels a great loss of friendship as goodbyes are often forever because friends will make choices that take them away. (The book’s title is so apt.) Vivi misses that bond with another. Again, like Jane Austen, the importance of female friendships for women abounds here. Claudia’s honest advice when she tells Vivien ‘whatever you do—do it with your eyes wide open and a little less anger’ is a wonderful byproduct of their close friendship.

We see other glimpses of Jane Austen’s beliefs in Vivien and David’s relationship. That mutual attraction in Marriage is more important than money or position. Vivien experienced the negative effects of social class restrictions in her fiancé’s family. Their engagement would never be accepted. They were twenty one and ‘fiercely in love’ and she resented ‘being made to feel common in any way.’ Vivien was stylish and attractive and a high achiever—graduating at the top of her year on a full scholarship. There was nothing ordinary or inferior about her. David was an Oxford man but he was expected to take over his family’s vast estate. Born to a titled family meant he had limited choices—including who could be his spouse. Ironically, though David’s lineage boasted longevity and their moto was for the ‘family to succeed at all costs’— their restrictive views caused them to miss the most important ingredient—love. (And losing out on their grandchild.)

This novel covers so many things: including the cinematic world. Other great lines are ‘movies are a business’ and ‘No one says no to Ava Gardner’. We meet Sophia Loren and others on the glittering stage. We get a glimpse of the culture of the 1950s. The Prohibition era, American Jazz and speakeasy ambience—these are all sprinkled across the canvas of this literary painting. And not to mention the Vatican. The exploration of good and evil. Natalie covers a lot of territory.

The devastating effects of Hitler’s regime—the countless deaths—the attempted extermination of a race of people, causes Vivi to wonder if ‘this cancer of the mind’ can ever be removed from the world. But there have been brave souls who have resisted. This is a painful and honest portrayal of war and its effects. The loss of trust, hope and happiness. But it also exposes a war closer to home in the social classes. And so there are many battles between the heart and head.

In Every Time We Say Goodbye I was taken by the depth of the characters, their development and their journeys to find the answers in life they sought. Many of the cast were memorable and although punctuated with human frailty, possessed heroic hearts. Vivien finds her answers and those revelations are quite different than expected. There are surprises and sorrows and healing and grace… The engine that runs the story is found on this line: ‘Nothing could be created from the emptiness of scorn—to create, there had to be hope.’ ‘Hope that we as humans, could be better—could do better.’ Vivien realises in that moment ‘what she, Levi, Curtis, Nino—all of them at work with tales false and true—were really searching for.’

I highly recommend Every Time We Say Goodbye that I could not pull away from—even when the drama seized and shook my heart. A brilliant story that should not be missed. 5 Big Stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thanks to St Martin's Press and Netgalley for a review copy.

Every Time We Say Goodbye by Natalie Jenner tells a story of the film industry in Italy in the 1950s. Vivien Lowry goes to Italy to work on scripts after her latest play is met with bad reviews in London. She has learned that her fiancé did not die in World War I like she was told but was a POW. She is searching for answers about what happen to him, rewriting scripts to meet the Vatican’s strict approval and finding what she hopes is love. As Vivien is sorting through her life, Jenner will go back to the 1943, to tell the story of La Scolaretta , a young female resister who assassinates a German Commande. Vivien reads her story through a script that will never meet the Vatican’s approval.
Natalie Jenner paints the scenery so well that the reader feels like they are walking the streets and countryside of Italy. She brings to light many topics that are often not discussed about World War II including the Vatican’s role and the resisters impact. Many of the story lines could have been novels on their own including Leo finding the baby. I found myself getting overwhelmed on many occasions trying to remember who is who and what their role in Vivien’s life was. The dual timeline connected well but I would have preferred more about La Scolaretta. There were many times that it seemed that storyline was forgotten.
Thank you NetGalley and St Martin’s press for ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This is a dual timeline novel set mostly in Italy, during WW!! II in 1943. In 1955.we find the protagonist, Vivien Lowry who is a British playwright and whose current play is being thrashed by the London critics. Receiving a letter from Rome, she’s told that her fiancé may not have been killed during the war. It was at that moment she decides to go to Rome to see if that’s true and perhaps to find him. While there she becomes a script writer to help with a script for the latest film at Cinecitta Studios. It is interesting to read how much is controlled by the Vatican. Both the Cardinal and the Pope have a firm hand on what is allowed and what isn’t. It’s a hard hand on censorship. While in Italy Vivien becomes involved with two men, an Italian prince and a married American film financier.
The 1943 account is of a young female resister La Scolaretta who assassinates a German Commander, one of several assassinations of German officers she carried out during the war in German occupied Italy. While in Italy, Vivien encounters some of the individuals who were involved in La Scolaretta’s resistance activities.
This story brings together the emotions of politics, deceit, and trauma. The characters are well developed and the research brings you to a country heavily involved in WWII and how it affected its citizens during the war and after.
My thanks to NertGalley and St. Martin’s Press for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.