Here at Great Reads & Tea Leaves we are so pleased to share a first look at a forthcoming historical fiction novel from bestselling author of The Jane Austen Society and Bloomsbury Girls, Natalie Jenner. Every Time We Say Goodbye releases in May 2024, and I am so excited to reveal the first details of the novel and its beautiful cover with you today.
Here is a special message from author Natalie Jenner who shares with us the inspiration of her new novel, followed by the cover reveal, and the official book description from the publisher.
A MESSAGE FROM AUTHOR NATALIE JENNER
Hello Dear Readers,
Every Time We Say Goodbye was the hardest book I will ever write and the most rewarding.
It all started when I learned about the world famous Cinecittà movie studio in Rome being used as a war refugee camp in the 1940s. People who had been stripped of everything—homes, possessions, even their most basic humanity—suddenly found themselves confined to life inside a “dream factory.” I decided to set my third novel during a very specific, very cool time in history—la dolce vita of mid 1950s Rome— while exploring the incredibly complex and haunting legacy of that city under German occupation during the Second World War.
I also wanted to know why Vivien Lowry, a character from my book Bloomsbury Girls, had been so angry all the time! I wondered if a woman could make the biggest mistake of her life and move past the regret in a way that benefitted her and the world around her. I never intended to write a dual timeline. I had been working on Every Time We Say Goodbye for nearly a year when the voice of a young female Italian resistance fighter codenamed la scolaretta—the schoolgirl assassin—suddenly showed up on the page one day. Having witnessed the bravery and sacrifice of so many to keep us safe during our world’s most recent challenge, I wanted to pay tribute to them. How fortunate am I, through the intimate and emotional power of historical fiction, to have the opportunity to do so.
I packed everything I could into this book: love and conflict, faith and religion, censorship and resistance, art and moviemaking, fashion and food, and cameos by favorite actresses such as Sophia Loren and Ava Gardner and characters from both The Jane Austen Society and Bloomsbury Girls (I, myself am terrible at goodbyes!).
I hope, more than anything, that Every Time We Say Goodbye gives readers the entertainment, inspiration and food for thought that nourished me throughout its writing.
Best wishes, Natalie
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COVER REVEAL
Here it is …. stunning, isn’t it!
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OFFICIAL BOOK DESCRIPTION
The bestselling author of The Jane Austen Society and Bloomsbury Girls returns
with a brilliant novel of love and art, of grief and memory, of confronting the past
and facing the future.
In 1955, Vivien Lowry is at a crossroads in life. Her latest play, the only female-authored play on
the London stage that season, has opened in the West End to rapturous applause from the
audience. The reviewers, however, are not as impressed as the playgoers and their savage notices
not only shut down the play but ruin Vivien's last chance for theatrical success. With her future
in London not looking bright, at the suggestion of her friend, Peggy Guggenheim, Vivien takes a
job as a script doctor on a major film shooting in Rome’s Cinecittà Studios. There she finds a
vibrant moviemaking scene filled with rising stars, acclaimed directors, and famous actors in a
country that is torn between its past and its potentially bright future, between the liberation of
the post-war cinema and the restrictions of the Catholic Church that permeate the very soul of
Italy.
As Vivien tries to forge a new future for herself, she also searches for the long-buried truth of the
recent World War and the fate of her deceased fiancé lost in battle. Every Time We Say Goodbye
is a bold and moving exploration of trauma and tragedy, hope and renewal, filled with dazzling
characters both real and imaginary, from the incomparable author who charmed the world with
her novels The Jane Austen Society and Bloomsbury Girls.
(Every Time We Say Goodbye is linked to The Jane Austen Society, & Bloomsbury Girlsby
characters, but is a stand-alone novel.)
QUICK FACTS
AUTHOR BIO
Natalie Jenner is the internationally bestselling author of The Jane Austen Society and
Bloomsbury Girls, which have been translated into more than twenty languages worldwide.
Born in England and raised in Canada, Natalie has been a corporate lawyer and career coach and
once owned an independent bookstore in Oakville, Ontario, where she lives with her family and
two rescue dogs.
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