Wonderful character study for fans of obsessive fiction, with a hint of Zoe Heller’s Notes on a Scandal. Sharp characterisations, and both witty and sad. The characters willl stayvwith you for some time to come.

I loved this book! 
The moving between timelines really helped us to understand Gilda's character and how she ended up where she did and the book managed these switches seamlessly. 
I loved the relationship between Gilda and Margo, and the relationships between all of the characters felt real and authentic. 
I would only say that parts of the narrative seemed to peter out, I thought the stalking of Alice would be the main storyline and it felt like it was going somewhere dangerous but just seemed to end (same with Gilda's' alcoholism). In fact I thought were heading somewhere incredibly dark with the whole tale but it actually ended quite benignly. Which might really be a relief as I did want Gilda to have some kind of happy ending. And her dreadful son could do with a bit of a slap! 

Overall a really different, refreshing read that shows not every mother gets it right and explores the reasons why.

A wonderful observational first novel.
It is a moving and painful story that highlights a mother’s undying love for her son.
Gilda has made some difficult decisions in her life none more so than leaving her unhappy marriage and her adored son. He is grown up now and married but their mother and son relationship is on a knife edge - can it be saved?
I found myself sympathising with Gilda and hoping for a happy outcome for her. A different type of book to those I normally read but I was fully engaged to the end.

Bitter by Francesca Jakobi is exactly the kind of book you would expect it to be from looking at the blurb. Gilda is a bitter woman who is unable to accept responsibility for the way her life has turned out.

Gilda abandoned her son, Reuben, when he was a young boy and fears the resulting damage to their relationship can never be overcome. Now her son has married someone who is the total opposite as her and Gilda will go to extreme lengths to discover what his new wife has that she doesn’t.

Gilda is not a likeable character, but she is an intriguing one, you want to know how her story ends and whether she will be able to repair her relationship with Reuben.

Bitter begins at Reuben’s wedding to Alice and we immediately get a sense of the kind of woman Gilda is; critical and prone to errors in judgement which she usually proceeds to blame on everyone but herself.

“I thought I looked so smart when I left the flat this morning, but I’ve come to my own son’s wedding in a white suit and veil.”

This is the kind of action that makes it so difficult for her to repair her relationship with her son. She is aware of the distance that exists and is desperate to bridge it, but her actions only seem to make things worse and to make her more bitter.

Her son’s wedding should be a happy occasion for her but everything about it serves only to remind her of their difficult relationship.

“He says she taught him how to love; that she taught him what love could be.

And I can’t look at him because he didn’t learn about love from me.”

During the course of the book we learn that Gilda was married twice and that both marriages failed. Her first marriage was to an older man named Frank, a business partner of her father’s and a match she would not have chosen. Frank was a kind husband and whilst she didn’t love him she was content with him for a while.

However, when Gilda learnt she was pregnant with Reuben that began to change. Once he was born she was scared that she wasn’t able to look after him properly and found herself reliant on the nanny and her friend Margo to look after hm in her stead. When Margo left to work during the war Gilda found took to her bed with depression and her relationship with Reuben was further separated.

Eventually Margo and Frank decided she should take work to try and bring her out of her depression. During the course of this work she met Leo and embarked on the affair that would serve as the final nail in the coffin in terms of her relationship with her son.

Now Gilda takes any sign of Reuben’s love for his wife as a slight to their own relationship.

“He’s holding her hand like it’s a trophy he can’t believe he’s won. This is the son who never touches his mother, not even on the cheek when he kisses me hello. This is the son who never calls me; never visits me unless he knows he has to.”

Gilda often feels overlooked in her life, redundant.

“I can’t remember the last time anyone looked at me and really saw me.”

Bitter is an interesting display of the difficulties that can occur in the relationship between a mother and her son. It was an easy read and one I enjoyed at the time, but I can’t say it was particularly memorable. However, I think it is an ideal holiday read as it doesn’t take too much of your attention and isn’t too heavy.

I was really unsure about this book to start with as it isn't my usual genre.  But i am so glad  i read it. It really feels like you are reading someone's diary and listening to their thoughts. It is wonderfully written and i would really recommend reading it.

Such a beautifully written and interesting book. I read it fair;y quickly as it was so easy to read. Poignant, funny and sometimes dark it ticked all the boxes for me.

I love books with difficult or even dangerous protagonists and so, of course, I loved Gilda. She is portrayed with great skill because, although we see disaster looming, we still understand and forgive (just about) Gilda. Her self-deception - “I happen to be passing their house, that’s all"- is convincingly written and Gilda's backstory is woven together with its outcome:: a compelling account of how she targets her son and new daughter-in-law. A story that might have been too dark, but humour saves it. 
I cried as much as laughing. I loved it.

Gildas story drew me in at the beginning, but unfortunately, I always felt like i was waiting for something to happen.

To start with, the title is brilliant, concise and to the point. Bitter’s meaning (resentful, dissatisfied, discontented, grudge-bearing and carrying a chip on one's shoulders because of perceived ill treatment from others) are apt characteristics of the main character, Gilda, whose life has been far from a gilded cage.

Her sense of injustice festers after years of never being fully considered, appreciated or understood by her family of origin. Consequently, her own behaviour as a youthfully naive wife to Frank, and a seemingly rejecting mother to Reuben, appears to have seeded resentment—if not bitterness—in the heart of her son. 

We encounter Gilda at a time when the son she has failed to fully connect with, or make happy from childhood onwards, becomes blissfully so himself with the blonde, gentile girl he chooses to marry.

Alice is a thorn in the flesh to her mother-in-law, an enigma she tries to comprehend and eventually ends up aping the behaviour of. She also proves to be a loving wife to Reuben, a talented career woman and a source of solace, compassion and support to the desperately needy Gilda.

As the story unfolds we learn more about Gilda's personal history and the factors that helped shaped her into the woman, wife and mother she becomes. Her clear flaws and failings endear her to the reader, as does her obvious desire to do right by those she loves. 

She's a compelling and fully rounded character. One we easily warm to, while hoping that reconciliation and restoration will be possible for her as she learns how to better engage with her son.

An insightful, enjoyable and highly recommended read that teaches us much about the indomitability of the human spirit and how very powerful maternal love is, in all its varied shapes and forms.

This moving story of the fallout from divorce, infidelity and the need to be loved by our children is sad and unforgettable.  The story stayed with me long after I put the book down.  Highly recommended.

This is actually a rather delicious novel, which deftly spans four decades or so, from pre-war Germany to 60s London. Gilda, the unsympathetic central character, is refreshingly acerbic, the structure is compelling, and the writing is elegant and distinctive. Easy to read but with substance, and in the end rather moving, I would highly recommend Bitter.

I thought this was a really interesting read. I was willing for a plot twist or a big event to really kick off the plot as it took a while for me to get in to it. On reflection, once I’d read the whole book I realised it really didn’t need any gimmicks. 

This is a well written emotional read with depth and interesting characters. I’m glad it went against all of my expectations as ultimately this is what made it a fascinating read and as a result my perceptions of Gilda changing throughout the book. 

4.5 stars. 

Thanks to NetGalley, Orion and Francesca Jakobi for my ARC in exchang for an honest review.

A duet or tandem of stories run tbrough the book as the main character takes the reader with her in the present whilst also reminiscing and recounting events. With love and loss Gilda, and the reader is prompted to consider what if....and how when faced with reality there is a choice to react with bitterness, or acceptance....regret or with fortitude.
The switch between present and past was not easy to follow at times demonstrated how flash backs can be so swiftly provoked, but some fluidity was lost and reading was stunted and halted at times.
All in all well written saga.

I received this book via Netgalley, what an original story and oh it so pulled at my heartstrings.

I felt so much sympathy for Gilda, life has treated her so harshly; she has never received love and so she has no idea how to show or give love. Despite this she still manages to breach the potentially most difficult barriers which are often prevalent in a mother in law/ daughter in law relationship and formed a lasting bond with her son's wife. She was seemingly, lost when it came to forming a similar relationship with her son.

Communication is so vital is all successful relationships and at times I felt so empathetic towards her that I could have cried out loud to Gilda- don't do that or -please say that.

This is a great piece of writing and the style used could easily translate to a fabulous film .

Bitter is a rather interesting novel, told from the perspective of Gilda Meyer, twice divorced and dissatisfied with life and her relationship with her son. Told both in the present (the 1960s) and looking back on Gilda’s life, the timeframes are quickly cut together and the detail from the past is drip fed throughout, layering information as Gilda allows herself to remember and thank about it.
Gilda herself is at times hugely sympathetic, at others quite repellent, but always compelling.

Gilda and her sister were both married off to older men. While Lena headed for a life in New York, Gilda remains in London with husband Frank.  Eventually she gives birth to Reuben.  Surely his arrival should herald a new and positive phase in this arranged marriage?  It seems not.  
The story begins when Reuben is 30 and about to marry Alice.  Now divorced from Frank, we go back and forth over the years seeing through Gilda's eyes  the journey which led her to the loss of her husband and son and turned her into the sad, needy individual she is today. Now in her 50s Gilda becomes fixated on Alice, following her, trying to understand why her golden child has chosen a girl like her.  She begins to stalk her, to dye her hair the same colour and emulate her dress - I found this quite uncomfortable. And yet it was also incredibly sad. Yes, Gilda has huge problems but every man, it appears, has let her down in some way. First her father marrying her off to an older man in order to cement his  business relationships. Her husband Frank, lacking in affection. Her fair weather lover Leo. And then there is Reuben himself. Angry with his mother for abandoning him while not really being aware of the real circumstances behind it.  In the end Alice is the catalyst who brings about change.

It’s a thought provoking read and an excellent debut novel.  Highly recommended.

I found this a very compelling read...at least initially. I soon got very tied up in the stories of Gilda, Reuben, Alice and Frank as the plot see-sawed between the various characters. I was a bit underwhelmed by the ending of the book though. I think that in the end I really liked the book's atmosphere and setting but I didn't care enough about any of the individuals involved.

This is a really captivating emotional read about a mother’s love for her son.

The story is set in 1969 when Reuben, Gilda’s only child, marries Alice, who Gilda is not too sure about but is that just jealousy speaking ?

The story jumps from the present time to the past and we get to see how Gilda’s life has developed and what has led to the very strained relationship she now has with her son.  

It all starts when Gilda sees something she shouldn’t and her father sends her from Germany to a boarding school in England. We then follow her life from her teens to adulthood, marriage to divorce and lots more along the way.

The book covers love, secrets, betrayal and much much more. It is a beautiful book that shows how past decisions can affect some much in the future.

I went through various feelings for Gilda, Alice and Reuben. I think the characters are brilliant and you really feel for all of them at some point. 

This is a lovely book that if you love family dramas with a little bit of everything else you will love it. A beautifully written book revolving around a mother’s love for their son.

Thank you to Orion Publishing Group and NetGalley for a copy of this book in return for an honest review.

We first meet Gilda as a lonely guest at her only child Reuben’s wedding. Unlike her ex-husband Frank and his second wife Berta, Gilda is very much on the edge of things. Berta is congratulated on “her” son, Reuben’s speech includes the statement that his wife Alice taught him how to love. Alice is kind and beautiful, she wants Reuben to be a good son to his mother. Reuben can’t bear to touch her and spends as little time as possible with her. When Gilda breaks her bookshelves so that she can ask Reuben to fix them for her she imagines the conversation she will have with him. Sadly the conversation neve happens as Reuben runs out of the door as soon as he’s botched a repair. 

Slowly the story moves on, as Gilda tries to escape from her loneliness by stalking her son and his lovely new wife, little snippets of her own story are revealed. She grew up in a wealthy household in Germany as the Hitler was coming to power. She and her beautiful older sister were totally neglected by her socialite mother. As her life unfolds we realise why Gilda is so unhappy trapped in the life her father mapped out for her, unable to be a good mother or find true happiness because she’s never really been sure what it is. All the time she’s becoming more obsessed with Reuben and his wife. This is where the story didn’t ring true to me as there was no mention of their reactions as they got home to discover someone had made Reuben’s side of the messy bed or had been trying on Alice’s clothes. Surely they would have noticed and been appalled, maybe even changed the lock that she'd stolen the key to? I’m certain the staff in Alice’s department store would have noticed and commented on the woman who spent hours standing watching Alice as she went about her cosmetics sales. There were parts I could hardly bring myself to read as I thought she was surely going to get caught but I persevered and found Gilda’s own story was interesting enough to keep me engrossed despite some misgivings about the plot.

This book starts in 1969 as Gilda Meyer is at the wedding of her only child, Reuben, to Alice. Gilda is in her 50s and has had a difficult life as a Jew born in Germany in the 1920s who’s lived in the UK since the 1930s. In her teens she is sent to boarding school in England which she believes is punishment for having seen her father in a compromising situation. She is then isolated from her parents and sister. After school her father arranges a marriage for her to Frank, an older man and business associate of her father. They have Reuben but the marriage is never a great love match so inevitably Gilda finds love elsewhere. Things then start to unravel quickly for Gilda as she becomes more and more estranged from Reuben.

Gilda’s only lifelong friend is Margo who she met at boarding school. Gilda is haunted by her estrangement from Reuben and builds a fantasy view of their mother-son relationship which she shares with Margo. At times her mental state is very poor and she starts following and obsessing about Reuben and his new wife. 

The book moves back and forth between present day and Gilda’s teenage and younger years. I found this quite hard to follow at times as the changes are abrupt and within the same paragraph. I frequently had to reread the previous section to clarify which timescale we were now in which interrupting the flow and my immersion in the book. There’s no great plot, just a lot of observing the intricacies of relationships within a family. I just found it quite depressing and was glad to finish it.

With thanks to NetGalley and Orion Publishing Group. for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.