I've been excited about this book since I first heard about it, and it did not disappoint. The characters sucked you into the story and the story kept you turning pages as fast as you could. I devoured it in a day. I loved it.

I can see why people are comparing Rachel Beanland to J. Courtney Sullivan. Their characters are endearing, their plots are satisfying and not (too) predictable, and their settings are absorbing. As someone who grew up going to the Jersey Shore (though not to Atlantic City), I thoroughly enjoyed getting a glimpse of it - particularly its Jewish community - in 1934. And I liked both the title and the cover as much after reading as I did before. I had very mixed feelings about the ending, though I will not spoil it here by explaining them, but otherwise I consider this a solid beach read.

I was really excited about this book when I read the summary. The potential to be had with the story line is great. But I really struggled getting through this book. The writing was dry and try as I might, I could not keep my attention focused on this book. This book just was not for me.

Thank you NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for ARC of this 4⭐️ read set one summer Atlantic City in 1934 following the drowning of a 19 yo Florence as she was training to swim the English Channel. But the drowning is kept a secret from her older sister Fannie who is on bed rest for a high risk pregnancy. Fans of family dramas including The Two-Family House and As Close to Us as Breathing will enjoy this one. The story alternates points of view from all family members, their house guest and a friend who was in love with Florence. I don’t want to give away the ending but I did mis something from it. Be sure to read author’s notes as this was based on a true story.

Historical fiction based on a true family story. I liked but didn't love this one. I do, however, agree with the assertion that fans of Manhattan Beach will find this one appealing.

2.5 but rounding up because it was adequate. But not necessarily recommending,

The setting:
Over the course of one summer, three generations of the [Jewish] Adler family grapple with heartbreak, romance, and the weight of family secrets. Atlantic City, 1934. Every summer, Esther and Joseph Adler rent their house out to vacationers ... and move into the small apartment above their bakery...where they raised their two daughters, Fannie and Florence. Fannie is married to Isaac, has a daughter Gussie, lost baby Hyram after a few weeks about a year ago, and is pregnant again. Florence, home from college, is training to swim the English Channel caoched by the handsome lifeguard, Stuart [not Jewish]. They take in Anna, who Joseph has helped emigrate from Nazi Germany; he hopes to get her parents over too [a connection long ago].The story actually has much to do with Anna.

At the beginning of the novel [not really a spoiler], Florence drowns, and the family decides to keep it a secret from Fannie, who's on bedrest in the hospital, as they fear it may cause her to lose the baby.

Again, in the minority of readers. This book seemed very flat to me and I really wasn't much interested. The writing was fine; no grimaces over prose. Some of the descriptions were really quite good:

"...might have avoided retreating to the furthest corners of their marriage."

"You are not seeing? he whispered into her ear, "I am not looking," she corrected him. The distinction was one of those subtleties of the English language that so often evaded Joseph in those early years in America,"

Stuart lifeguards though his family owns a large, luxurious hotel that does not allow Jews [a subplot line].

I thought Isaac--perhaps the least likable character, was the most fleshed out. The others a lot of one note.

And, as the book continued, some of the trajectory became more predictable [to me]. The final letdown--too neat and tidy an ending.

It is based, in part, on the author's family [read the author's note].

I did like the cover, but you can't judge a book...

Thank you to netgalley for the arc of this book for an honest review. This was a hard book to put down, Florence dies in the water as she is training to swim the English Channel. Her family tries to keep it a secret from her sister who is in the hospital on bed-rest with a high risk pregnancy. Set in 1934 in Atlantic City, there are secrets, grief, romance, and news coming from Europe. This was a wonderful read.

Kindly received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

How far would you go to protect the people you love? Equal parts joyous and heartbreaking, Florence Adler Swims Forever is a moving novel with this question at its heart. The characters are expertly written and I was intrigued to find out that Florence's character was based on a real person. After watching The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and fleetingly wondering who the Dionne quintuplets were, I enjoyed having them referenced as well. Beautifully written!

Thanks to #NetGalley and #SimonSchuster for the advance copy of #FlorenceAdlerSwimsForever.. All comments and opinions are my own.

3.5 stars - Historical fiction, family saga, secrets, and a little romance. This debut novel set in 1934 Atlantic City is the story of a family shocked by the death of a youngest daughter as she was training to swim the English Channel (not a spoiler, it's the premise of the whole book). Florence's older sister Fannie is in the hospital with a very high risk pregnancy so mom decides she can't know about her sister's death. Oh my, what a choice.

I didn't know till reading the Author Notes at the end that the story is semi-autobiographical - Beanland is telling the story of her great-aunt. My main issue with the believability of the story was that central lie; maybe if the Author's Note was first, it would have helped me feel more empathetic throughout the story.

The story presents the happenings of the next couple months from many perspectives - each chapter changes the first person perspective. That could be confusing, but it's handled very well and I wasn't confused at all. In fact, I appreciated the changes of perspective. The main characters are well developed and even the secondary ones are interesting.

The character of the mom was one of the most difficult to like since she made the questionable decision to keep the secret. Good intentions but is it the right decision? (Good book club fodder in that philosophical question.) However, her grief is well presented and believable - people do make questionable decisions in the midst of grief.

The other main characters are Fannie, the older sister in the hospital, her daughter Gussie, and Anna, a German girl staying with the family for the summer. I liked spunky Gussie, the 7 year old who's trying to deal with the death of her favorite aunt when no adult wants to talk to her about it. I liked the slowly developing relationship between Anna and Stuart - it felt like it developed naturally.

But, for me, the story took a while to grab hold. Not exactly slow-paced, just somehow didn't draw me in right away. We don't really get to know much about Florence, the title character; what we do learn is told in memory/flashbacks. I didn't like Isaac, Fannie's husband, at all and I felt like the resolution of his storyline was.....unsatisfying. Then, the ending. Well, it wrapped up all the storylines, but the way Fannie's story ended felt incomplete (don't want to spoil).

I feel like that this book is a strong family story that explores some interesting themes: how far will you go to protect a family member; what would you do to help a friend; how a family handles extreme grief. I think there's much to recommend this book.
The review will appear on Goodreads 3/27 and on my blog 3/31/20.

Tragically based on a true story from the authors family, Florence Adler Swims Forever is an amazing debut novel by Rachel Beanland.
Florence Adler is a young competitive swimmer from a Jewish family growing up in Atlantic City NJ in the early 1920s. She sets her sights on training to swim the English Channel while unrest overseas begins to develop into WWII.
The Alder’s family friend, Anna, spends the summer with them from Germany struggling to help her family obtain visas.
Told by the points of view of Anna and Florence’s family members, this story of living with grief and holding family secrets will leave you hoping there’s going to be a sequel!

Thanks Netgalley for the opportunity to read this! FASF was the perfect weekend read! Loved the alternating perspectives. I'll def be rec this one to my friends!!

want to thank Netgalley and Rachel Beanland for my ARC of Florence Adler Swims Forever in exchange for an honest review. I have to say I didn’t know the premise of this book before I started to read it. Each page brought me into the world of the Adler Family and their friends. The beginning of the book starts with a tragedy but unfolds to show the story of good people dealing with difficult situations. Each character was beautifully developed and portrayed. I fell in love with them all. This story had everything I look for in a book, a great plot, well developed characters and the ability for humans to rise against any situations. This was a five star read for me and I would recommend it to all.

A Wonderfully Engaging Family Saga!

Oh, how I adore family sagas. This one was no exception to the rule. The characters were infectious, particularly Esther. The era - WWII. The focus of this book was on Nazi Germany. While many historical fiction do focus on this time of history, I felt that Beanland had a fresh perspective and unique voice. I didn't feel like I had ever read anything like Florence Adler Swims Forever.

I would recommend this to anyone who likes family sagas. This was an excellent family saga with a strong cast of supporting characters. I would read anything that Beanland writes next and I greatly anticipate her next novel!

Rachel Beanland's debut novel reads like the work of an experienced and polished author. Florence Adler Swims Forever has to be the best fiction I have read this year, (and I believe it is my 57th book in 2020) so that is saying something. How novel to have a novel begin with the death that is the central occurrence of this book. Florence Adler, 20 years old and a Wellesley student, is at home in Atlantic City preparing to swim the English Channel. She dies while out on a practice swim leaving behind her parents, pregnant sister, and German roommate, Anna. Anna is the 19 year old daughter of a couple struggling to leave Germany during the rise of Hitler in 1934. Her mother was once Florence's father Joseph's fiancée. Joseph now owns a large baker business and her brought her to America on a student visa.

The Adler's elder daughter is hospitalized to prevent the kind of premature birth that cost her the life of a baby boy the previous year. Esther, the mother, decides they must all keep Florence's death from her to keep her from losing this child she is carrying. Other characters, all very well drawn and fleshed out, are Gussie, the Adlers' 7 year old granddaughter, Isaac, their ne'er do well son in law, and Stuart, the son and heir to a wealthy hotelier who had been in love with Florence and was also her swim coach.


thanks to Simon and Schuster and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book pre-publication.

In the course of that one summer, the grief of losing a beloved child and awaiting the birth of another is played out in the chapters from the viewpoint of each of the main characters. It presents an .accurate and moving picture of a time and place and when you leave it you may continue to smell the Atlantic Ocean and hear the lapping of its wave against the pier as you think about this engaging and insightful tale.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and the author, for an ARC of this book, in exchange for an honest review.
I loved this book & I highly recommend it all.
It was a heart breaking and beautifully written story.
I couldn’t believe that it was Rachel Beanland’s debut book.
I can’t wait to read what she writes next.

Florence Adler is a 19 year old swimming sensation living in Atlantic City NJ in the summer of 1934. She's a few weeks from heading to France to attempt swimming across the English Channel when she tragically dies by drowning.

Her parents decide to withhold the news of her death from their older daughter Fannie, who is across town in the hospital on bedrest due to a high risk pregnancy. The book follows her surviving family members and friends, navigating through the complexities of their lives during that summer.

I loved this book from the start. I did think it was quite bold for the author to introduce us to the title character, a likeable and admirable young woman, only to see her drown in the first few pages. But it worked. I found it helped create a feeling of trying to get to know her better through the others that were close with her. It helped to shape and understand the relationships and complexities of the other characters to themselves and to one another. Grief had its own place setting at the large table of this quirky family.

I also loved the writing style and the setting; I felt at times that the boardwalk and the hotels were characters themselves; I felt like I was walking along the boardwalk myself.

As a mother of two daughters I've found myself reflecting about what I would do if faced with the same situation. I know that I would do everything I could to protect those I love, even if it meant letting them swim forever.

Did not like this book. A sister drowned and the other sister is hospitalized with a high risk pregnancy. :A decision is made to keep the latter in the dark. I found that unbelievable that the surviving sister would not keep asking for her sister and just accept what her family has told her. Then at the end, the husband is paid off to leave and family is going to tell her what happened. And then the story ends. What ??? very disturbing.

This is a beautifully written debut. The rotating POV/narrators (7!) gave the narrative depth and nuance. As did the setting: 1930s Atlantic City ("the Jewish Riviera"), evoked in the heat of June 1934. The Adler family rents out their beachfront house and lives in a cramped apartment for the high season, and we feel the keeping of their secrets in these close quarters. I don't think it is giving anything away to say that tragedy happens in the first few pages, during one of Florence's training swims, and the novel is about how the family covers up this tragedy in order to protect Fannie, her sister, who is on bedrest with a pregnancy after suffering a miscarriage years before. The central premise of this book is very dark, and what Beanland attempts is compelling as secrets beget lies and truths–even people–are not what they seem. Yet the tone of this book is light, and the horror of keeping such a secret is kept beneath the surface. I found myself craving the final, penultimate scene, when Fannie finds out the truth. Was the family's deception unforgivable? There are deep questions here, and I found myself craving slightly more.

Florence Adler is a strong swimmer training to swim the English Channel. While on a training swim in the Atlantic Ocean Florence drowns. At the same time her sister, Fannie, is pregnant and in the hospital on bed rest. Esther, their mother, makes the decision that she will not tell Fannie her sister is dead afraid that the news will bring on premature labor. Florence obviously is not a prominent character in the book. Most of the focus is on Fannie, her daughter, Gussie, and Anna, a young woman from Germany staying with the family.

I didn't like Esther much. She is grieving Florence but in deciding not to tell Fannie she is causing more damage by trying to keep the secret especially with Gussie. She won't bring her to see her mother over a whole summer in case she slips up. The others cannot mourn Florence because they can't tell anyone in case it gets back to Fannie. I also didn't care for the way she treated Anna. I wish more of the characters were developed. Some issues that were brought up like a fight Fannie had with Florence the last time she saw her was only mentioned in passing but it seemed important to know what the argument was about.

I thought the book was well written and once I found that it was based on the author's great-great aunt. I really enjoyed the setting of Atlantic City in the summer and learned a bit of history of the area. Anna's struggle getting out of Germany and trying to bring her parents here was interesting and add in a bit of a love story and I give it 4 stars.

A quiet, evocative novel, whose story stayed with me longer than I thought it would. The descriptions of Atlantic City in the 1930s are vivid and colorful, like its characters. The sub-plot of Fannie and Isaac was a little distracting and puzzling, but the rest of the story came together neatly. The historical aspects of the story, particularly the difficulties of Jews to leave Europe well before the beginning of the war, were particularly illuminating.