Thank you Net Galley and Jane Campbell for my ebook.

Agnes lost her adored parents to a car crash when she was four years old. She will never stop missing her mother’s love. Malcolm, Agnes’s young uncle wants only to love and care for his little niece but he has a secret and he is never sure when to reveal it.
Joe, an older man, also lost his mother at an early age and he, too, will always miss the love he shared with her. Joe is a psychiatrist whom Agnes had consulted during the troubled years of her marriage and he still feels a deep, unexplained, connection to his former patient.

This beautiful story of different interpretations of love is told in alternating chapters by the three main characters. It shows how their lives have been shaped from their earliest experiences, the decisions they have made and the relationships they have formed; their successes and failures. There is sweetness and sadness in all of their lives. They eventually achieve degrees of happiness in their own ways which made me happy as I had come to love them all.

I highly recommend Interpretations of Love to readers of literary fiction. I think I could go on reading Robin Campbell’s elegant prose for ever!

Published by Grove Press, New York

Interpretations of love is a novel that describes how tragedy at a young age can affect the life of a person until the end. How we cope with life’s circumstances and the understanding of how it can affect others is important in order to survive it in peace and hopefully happiness if there is one.

Agnes is an independent woman marked by the tragedy of losing both her parents at a young age, her first son later in life and a failed marriage.

Malcom is her uncle whose life is changed after his sister’s death. He never recovered from it and always felt guilty by the decisions he made in his life.

Joe, unknown to him is related to Agnes and Malcom. His life is also marked by the loss of his mother at a young age. He believes himself connected to Agnes for his wrong reasons without understanding what is really happening.

They all become entangled among other characters in this heartbreaking novel that will leave you with reflective insights about the importance of forgiveness and priorities at the end of our lives.

I just reviewed Interpretations of Love by Jane Campbell. #InterpretationsofLove #NetGalley

Malcolm's sister is killed in a car accident along with her husband. Malcolm was taking care of their daughter, Agnes, at the time of the accident. His two regrets: leaving Agnes to his parents immediately after the accident and, more significantly, keeping a letter that his sister gave him to himself despite her last wishes. The letter was for Joe, a person that Sophie believes is Agnes's biological father. The story unfolds as the family navigates life and loss, taking risks and avoiding them. This is an easy read and the story moves along. However, I felt somewhat ambivalent about the characters and I wasn't sure exactly what to feel. For some reason, it didn't resonate with me.

A group of people gather to celebrate a wedding, not knowing that they are all connected by a single event that happened decades prior in the aftermath of World War 2. Each chapter is told from the pov of one of the people going to the event. It's an interesting premise and one of the strengths of the novel. Some of the drawbacks are that the novel seems a bit overwritten, to the point that several of the characters sounded exactly alike to me. I also was uncomfortable about the 'secret' kept by Mally and how knowing the secret made me see other characters (generally, not in a good way).

Far too dry, long-winded, and boring as the main character speaks his story. I wanted so much to hear more about his sister, and then his niece. But it went on and on from the boring POV. DNF

The cover is my favorite part of the book. Very well done. Unfortunately, the contents was lacking for me. I got so far into it and did not finish. It failed to gain my interest or draw me in.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

*Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in return for a fair and honest review.

The book begins with Malcom Miller telling the story of the deaths of his sister and her husband and how their only daughter, Alice, was left behind. Agnes's mother gave Malcolm a letter before she died, asking her to give it to Dr. Joseph Bradshaw. It seems that Bradshaw is Agnes's father, conceived in a shelter on a night of bombing in London.
In a strange twist of fate, Bradshaw becomes Agnes's therapist many years later, both of them unaware of the connection as Malcolm never passed on the letter. As all the characters converge for the daughter of Agnes's wedding, we hear the thought, fears, secrets and doubts of each of them.

The writing here is brilliant. It is absolutely beautiful, and Campell is able to draw vivid scenes that resonate with the reader. However, the prose is thick with minimum dialogue, the emotion and angst is unending, and this reviewer found it difficult to keep up with which character was now telling the story. At times I felt as if I were just slogging through, but a few pages on my imagination was captured and I was again immersed in the story. This is difficult one to review, but overall I did not enjoy it.

I read this ARC in exchange for an honest review
All thoughts and opinions are mine

I wont lie, I picked this book out because of the cover. I just loved it - the cover that is

I read this over Xmas and absolutely loved it. I was hooked from page 1
Such a wonderful debut offering
Can't wait to see what they come up with next

Highly recommend this

Chose this book by mistake, confusing the cover for another book with a similar cover.

Therefore, won't be reviewing this title, but will give it five stars here because of its spectacular cover.