I liked the other two books I've read by this author, all set in the same world, but I really struggled with this one. It felt like the plot was just there to justify the history being shared, rather than the other way around. The main character, Vivien, felt a bit blank most of the time, with little depth of emotion, which made it hard to get invested in her story. In general, there were too many characters to keep track of and too many long pages of exposition that I ended up skimming a lot of the time.
I did enjoy the history of Hollywood professionals running away to Italy to make movies during the McCarthy era, and all the history about Italy during WWII in general. I just wish it had all been more central to the main plot. I think maybe the story was told from the wrong main character's point of view. In general, it didn't quite live up to what it could have been.

Vivien goes to Rome in 1955 to help doctor scripts for an Italian movie studio, surrounded by glamorous stars and directors she is romanced by a post war Italy and by a movie financier. She comes against the Catholic church who is not a fan of the story her studio is trying to tell. Through flashbacks of WWII we learn about what those around her endured during the war as well as her own past, including the son she had to give up.

I did find the beginning of this novel very confusing and I am not sure if it is because it is part of a series (and I didn't realize) or because I started with the audio (or a combination of the two). Either way, it was then a bit hard to ever really get engrossed in the story. I did for certain parts, but was never really fully engaged. I did appreciate the author's descriptions of the war and the twists that the story took as well as the cameos of fabulous names from the 50's. And while the audio was a bit confusing because of the time jumps, the narrator's voice was wonderful. I'm not sure what this one was missing for me or if it was my mindset at the time, but it just didn't grab me. Maybe if I had read the first two novels I would have been more invested. If you have read the author's other works - please let me know if you enjoyed this one.

3.5 stars

After a dramatic breakthrough in Vivien Lowry's career in London, she starts working as a melodrama screenwriter at the Cinecitta Studios cinema in Rome. Changes to the script may bring Vivien success she wouldn’t be able to achieve in London. At the same time, she can look for information about her fiancé, whom she lost during World War II. Vivien, who has not found a second love after her fiancé, gets involved with producer John Lassiter. However, Lassiter is not divorced, he is still very close to his wife and very attached to their adopted daughter. There are secrets behind this that will be revealed along with the other secrets of the characters in this book.

This is another book from which I learned something new. I didn't know that the Church had a huge influence on the Italian film industry and that the censorship was very excessive.

It was a good story, but I lost track somewhere and got disconnected. I wanted to like this book so much more than I did. The ending was better than I expected, and I found the setting in the world of Italian cinema very interesting.

This book was about discoveries and bringing peace after the hardships of war. I would like to read another book by this author.

Every Time We Say Goodbye is a historical fiction novel by Natalie Jenner set in Italy about 10 years after the end of World War II. Vivien is a British playwright struggling to find success. After her latest play receives bad reviews, Vivien moves to Italy to work as a script fixer at a studio in Rome. There she develops strong relationships including a romance. Intertwined in the novel is the story of “la scolaretta”, a young woman who was part of the resistance during the war.

Both the story line and the character development was very strong. There was a large cast of characters but always distinguishable. Most importantly, we are reminded of the consequences of evil and apathy that affect the world and the danger of absolute power. I will definitely be reading more from this author.

Thank you to the author, NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the opportunity to read and review this digital ARC.

Omg, I have to say that Natalie Jenner's "Every Time We Say Goodbye" was as amazing as her previous books! I felt like this novel transported me to dazzling post-war Italy, the world of film, and the many complexities of Vivien Lowry's life!

Let me start by saying that main characeter, Vivien, is simply unbelievable woman! She is knocked down in London, but she gets back up and lands a job in Rome's thriving film industry. And I must admit that reading Jenner's descriptions transported me to the streets of Italy. Every detail, from the realistic location of Cinecitta Studios to the detailed portrayal of Italy's complex history during World War II, shows Jenner's careful research. I was completely absorbed in the sights, sounds, and feelings of that time. And those details gave the story more depth and illuminated significant historical moments that are sometimes missed.

Although the dual timeline concept did a good job of tying the past and present together, I found myself wishing that some of the storylines—like La Scolaretta—had been explored more thoroughly. I still really like the book overall, despite this small complaint.

I can't wait to read more of Jenner's works! Highly recommended for everyone who enjoys historical fiction and strong, independent females!

Vivien Lowery was one of my favorite characters in Bloomsbury Girls (May 2022) and I was happy to get more of her story in this novel. It is now 1955 and VIvien has written a play in London. While the audiences love it the reviews are crushing. Friend, Peggy Guggenheim, sends her off to be a script doctor for a major film shooting in Rome. While there she interacts with the stars of the day, and learns about the country in the post war days. The Catholic Church is trying to be restrictive through legislation and censorship in movies. She also learns about the resistance during the war and comes to learn more about what happened to her fiancé David.

There is a lot of post-war Italian history in this book that I was unfamiliar with. But it is humanized by the people that Vivien interacts with. Vivien was a working class girl who fell in love with a titled heir. In their young love he proposed but he didn’t return from the war. She is still angry but continually finds her way to survive. She also finds her way to make friends, or family of choice and not birth. I love how the author weaves in real people like Guggenheim, Sophia Loren and Gina Lollobrigida.

The writing style is slow and gently unfolds. A competing storyline seems unrelated until its importance is shown. This is the third in the Jane Austen Society novels. They are all complex and give me context to the post WWII time period. This one can be read as a stand alone but others from the previous books make appearances. And I do like the author includes a cast of characters in the beginning and of course read her notes on the book at the end.

Thanks to @austenprose and @macmillan.audio for a free physical and audio copy of this book.

I really enjoyed Natalie Jenner’s book The Jane Austen Society, so I was excited to try this one too. I didn't engage with the characters as easily as I did with the other book, but the history of film in the 50s in Italy was interesting, especially the power the Vatican had to disrupt the industry.

For me, the love stories were disappointing. The best part about the book was the history, so if you’re a historical fiction fan, I’d definitely recommend this one. I love that it focuses on a very specific time, place, and issue.

I didn’t end up listening to the book, so I don’t have any feedback on the narration, but I always am so grateful for the audio option in a busy day!

With its interwoven storyline, Jenner brings us readers a cinematic novel. Brought to life with a cast of vibrant characters and vivid settings, Every Time We Say Goodbye explores the concepts of coming to grips with the past and moving forward into the future. I absolutely love how the book balanced life in post WWII Italy (Rome) with ‘old time’ Hollywood glamour, the stories connecting in the most beautiful of ways–the ending wrapping up magnificently. I am a fan of this author and this third installment of the Jane Austen inspired trilogy (can be read as a stand alone) did not disappoint! Brava!

'Saying goodbye is the hardest thing in the world, save for one, and that is being cheated of it'.

Vivien lives her life as a product of WW2: she is a survivor. But when she lost her fiancé, she lost her future, as well as that sense of self the future had promised her. Since then, she's poured her anguish and anger into her plays. The latest, however, could also be counted as a loss (at least according to the critics), so when her friend suggests she goes to Italy to help save a dying movie script, Vivien soon discovers it's also an opportunity to save herself - learning that forgiving doesn't necessitate forgetting, 'Time goes, it always does, and always faster than we want. But the past stays with us for a reason'.

'Every Time We Say Goodbye' is a dual POV and dual time story - depicted in Cinecitta, the 'Hollywood on the Tiber'. A place where, 'Clothes, church, cinema - everyone is in bed with each other'. As Vivien grapples with telling stories, the Catholic Church, 'moved to legislate the public's behaviour under the guise of script approval, enabling the government to censor anything it deemed immoral or leftist, and causing the pendulum of power to swing right all over again'. She quickly understands that the irony of local politics simply underscores how little people may have learned, in their haste to forget a terrible past, 'the world was resisting looking back in order to fully embrace the future'. To move forward she, we, must look back.

Natalie Jenner presents the reader with a mosaic of thoughtful insights around love and loss, remembering and forgetting, relinquishing and enduring. I heavily highlighted and notated while reading this book as so many thoughts were distilled. To that end, this book, for me, is more a story of self-reflection than historical fiction per se. That said, I learned so much about the politics and bustling Italian movie business of that time. Whichever way you lean, you are bound to enjoy reading this thought-provoking, insightful story.

'How lucky the world was for those survivors willing and able to tell their own story, and how imperative that such stories be shared to the greatest extent possible'.

When playwright Vivien Lowry’s fiancé dies in World War Two, she is sure she will never fall in love again. When critics badly receive her latest play, she accepts a friend’s invitation to go to Italy. While there, she becomes involved in the Italian movie business which is struggling to make a comeback from the results of the Nazis and the war. She works with director Curtis Douglas to help save a script for an upcoming movie. During her stay, she meets many interesting people, most of whom are struggling with the trauma in the aftermath of the war. Vivien learns through the many experiences of those around her how to face some of her own demons. Soon Vivien works herself back into a life where she can again trust and hopefully find love. A side story about a woman resistance fighter in Rome in 1943 adds to the enjoyment of this book. Every Time We Say Goodbye by Natalie Jenner is the story of one woman’s search to find herself and happiness again.

Although this is listed as 3rd in the Jane Austen Society series, it can be read as a stand-alone. This book builds on the worlds created in Jenner's first two historical novels. Readers travel on a journey to Italy in the 1950's, with a lively cast of characters, and many of whom are British and American ex-pats working in the booming art of Italian cinema after WW II. The novel focuses on Vivien Lowry, a playwright who has had her latest play shutdown by critics, even though audiences loved it. At the insistence of her friend, Peggy Guggenheim, Vivien takes a job as a screenwriter in Italy for Cinecetta Studios. She struggles to come to grips w/ post-war life and the mystery of her fiance's death.

*Special thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for this e-arc.*

This was not my favorite of the trilogy. I had actually taken a break from WW2-era novels because they are so emotionally draining but I wanted to read this one due to having read the first two novels in the series. This one is as dark and as sad as expected from that era. It tried to interweave and even end on a hopeful, optimistic note but the epilogue is so heartbreaking, I wish it hadn't been included. I feel this novel is very verbose without moving the plot along very well. Some bigger plot points, such as the kidnapping, were resolved very quickly, but others drag on throughout most of the novel. I did like the tie-ins from the first two novels and seeing some of those characters again. I think I would have enjoyed the novel much more if David had been found alive and/or she reconnected with her baby. Overall, for me, it was just a depressing, slow read and I would have been okay if the series had stopped at the first two books.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC.

Wow. This book floored me with its stunning complexity and interwoven storylines. My favorite thing about Natalie Jenner’s writing style is the expertly crafted balance between unflinching, emotional depth and cozy, hopeful lightness. Her books always make me feel as if I’m stepping inside a BBC period drama.

Every Time We Say Goodbye has a secondary World War II timeline, woven between the central 1950’s chapters, so it’s simultaneously about the war and about the aftermath a decade later. The main character, Vivien, is a writer who travels to Italy when she’s asked to work on a screenplay at an Italian movie studio. But work isn’t the only reason Vivien says yes to the trip. She’s still haunted by her fiancé’s death during the war, and determined to uncover what really happened to him while he was in Italy. I absolutely loved Vivien’s emotional journey and the touch of romance in the story, too. I honestly couldn’t guess what would happen next at any given moment! As a screenwriting fellow, and someone with two film degrees, my inner film geek had too much fun with all the cinematic Easter eggs, classic movie star cameos, and Italian Neorealism references.

One of my grandfathers, as well as a great-grandfather and great-uncle, fought in World War II, so I’ve always been fascinated by the bravery and determination of the people who lived in that era, as well as the impact the war had on the “greatest generation.” Every Time We Say Goodbye truthfully captures this moment in history without ever losing hope or lingering gratuitously on the darkest aspects of the war. I can assure you this book will uplift you with its triumph of the human spirit, even though it might make you a little emotional at times. It’s a beautiful story about healing and finding peace without forgetting important lessons from the past. An all-around fantastic read and one I know I’ll be thinking about for a long time!

***Thank you to MacMillan Publishers and NetGalley for providing an advanced copy of Every Time We Say Goodbye to review.

Set in Rome in 1955, English playwright Vivien goes to the Italian based movie set to help rewrite a script. She is also on the hunt for her fiancé from WWII and finds love and friendship in a city recovering from war and fascism, as well as being under the authority of the Pope and censorship.

Author Natalie Jenner wisely takes a character from her previous book away from England to a time and place not used much in historical fiction. I loved the setting and time period and how the vibrations of the war were still being felt. I'm not sure this is a standout book for me, but I really enjoyed how different it was and the well written characters.

Thank you to Netgalley for the advance copy for review.

I am a big fan of Jenner’s previous works, so I was excited to read the latest in her Jane Austen Society series. This time she deals with a relatively unknown part of history, the years after WWII when Hollywood came to Italy. I loved the glimpses of old Hollywood living la dolce vita! My favorite parts of the story were the flashbacks to the Italian partisans during WWII; they have always fascinated me. Their exploits aren’t as well known as the French Resistance but they were just as important to the Allied victory. This book is perfect for those who love the behind-the-scenes of the golden age of movies and those who love Italy!

Jenner's latest once again brings a vibrant cast of characters to life—including cameos from her previous two novels (The Jane Austen Society and Bloomsbury Girls) and by classical Hollywood cinema's leading ladies.

The story takes place in post-war Italy where a group of American and British expatriates become entangled in controversy while making a movie about a female Italian resistance fighter during the occupation called "La Scolaretta," the Schoolgirl assassin. Her story makes up the dual narrative.

Meticulously researched, this novel demonstrates how impactful art is not only to preserve our history, but as a medium to communicate to the masses as well as entertain.

Every Time We Say Goodbye is a cinematic novel of love, art, grief, and of confronting the past to face the future.

This book had a good premise but... I was highly disappointed. It didn't hold my attention. I found it monotonous and somewhat boring. I hate to say that about any book.

It could be that I don't like the setting but that is the one thing I loved. A great setting will usually override a bad plot for me. Not this time.

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC.

Of all the women in Jenner’s previous title, BLOOMSBURY GIRLS, Vivian was my favorite, so I was excited to see her get her own story, especially since she still needed to find closure regarding her fiancé’s death during the war.

In this book, Vivian jets off to Italy to work in the post-war film industry. It’s important to note that these years were a complex time where people were almost manic to forget the darkness and destruction of the previous decade. Nowhere is this desire stronger than in Italy. Jenner captures the atmosphere superbly. From the moment Vivian steps off the plane, she (as well as the reader) is immersed in a world caught between the desire to live for the moment and the rules of society (which in this case, are set by the Vatican). Rome is a city rebuilding – making it the perfect setting for Vivian as she tries to find herself.

Over three hundred-plus pages, Vivian navigates a love affair with a mysterious American, fights with the Vatican over censorship, uncovers a mystery regarding a famous Italian actress, and learns the tragic story of an Italian partisan. She also discovers what happened to David and can say goodbye. There’s a lot of conversation about religion, children, war, and loss as Vivian and the other characters in the book come to grips with their post-war selves.

I had only one complaint – which keeps me from giving it 5 stars. I am Catholic. While I had no problem with Jenner pointing out the leadership’s hypocrisy, I wasn’t thrilled with how she handled the subplot about Claudia’s decision to become a nun. The way Claudia’s choice was kept secret, as well as Vivian’s reaction to it, made it seem as though dedicating your life to the church is a bad thing when it’s a spiritual calling.

Overall, however, I would recommend this book.

I loved the setting of this book, but unfortunately that’s where my love ends. I didn’t find the story or characters engaging, and I struggled to finish it. I enjoyed the previous 2 books, but this one fell flat for me. Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced copy.

I unfortunately wasn’t able to finish this book. I had a hard time getting into it, and it just didn’t interest me. Thank you so much to St Martins Press and NetGalley for my copy!