I devoured this story within a couple of days and was sorry to come to the end. It is a riveting tale of the complicated and tangled relationships that exist in a family, especially when loss and depression feature in such an enormous way. Each of the Skinners had an endearing characteristic and I grew to care for them all. What really hit home for me was that we never really know what’s going on in someone else’s head, even if we feel we’re as close to them as we can possible be. Tara Conklin is definitely on my favorite author list with this one.

What an excellent read. The female characters in this novel were so well drawn...I had a mental image of each one in my head as I read this novel. So real, so compelling, so complicated and juicy and messy. Just like a real family. Completely believable and relatable for most readers I think. Interesting look at relationships between mothers, daughters, siblings and lovers and how fragile they can be. Just enough tension and heart. I can't wait to read what the talented Anissa Gray gives us in her next book.

I loved this book from start to finish. It would be a great book club book, with lots of discussion worthy topics. The characters were believable and filled out just right. I felt I got to know 'Tariq', the young man from Morocco, the best, as he narrated every other chapter. He's so naive and mostly charming, though also a bit of an opportunist. I really liked 'Hannah', too, and found her character deep and intriguing, someone I'd enjoy knowing in real life. The historical aspect of the novel was well told, too; I appreciated the look at the lives of several women who shared their stories of living through the years of the Nazi occupation. One of my very favorite bits is Tariq's description of the girl he left behind in Morocco..."There was so much more to her, so many things I'd forgotten, starting with the way she never bothered to say hello, because there was always something more important to tell me." I was sorry to arrive at the last page of this one. Well done, Mr. Faulks!

I can't promise my review isn't skewed by the fact I'm a Buddhist. At first, I thought this may have been the main reason I enjoyed this book so much, in spite of finding the main character, Nicole, a bit unbelievable at times; too many conflicted traits for one character! Even so, I rooted for her to get away from "The Master", an abusive and despicable womanizer who called himself a Zen Teacher. I'd like to give this book a 3.5, but as it's not an option, I'll err on the generous side as I read it faster than I read most books just to find out what happened in the end!

I loved parts of this novel, and disliked other parts. Phillipa was so, so everything! She was not a character I could feel sympathy for...much too selfish, but part of me sort of fell in love with her anyway...I applauded her honesty. But, while she was aware of her weaknesses, she didn't seem inclined to do anything about them. I thought the insertion of her whole dreamt-up life of Bernadette dragged on too long and wish she'd wrapped it up faster. Overall, I enjoyed this book though and plan to look for this author's other work.

This book was a quick and entertaining read. I enjoyed the development of the characters very much. The only relationship that didn't completely ring true for me was between the two sisters, Phoebe and Olivia. The two seem to have no commonalities, but when their family's secrets begin to unfold, their relationship changes. The change seemed just a bit 'overdone' to me. The rest of the story was very enjoyable and entertaining. This might be a great book club read, plenty of topics for discussion, like family secrets, sibling rivalry, cancer, just to name a few. Oh, one other thing that seemed a bit far-fetched is that Olivia is allowed to be at home with her family during the quarantine period. I can't imagine this actually being permitted - but it was pivotal to the plot, that the family is thrown together for seven days, and unable to leave the house. I can't wait to see what this talented author comes up with next!