This beautifully tragic debut novel by Kate Broad highlights how small decisions can have a lifelong domino effect of consequences, and how it’s never too late to try to make things right.

Set in the 1990s, 17-year-old Rachel goes to spend the summer with her wealthy aunt, uncle, and cousin Sabine, and ends up befriending the live-in nanny, Claudia. When a terrible tragedy occurs, Rachel makes a series of decisions that she carries with her into her adult life.

Broad deftly navigates the nuances of classism, racism, and sexuality, as well as the stories and lies we tell ourselves to justify our actions, all while trying to address the ambiguous questions of if past injustices can ever be made right, and if so, how?

This was an engaging read, and Broad’s spot-on depiction of the coming-of-age struggle of identity had me sympathizing with Rachel one minute and disgusted and annoyed with her the next.

Thank you to NetGalley and St Martin’s Press for an eARC in exchange for an honest review. This novel comes out July 22, 2025.

I can’t say I liked this book very much. The quality of the writing was fine, but I was not prepared for just how much I disliked the main character (and most of her family). I also could have done without the violent scene involving dogs. I think the author makes some interesting points throughout the book, but overall I found it too graphic and didn’t feel like the plot was compelling enough (based on the description) to enjoy.

Kate Broad does an excellent job of incorporating the element of suspense in developing her plot and characterization in Greenwich.

Greenwich not only presents and examines the topics of deceit, corruption, addiction, privilege, and injustice but also tackles finding oneself and crossing that threshold to adulthood.

Rachel, nearly 18, has just graduated from high school and been jilted by her group of mean girl friends. Not only that, her kid sister has been diagnosed with childhood cancer and starts undergoing treatments. Rachel wants nothing more than to get out of town and get away from all things hometown before entering college in the Fall. Her parents' answer is to go to Greenwich, CT, where she will stay with her rich aunt Ellen and uncle Laurent. Aunt Ellen, who has definitely "married up," is somewhat struggling to overcome a shoulder injury she sustained while horseback riding, so Rachel's "job" will be to help around the house and to help in taking care of her cousin, Sabine, Ellen and Laurent's 3 year old.

Rachel doesn't have to help out much though because Sabine has her own live in nanny - a beautiful 23 year old African American recent art school graduate, Claudia. Claudia has a degree in art, but she just cannot pass up the pay and benefits that come along with the job; plus, Sabine absolutely adores her, everyone does as she does have a dazzling personality.

Throughout the first half to two thirds of the book, you know that something tragic is going to happen that will absolutely cause all of the cards to come crashing down. I think that is one thing that I enjoyed the most about the author's style - she uses the suspense to help in building characterization (showing us the characters' strengths, weaknesses, and especially their flaws) leading up to the climax of her plot.

What follows in the last one third of the book is a trial and then the resumption of lives. Corruption and privilege are really thrust into the forefront.

Greenwich is a tantalizing read and encompasses so many genres - contemporary fiction, family drama, LGBTQ, crime, mystery. Thank you, NetGalley and St. Martin's Press, for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martins Press for the eARC and the opportunity to share my honest thoughts on this book!

This is a coming-of-age story that falls more into literary fiction, which I admittedly do not read all that often, but once I started it was hard to stop because it was easy to get caught up in all the little twists and games being played throughout the story! We follow Rachel, a 17 year old girl on the cusp of turning 18, who goes to live with her wealthy aunt and uncle for the summer. Her aunt has been having some problems recovering after an injury and Rachel is going to help out with her little cousin. Or so she thinks, because her aunt and uncle have already hired a live-in nanny, Claudia, who Rachel quickly becomes obsessed with. A terrible accident occurs and things aren’t quite what they seem, and truthfully I have never been so upset with a character as I was with Rachel!

The ending of this book is definitely what brought my rating down because it just seemed very flat and anticlimactic and just overall left me feeling very upset with the choices Rachel made. But perhaps that is also part of the story because the choices we make when we are younger can certainly and do affect the people we become as we grow older.

There is a lot of build up in this book as well as several different themes that are underlying the main plot. The novel follows recent high-school grad Rachel, while she spends her summer break in Greenwich, CT, with her wealthy aunt and uncle, Ellen and Laurent, their young daughter Sabine, and their live-in au pair, Claudia. From the first page we know that disaster looms imminently on the horizon for the family depicted in Greenwich. Each long summer day feels as if it drags on, adding to the tension simmering just beneath the surface. In terms of characters, I feel like Rachel does not take responsibilty for any of her decisions and is wavering in life blaming others for her actions or lack thereof. The ending in my opinion was a bit lack luster for the build of the whole book. This could be an excellent book for book clubs to be able to discuss all the themes and behaviors. Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, and Kate Broad for the opportunity.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this advanced eARC and an honest review.

Unfortunately, I didn’t like this. At all. And I’m not sure if it’s because the overall story felt flat and very slow, or if I felt incredibly triggered as a Black woman while reading it, or both. I didn’t find any of the characters to be likable, but the main character, Rachel, was the most insufferable of them all.

This book explores the harsh realities of what happens when you’re Black and in the wrong place at the wrong time. In this case, Claudia, the Black nanny to the affluent Corbin family, is accused of a horrible accident. Rachel, the narrator, is a manipulative 17 year old who develops a very intense obsession with Claudia and becomes “casually violent” towards Claudia when things don’t go her way.

I’ve been on the receiving end of a white woman’s unmitigated wrath when I didn’t do something they felt I should do, wanted me to do, felt entitled to it. In that regard, I sympathize with Claudia, but only then.

I’m not entirely sure of what the author is doing here, but if causing a trigger is it, she was successful in that regard.

A coming of age story centering around Rachel and the summer she spent in Greenwich at her Aunt Ellen’s mansion. Rachel is hiding from her troubles at home hoping for a fresh start before college and develops a friendship/love relationship with Claudia, the Corbin’s nanny. A tragic accident happens and Rachel is the only one who really know what happened. Her silence and compliance live with her and haunt her for years. The story grabbed me in the beginning but then it took me a while to finish because there wasn’t much going on until the first of 2 accidents. I couldn’t relate to Rachel or any of the characters except Claudia. Overall, it wasn’t my favorite but I didn’t dislike it.

Many thanks to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review..

Thank you to St Martin’s Press for providing this ARC for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

Greenwich by Kate Broad follow Rachel, a recent high school graduate during the pivotal summer months before leaving for college. Her life is fraught with isolation and messiness, hidden behind a facade of wealth, politeness, and secrecy.

The story’s plot moves at a fairly quick pace. The asides, the internal longings and guilt Rachel feels, moves at a more tortured, languorous pace. The book manages to touch on a lot of tough topics through a story that’s somewhat limited in duration and characters. There are prominent themes of the power of wealth, racism, the difficulties of domestic workers, sexuality, lies, forgiveness, and conscience.

The characters in this story are devastatingly selfish and punitive. It really shows how insidious entitlement and class struggles around wealth can infiltrate every aspect of lives with relationships. Claudia, the most sympathetic character, is predictably, but heart-wrenchingly dragged for not being an insider.

For me this was a very quick read, that I really enjoyed. My only qualm is that the ending and “college years” don’t have the same emotional power as the chapters covering the summer. I felt like the plot was still effective and interesting, but that after the trial the book did sort to putter out and didn’t meet the standards of the earlier chapters.

For me an easy 4/5 or 4.25/5 where applicable.


(Trigger warning: scenes involving animal-on-animal violence, child death, and addiction)

Broad's debut book packs a punch of familial drama and class commentary that leads up to a tragic event that rocks each of the characters. I thought the character development of our protagonist Rachel, going from passive to forthright, was done in a realistic and intriguing way. Having the narrative unfold from her naïve and ignorant youthful perspective added a layer of unreliability that contributed to the tension of the story. While Rachel seemed like a fully well-rounded person, some of the other characters, such as her family members, faded into the background and came across as flat and one-dimensional. The pacing started off a bit too slow for me, but once the event in question was revealed the momentum picked up and it breathed a new life into the story. Overall, this was a poignant exploration into themes of regret, privilege, and sexuality.

The more I've thought about this book, the more frustrated I've been. The writing is good, but the plot takes about 70% of the book to really kick off. There are hints to something nefarious and awful happening throughout, but unfortunately everything is filtered through the eyes of the main character Rachel, who is completely clueless, self-absorbed, and selfish. While she is seventeen, turning eighteen, during the bulk of the book, she reads more like a thirteen/fourteen year old. Repeatedly, her actions show she truly only cares about herself, and has no ability to really think about anything outside the prism of how it affects her or how people make think of her. Even the epilogue shows how completely clueless she still is, despite the fact that you would think she'd learn a few lessons, or at least some empathy.

While I don't necessarily need characters to be likable, and have read a lot of books filled with unlikable characters, Rachel was not interesting, smart, funny, or had any other redeeming factors that made you want to read from her perspective. I'm not sure if this is supposed to be a story about class, race, sexuality, or a coming-of-age story. One could argue it's about all of the above, and therefore never really lands the ending on any of those topics because it's trying to do too much.

Color me surprised... This book seemed like it would be *right* up my alley. But I could not connect with the characters and found the plot flat. The writing itself is good, and I think other readers will like it, but this just wasn't for me.

This was an okay book for me. It was slow at the beginning and never felt like it truly picked up. The book was just okay for me. Nothing life changing.

I can’t say I liked this book very much. The quality of the writing was fine, but I was not prepared for just how much I disliked the main character (and most of her family). I also could have done without the violent scene involving dogs. I think the author makes some interesting points throughout the book, but overall I found it too graphic and didn’t feel like the plot was compelling enough (based on the description) to enjoy.

3.5 stars

This book explored how wealth and privilege had an impact on the characters in this story. Tragedy strikes in a Greenwich home, but who takes the fall was no surprise. The author really diid a great job developing each if the characters in this story. I liked the way it ended, the author sent a strong message.

Thanks to netgalley and St martin’s press for this EArc!

This was a decent slow burn that tackles issues of race and class. It was a bit hard to get into, and I didn’t care for the narrator which I think it by design as she was a teenager coming of age, but the perspective was sometimes more like YA than adult fiction. Overall an interesting read.

I received a free copy of, Greenwich, by Kate Broad, from the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Rachel Flaske goes to spend the summer with her injured aunt in Greenwich, Connecticut. I could not get into this book at all. I did not care for any of the characters at all, especially Rachel.

Greenwich by Kate Broad is an impressive debut novel. This book took me on quite the journey. For the first 30%, I wasn’t optimistic—I was honestly bored. But my patience paid off. By the time I finished, this book had rightfully earned its 4-star rating. It’s complex and nuanced in its exploration of race, class, regret, grief, and the human experience. Broad’s talent is undeniable, and I’m so glad I stuck with it, even when I didn’t agree with the characters’ choices.

I really enjoyed this book and found it to be a fast, fun read. The story moves backward as you watch all the pieces fall into place and learn more about the rich family’s secrets.

BOOK REPORT
Received a complimentary copy of Greenwich, by Kate Broad, from St. Martin’s Press/NetGalley, for which I am appreciative, in exchange for a fair and honest review. Scroll past the BOOK REPORT section for a cut-and-paste of the DESCRIPTION of it from them if you want to read my thoughts on the book in the context of that summary.

Gonna be mighty interesting to see how this book hits given today’s political climate….it reeks of the sort of thing that the publishing-industrial complex will get behind and push….

That said, my Book Report is not about the politics of this book. Nope, it’s about how foreshadowing as a literary technique is something best used sparingly. Kate Broad, however, didn’t ever seem to have been on the receiving end of that particular message. Doom, doom, DOOM! DOOM IS COMING! DOOM IS COMING!

OK, yeah, got that picture early on. (FTR, the “tragedy” is what I thought it was going to be, but did not happen the way I feel like we as readers were set up to believe it would. I dunno, having typed that just now maybe it’s a 50-50 sort of thing about the how?)

Let’s see, what else. Umm, hell hath no fury like a lover scorned? Yeah, that’s critical.

Also, it is my opinion that most people are thoroughly clueless in ways that they can’t even begin to understand when they are 17 (yours most truly included). The main character in this book was some sort of weird combination of that sort of clueless and politically savvy beyond her years. Not to mention just a really unlikeable person. As was pretty much everyone else.

Once again I find myself thinking that I have aged out of certain types of books, not the least of which is the coming of age genre. Am sure plenty of people love/will love this book, and good for them! Isn’t that part of what makes living in the United States of America great? You can choose your books, none are banned!

Oh, wait….

DESCRIPTION
"A stunning debut...Fast-paced, beautifully written, vividly peopled, Greenwich is impossible to put down.” — Adrienne Brodeur, bestselling author of Little Monsters

Summer, 1999. Rachel Fiske is almost eighteen when she arrives at her aunt and uncle’s mansion in Greenwich, Connecticut. Her glamorous aunt is struggling to heal from an injury, and Rachel wants to help—and escape her own troubles back home. But her aunt is oddly spacey and her uncle is consumed with business, and Rachel feels lonely and adrift, excluded from the world of adults and their secrets. The only bright spot is Claudia, a recent college graduate, aspiring artist, and the live-in babysitter for Rachel’s cousin. As summer deepens, Rachel eagerly hopes their friendship might grow into more.

But when a tragic accident occurs, Rachel must make a pivotal choice. Caught between her desire to do the right thing and to protect her future, she’s the only one who knows what really happened—and her decision has consequences far beyond what she could have predicted.

A riveting debut novel for readers of Celeste Ng and Liane Moriarty, Greenwich explores the nature of desire and complicity against the backdrop of immense wealth and privilege, the ways that whiteness and power protect their own, and the uneasy moral ambiguity of redemption.

Mindfully balancing so many aspects of privilege and wealth, the reader is pulled into the web of how all of it interconnects and gets tangled.