EVERY TIME WE SAY GOODBYE In 1955, Vivian Lowry wrote a play that audiences loved but the London critics hated. With this hit to her career, Vivian travels to Italy where she works as a script doctor on a movie. She also uses her time there to investigate the disappearance of her fiancé during WWII. A second storyline told in flashbacks is the story of “La Scolaretta”, a schoolgirl who is also an assassin during WWII.
This was a beautifully written, atmospheric story of self-discovery, with wonderful historical details and complex characters. The author vividly portrays the two timelines with great skill, making this story a page-turner. Reading it felt very much like seeing things happen in a film.
I loved the setting in Rome and the details of movie-making in Italy during the time period following WWII. The way the Vatican influenced censorship of the films was interesting and something I didn’t know occurred. The cameos by real-life characters, such as Daphne DuMaurier, Sophia Loren, and Ava Gardner were really fun.
The story deals with some heavy topics like love, loss, guilt, and grief, but I felt that the book was ultimately very hopeful. Overall, EVERY TIME WE SAY GOODBYE is a lush, intriguing, absorbing tale by Jenner that does a lovely job of blending historical events, palpable emotion, and thought-provoking fiction.
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.
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