Every Time We Say Goodbye

Two years ago, I greatly enjoyed Natalie Jenner‘s novel, Bloomsbury Girls. My favorite character was Vivien Lowry, so I was excited that she would be the star of the newest book in the series, Every Time We Say Goodbye. Leaving behind London for a job in Rome, Vivien is hoping to move forward with her career yet continuously confronting the past, from her deceased fiancé to the lingering effects of WWII on Italy.

Special thanks to Natalie Jenner, St. Martin’s Press, Austenprose PR, and NetGalley for the review copy of this book!

Summary

It’s been more than a decade since Vivien Lowry lost her fiancé David to WWII, though the details of his passing have always remained a mystery. With new information that his final days may have been in a POW camp in Italy, Vivien flees her floundering playwright career for a role as a script doctor for the Cinecittà Studios in Rome. Throughout 1955, Vivien works on films, battles the Catholic Church’s control over the Italian film industry, develops new friendships and romantic relationships, and slowly uncovers more of what happened to David all those years ago.

Review

Every Time We Say Goodbye weaves in quite a bit, and Natalie Jenner intersects characters and themes as deftly as she has done in previous books. Like before, here there is a mixture of real historical figures walking alongside fully fictional characters, adding to the realism and timeline of the story.

In Bloomsbury Girls, Vivien Lowry was a complicated, prickly, ambitious woman with a tragic past. Here we get to see more of her past and her ambition, even if her edges are starting to soften. Going into Every Time We Say Goodbye, I was expecting the story to largely center on Vivien’s search for the truth regarding her late fiancé’s final months in Italy. However, while that goal does first inspire Vivien to relocate to Rome, it hovers in the background for much of the book, waiting until the end to put the pieces together.

Instead, much of this book is more about the Italian film industry in the 1950s. Working as a script doctor at the eminent Cinecittà Studios, Vivien not only gets to spend time with famous actors and directors alike, she also gets a firsthand look at how the Catholic Church exerts such control over the films being produced there. The Catholic Church has a ton of power over Italy at this time, and that extends to the movies that can be made or shown there. But their neutral position during WWII means that some stories may make them look bad, further incentivizing them to put a stop to certain stories that our characters want to tell.

If you’re a fan of classic movies and stars of the 1950s, this is a fun book to immerse yourself in. There are many recognizable faces, plus fascinating insight into the Italian filmmaking industry of the time. However, this is also a thought-provoking look at religion as an institution and as a source of immense power. I also liked getting to know Vivien specifically, and her lack of trust in religion. As she points out later in the novel, how can she have faith in the aftermath of such atrocities as those committed in WWII?

There are numerous interconnecting stories here. On the one hand, Vivien starts seeing a man named John Lassiter, and his relationship with his wife Anita Pacelli and their adopted daughter Margarita is complicated. Later revelations mirror the information another character, Tabitha Knight, is working to uncover about her own past as an orphan of WWII. And then there’s the story we’re waiting to see wrapped up: What really happened to David? There are prominent themes of loss and survival, of children and babies, orphans and adoption, and more, and it all comes together beautifully by the end.

Every Time We Say Goodbye mostly focuses on Vivien Lowry’s life in 1955, but there are also snapshots of an anonymous woman known as La Scolaretta in 1943. How does her story connect with everything else?

Another one of my favorite (and rather meta) themes here is the recurring discussion of what constitutes the truth. Filmmakers, writers, photographers, painters—who is to say what is real and what is pure fiction? How much of the truth is made? When outside powers (like the Catholic Church) censor or prohibit scenes or entire movies, how can people judge what is real? As a creator, these are fascinating questions. And as part of a novel themselves, and a novel about creators, no less, these are important themes to keep considering.

Final Thoughts

Every Time We Say Goodbye is a thoughtful, melancholy, yet hopeful novel of post-WWII Italy and England. It has the dazzle brought by the film industry and famous stars present throughout, but it also has the harsh realities of war and its aftermath. I was happy to get to know Vivien Lowry more, from her unfinished past to the future she can finally forge for herself.

Get the Book

You can buy Every Time We Say Goodbye here – it’s available as a hardcover, ebook, and audiobook.

Every Time We Say Goodbye by Natalie Jenner
Series	Jane Austen Society (#3)
Audience	Adult
Genre	Historical Fiction
Setting	Italy; England
Number of Pages	336
Format I Read	Paperback (ARC)
Original Publication Date	May 14, 2024
Publisher	St. Martin’s Press

Official Summary

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 facing the greatest challenge of her 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 Lowry’s last chance for a dramatic career. With her future in London not looking bright, at the suggestion of her friend, Peggy Guggenheim, Vivien takes a job in as a script doctor on a major film shooting in Rome’s Cinecitta Studios. There she finds a vibrant movie making 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 permeates the very soul of Italy.

As Vivien tries to forge a new future for herself, she also must face the long-buried truth of the recent World War and the mystery of what really happened to her deceased fiancé. Every Time We Say Goodbye is a brilliant 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.