Publisher: St. Martin’s Press, May 14, 2024

Format: Ebook

Pages: 336

Rating: 3.5/5 stars

Summary (From Goodreads):

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.

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 dazzling characters both real and imaginary, from the incomparable author who charmed the world with her novels The Jane Austen Society and Bloomsbury Girls.

My Review:

Thank you St. Martin’s Press for the copy of this book.
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Read if you like: post WW2 fiction, movie setting in Italy
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Taking place after Bloomsbury Girls, we follow Vivien as she leaves London for Rome to work as a writer for a film production company. There she learns how Italians are trying to move forward from WW2 and Fascism, as well as the tight grip the Church has on the country and censorship/
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Overall I liked this book but it is my least favourite of Jenner’s three books in the series. The Jane Austen Society was just so perfect. The pacing of this one was quite slow at times, but I still enjoyed it!