Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with an audio-arc in an exchange for an honest review.

This book follows a Jewish family that leaves Latvia for the New World in a multigenerational story spanning around 90 years.

The story's focus on the social lives of the family and their navigation of antisemitism and prejudice alongside general societal issues such as financial struggles and the patriarchy brought a fresh perspective onto an era filled with so much pain and suffering. The prosecutions and concentration camps are only mentioned in passing, but the author built the fear and tension quite well into the characters' daily lives with describing the measures the family went to protect themselves and the next generation without bringing the world wars directly into play.

The characters were all unique with their own flaws and personal motivations and the author did a good job of portraying how each of them was affected by their culture and beliefs and how that changed with each generation.

Because the narrative spanned several decades with a large cast of characters and without clear indicators for the passage of time, it was sometimes hard to keep track of what was happening and when. There were several large time skips that only eventual context revealed and there was no telling in which year any particular chapter was taking place.

The story of the forest itself was intriguing at first, but it eventually became a bit much with the repetitiveness and what was done with it. That was a bit difficult for me to get over as it didn't feel realistic.

The pacing of the book felt a little off to me as well as I had to push through the first few chapters to get to the interesting parts and then it tapered off again towards the end.

Overall was an interesting read from a perspective I haven't read before and with valuable social and historical commentary.

I picked this book as I thought it would have many similarities with my family history, filled with conflict and stories of the war.
This book is not that! I found it a more of a stroll through what was, pretty much, a mundane middle class existence over several generations. I think the problem lies in that the author tries to get too much life in to too little space leaving everything a bit superficial.
It's not terrible, hence the 3 stars, but is quite light listening

This book tells a fictionalized version of the author’s family saga. It starts in Latvia in the early 1900s, with an experience that will become one of the family legends. Several members of this Jewish family leave for the US, but get stalled in England, where they forge a new life in Liverpool. The storyline follows the family through multiple generations, covering both world wars and a good part of the twentieth century.

One of the primary themes is storytelling, and the way family myths arise and are retold throughout the generations, morphing over time, and becoming part of the glue that binds them together. Their personal stories overlap with the sweeping events of history, which upend several of their lives. The family is split apart and the fates of several are unknown (most of which are eventually revealed).

It is a long meandering story told from multiple perspectives. It addresses Anti-Semitism, and the way history can influence the course of life. I particularly enjoyed the storytelling aspect, and how our family’s stories influence our identities. This is my first time reading Linda Grant, and she is a skilled storyteller. I very much enjoyed the experience and would gladly read another of her works.

It is a story of generations begun from immigrants and how their history becomes fables; stories are altered or changed depending on the world view of the narrator. This could be said for any family story passed down by oral tradition. Its origins in Linda Grant’s family history. Originating from Eastern Europe and Jewish, her family name was Ginsburg but changed in the UK to assimilate and avoid anti-semitism. Grant's novel shows that there will always be intolerant individuals who feel they own certain communities and everyone who inhabits that space should be a mere reflection of them. It's also clever in how it demonstrates the fragile value of ideologies when tested against the full spectrum of society. For me the story jumped around a bit too much and was a bit difficult to follow. Thanks to Netgalley, the author and publisher.

I struggled to finish this one. Not really for me. Thanks to the publisher and Net Galley for a copy of the audiobook in exchange for my opinions.

I gave this a good try, but I wasn’t struck by the story and the characters weren’t easy to connect with. The premise was good and it had a lot of potential, but I couldn’t get through it all as it failed to truly catch my interest from the start. I’m sure, however, that others might like it far more than I did.

I was really interested in reading this as we so often hear stories about what happened to the Jews during the war, and in my experience, not so much about the rebuilding of their lives afterwards.
Unfortunately I just couldn’t stay interested enough to continue listening. I’m not sure why it didn’t work for me, perhaps it is a combination of things. The story didn’t flow naturally, rather it seemed to jump around all over the place making it hard for me to maintain interest. I also found the language used jarring at times, moving from polite upper class conversation to the complete opposite with vulgar, casual sex talk.
Many others have spoken highly of the book, so maybe it just wasn’t right for me.
With thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and author for allowing me access to the audiobook for review.