Beatriz Williams is a favorite and this book did not disappoint! She does such an amazing job twisting together multiple POVs and timelines that all intersect so perfectly. Each chapter keeps you engaged and leaves you on the perfect cliffhangers. It’s easy to follow and takes wonderfully unexpected turned. I wish there was a few more chapters because it ends in such a great twist.

Thank you @netgalley and @randomhouse for the eARC of Husbands & Lovers by @authorbeatriz in exchange for an honest review!

Husbands & Lovers
Publication Date: June 25, 2024
Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine | Ballantine Books

📖📖 Book Review 📖📖 Beatriz Williams draws the reader in with high emotional investment from the very first page of this book! Two women, Mallory and Hannah, live decades…and continents apart. In the 21st century, Mallory is a single mother caring for her sick son, in need of a kidney donation after ingesting a toxic mushroom. In 1951, Hannah and her husband sought a hot, dry climate in Cairo for his health ailments. However, her own health is jeopardized by a snake bite but she is saved by a hotel worker. The course of these women’s lives are changed forever by these near death encounters. Husbands & Lovers is an absolutely beautifully written novel that delves deep into the intricacy of relationships. Watching these two stories weave together is a true privilege, creating a masterfully written and flawless piece of historical fiction.

4.5/⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Review is on Goodreads and will be on instagram ahead of publication!

I had HIGH expectations for this one, and of course, Beatriz Williams delivered!!

Husbands and Lovers is a multi-narrative story featuring Hannah, the wife of a British diplomat in Cairo post-WWII; young Mallory, who is working as a nanny for the summer; and mother Mallory, whose son is facing renal failure.

Williams weaves their stories together expertly, of course, and I couldn’t get enough of every single story. However, the real mastery is in the characters themselves. Mallory was real enough that her occasionally questionable choices felt plausible. Monk felt like a saint…except when he didn’t. And I couldn’t quite put a finger on Hannah’s motives, until the end, which drove me mad.

No notes. I loved this one. I highly recommend for my fellow fans of Beatriz Williams and historical fiction lovers. This is a great example of multiple timelines that works.

Thanks for the e-ARC, NetGalley and Ballantine Books at Random House!

Beatriz Williams has become a must read author for me and Husbands & Lovers did not disappoint. I love a good split timeline in a book and this one was perfection. The transitions between Hannah in 1951-52, Mallory in the early-mid 2000s, and Mallory in the present day were seamless and so thoroughly woven together as to make the story really cohesive. The heartbreaks, joys, tragedies, and triumphs of these interconnected stories made for a devastating and bittersweet read.

Hannah's portion is set in Cairo, Egypt in a tense post-WWII world. There was so much I had no idea about and you can tell the author really digs into her research to make her stories as authentic as possible.

I found the three timelines interesting but would have enjoyed more about Hannah. I loved how the story tied together with Mallory and Hannah.

Husbands & Lovers follows Mallory in 2022, navigating life with a son on dialysis after a freak mushroom incident at summer camp. We also follow Mallory in 2008 as she falls in love with Sam's father, Monk Adams, who later becomes a music icon. In Egypt in the 1950s we follow Hannah Ainsworth, the wife of an English diplomat stationed in Cairo, and her love affair while there. I love the blend of historical fiction, intrigue, and New England seaside nostalgia. In comparison to some of Williams' prior works, I noticed the threads weaving together earlier in the novel rather than later, which I appreciated. As some of the "twists" were approaching, even though I already had an inkling, I found myself barreling through, breathless with anticipation towards the end. I'll continue to read anything Beatriz Williams puts out.

the above was shared on Goodreads, but I figured this part didn't necessarily need to go in there since it's a bit of a spoiler.
I'm a kidney transplant nurse, and I particularly appreciated the look into what it's like to love someone living with kidney disease, and also the living miracle that is kidney donation. The only inaccuracy I could spot was that Monk's scar from donation would be on his abdomen, not his back. Typically the surgery is done laparoscopically, so he would have a few small scars, with one larger incision, the "hand port." It's also usually a little more scheduled, even in the case of an anonymous donor, but I'm here for the drama of the scene, no notes.

Thank you to the publisher and Net Galley for the eARC. This was a perfect beach read for my spring break. Interesting characters, romance, a bit of mystery. I have read more of the author's historical fiction so this was an interesting change of pace. The characters were written with a lot of humor and the storyline was engaging.

After reading the lost summers of Newport, I knew I wanted to read more by this author! I loved the different timelines and how well that they meshed together so wonderfully while I read the book. I couldn’t put this book down, I loved watching the banter/drama unfold! Can’t recommend this book enough! I can’t wait to pick up another book by Beatriz very soon!

In this new, standalone tale from Beatriz Williams, readers are transported from the fictional Winthrop Island (the setting for two previous Williams novels) to 1950’s Cairo and back again. The story begins with the Mallory, a single mom to a teenage son living with the consequences of a near fatal accident when he was a child. As Mallory works to find a new kidney for her son, she is forced to revisit a life she left behind years previously after a devastating betrayal destroyed her fairytale romance with her best friend, Monk. Now a famous singer-songwriter, Monk is both the most likely solution to her son’s problems and the last person Mallory feels she can face. In the midst of this personal turmoil, Mallory and her sister are also caught up in a family mystery, unravelling the details behind an unusual bracelet left to Mallory following her mother’s death.

The novel is written in alternating timelines, also following Hannah, a Hungarian refugee and wife of a British diplomat, in 1951 Cairo. Hannah nearly dies one evening of a snake bite, but is saved by the mysterious hotel manager, with whom she subsequently embarks on a dangerous and passionate secret love affair. Navigating pre-revolution Cairo in the time of British occupation, Hannah ultimately makes choices that will echo for generations.

Husbands and Lovers is classic Beatriz Williams in the absolute best way. Ms. Williams is a masterful storyteller, combining characters that are richly developed and nuanced with propulsive plot details that kept me turning page after page late into the night. While the romantic tensions in the book drive the majority of the plot, I also really enjoyed the mystery involving Mallory’s mother and the historical details of a time and place I hadn’t previously read much about. Like many prior Williams novels, there are clever ties to prior books that dedicated Williams fans will adore, but the story stands entirely on it’s own. I loved this book and devoured it in two short days! I plan to revisit the novel again this summer, hopefully while lounging on a beach in Rhode Island, pretending I’m sitting in the sands at Winthrop. The ending of the novel does seem to set readers up for a future return to the lives of those connected to Hannah and Mallory and I can only hope that is true and coming very soon! Highly recommend Husbands and Lovers for the perfect summer read.

Really enjoyed this book- so much that I couldn't put it down and finished it in just a few days. I loved how the author flipped between past and present tense but it all blended together well.

Going into this book it starts off a bit slow, there is a lot of character building and different settings.

I personally feel that Hannah could have had her own book and then Mallory could have been a sequel, but I still really enjoyed this novel.

I like how there is the ties to the DNA testing (like Ancestory), and then the current and past story of Mallory and Monk.

I do wish that Lee wasn't such a well you know, because I think Monk would have realized that so much sooner, based on the way he is created and people know him/his character.

Some parts were a little effed up, but that is what makes this a page turner.

Thank you NetGalley for my E-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I received a free eARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I just started watching Palm Royale, which made me want to read a “rich people behaving badly” novel. This isn’t *quite* that, although it does take place on the Cape, and while there are some poorly behaved rich folks, they’re mostly in the background.

Williams mentions in her author’s note that this is her first book that’s set at least partially in the present day - I hadn’t clocked that, and it’s interesting. We’re dealing with multiple timelines and narrators - Mallory in both the present day (2022) and 2008, and Hannah in 1950s Cairo. I suppose it’s not a spoiler to say that these two women are related, although Mallory doesn’t know it yet.

When the novel opens, Mallory’s son is in peril, having just eaten a death cap mushroom at summer camp on a dare. He survives, but loses kidney function, so he’s looking at a lifetime of dialysis if they can’t find a donor. Her sister Paige keeps trying to convince Mallory to contact Sam’s father, but it’s complicated. Not only does he not know he has a kid, but he’s a famous musician. Mallory has always resigned herself to raising Sam alone (she got pregnant in the 2008 timeline, during the summer she nannied for Monk’s family), and the last thing she wants is to seem like she’s trying to take advantage of Monk now that he’s famous. They haven’t even spoken since that summer, when Mallory left abruptly without saying goodbye.

Then we have Hannah, living in Cairo as a diplomat’s wife. She has her own tragic past - she met her husband when she was at a displaced persons camp in Austria. She acted as his translator during the Nuremberg trials, and then they were married once the trials were over. She has her own tragic past, with her first husband Janos and their children. Honestly, I found Hannah’s story far more compelling for the majority of the novel. Her marriage isn’t great, but given the tragedy in her past, it’s not surprising that she’s basically just in it for the safety it provides her. As the novel goes on, she has flashbacks to her previous life before her marriage to Alistair, and those were the parts I was most interested in.

The biggest thing that bugged me about this book is that these two women might as well have existed in two entirely separate novels. I was invested in Mallory’s story as well, but most of her problems pale in comparison to Hannah’s (until we learn the real reason she left that summer). The thread connecting these two generations is a beautiful snake bracelet that Mallory’s mother left her - it was given to her by her own mother, and she never took it off. Mallory and Paige start trying to figure out where the bracelet could have come from, and in the process learn that their mother was actually adopted from an Irish orphanage. So we’re going back and forth as Mallory and Paige investigate, and Hannah’s timeline moves closer and closer to the birth of their mother. But none of these things converge until the VERY end, and in the meantime, Mallory is having her own separate series of dramas that have nothing at all to do with this Irish orphanage business (minus a very brief trip to Ireland).

So Mallory’s drama involves Monk coming back into her life (she and her sister are staying on the island where his family has a summer house, and he just happens to be there preparing for his wedding). This is generally the kind of romance I can handle, because it’s in service of the greater plot, and for the most part doesn’t grind the story to a halt. Did I do a lot of skimming when they’re making various declarations of love? Of course. Barf.

Ultimately, I enjoyed this, but I wished the plots had come together sooner…or that the novel had just been about Hannah on her own.

This book is a stunner! I’m a sucker for multiple timelines and points of view, and I loved how the timelines wove together. This book was also about a part of history that I didn’t know much about, and now I’m sure to know more. Highly recommend this one, thank you for the ARC NetGalley!

Ok…this book has A LOT going on…A LOT!

There are three time lines going that weave together a messy story of scandal, love, family, betrayals, and lies. Drama! If family drama is your jam this is your book!

I always enjoy this author and how she makes various characters come together!

Thank you to the author and NetGalley for this fun read. I can’t wait for it to hit the shelves. I recommend!

Interesting dual time lines coupled with all the flash backs from the present to ages ago. The story kept my interest and was intricately woven, albeit could have been shorter. It started to get a bit tedious. I enjoyed the journey. #HusbandsandLovers, #goodreads.

I had been waiting to read this until summer was a bit closer on the horizon, so it's finally time! I've loved Beatriz Williams' books in the past, but this one felt a bit trite and predictable. I liked the setting in Cairo and how the stories came together, but thought that some of the plot points were too easy to see coming.

Things I loved:
-the dual POV and multiple timelines. I was so invested in each of them!
-Hannah's story was so sad yet she kept persisting and persevering. But despite her sadness, it didn't feel like trauma p0*n.
-I loved hearing Paige's side plot story...wish there was a bit more of her!
-unique time in history! so much going on

Things that I struggled with:
-it was a very slow start and the chapters were long so it took a minute to get into
-I wish there was more closure/another chapter of Hannah talking about what happened once she was saved from the fire and where she ended up
-more on the bracelet and Hannah's history with it...like how did she find out it was meant to carry messages? I was left wondering

William’s latest work explores three different time lines. Two follow Mallory and Monk - one in 2008 and one in 2022. We see the summer they shared in 2008 when Mallory was a nanny for Monk’s younger siblings and he was an aspiring musician and a present day reunion thanks to a health issue with Mallory’s twelve-year-old son now that Monk is a famous rock star. Oh how I rooted for them to get back together. The dynamic between these two characters stirs the heart. Slowly, they learn to trust each other again after an unexplainable event had separated them in 2008. I was shocked when we find out the reason. Warning- it’s bad.

The third timeline takes us back to Cairo in 1951 during British occupation and uprisings with Egyptian nationals. It’s a time period I didn’t know much about, but Williams presents details to help the reader understand what was happening during this tumultuous time while also following the character of Hannah Ainsworth. With Mallory and her sister’s quest to find relatives through an ancestry search, we find out they are related to Hannah.

Williams ties these two stories together beautifully. I was sorry when the book ended. I will say hearing Hannah’s history added another layer to the story- one which I didn’t really think was needed. Also, I would have loved the book to end with an epilogue so that we could see Mallory and Monk’s path in the future since I was so invested in their relationship.

Thank you to NetGallery and Random House for sharing a digital reviewer’s copy with me in exchange for my honest opinions of the novel.

Beatriz Williams has done it again! This time, her story transports you to 1950s Cairo while also taking you to 2008 New England.
2008 - Mallory frantically drives to the hospital to be with her critically ill 10 year old son. She knows in her gut that something is very wrong and she will have to fight for her son’s life.
1951 - Hannah is visiting with her diplomat husband when she is bitten by a Cobra but saved by Lucien, a fellow guest of the hotel.
Both timelines keep you guessing - never knowing how the two storylines will connect … one of the best dual timeline stories I have read in a long time!

This book was really good

Summary: "Two women—separated by decades and continents, and united by a mysterious family heirloom—reclaim family secrets and lost loves in this sweeping novel ..."

This book is a multi-timeline story. The historical story takes place in early 1950s Cairo, Egypt - dealing with post world war II society in Egypt. The more modern story takes place in 2022, but also 13 years prior. Both stories were great, and they connected well in the end when the link between the two stories was revealed. There was a point midway thorugh the story that it was clear how the stories were connected, and it was fun to read the two stories come together. There were a couple of chapters that were a little confusing with the two timelines, esp going back and forth between the two more modern time lines, but overall it was good.

I received an ARC of this book from Netgalley and I'm glad I read it.