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I Couldn't Love You More
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By Esther Freud
avg rating
1 review
An unforgettable novel of mothers and daughters, wives and muses, secrets and outright lies
‘Freud is a modern literary rarity: a born storyteller’ THE TIMES
‘Such a powerful book’ RICHARD CURTIS
‘Delivers an emotional punch that left me in tears’ RACHEL JOYCE
‘Utterly compelling’ HANNAH ROTHSCHILD
‘I couldn’t love it more’ POLLY SAMSON
‘I loved this book’ AMANDA CRAIG
‘Completely, inspiringly wonderful’ BARBARA TRAPIDO
‘Breathtakingly beautiful’ JULIET NICOLSON
AN EVENING STANDARD BOOK OF 2021
Rosaleen is still a teenager, in the early Sixties, when she meets the famous sculptor Felix Lichtman. Felix is dangerous, bohemian, everything she dreamed of in the cold nights at her Catholic boarding school. And at first their life together is glitteringly romantic – drinking in Soho, journeying to Marseilles. But it’s not long before Rosaleen finds herself fearfully, unexpectedly alone. Desperate, she seeks help from the only source she knows, the local priest, and is directed across the sea to Ireland on a journey that will seal her fate.
Kate lives in Nineties London, stumbling through her unhappy marriage. But something has begun to stir in her. Close to breaking point, she sets off on a journey of her own, not knowing what she hopes to find.
Aoife sits at her husband’s bedside as he lies dying, and tells him the story of their marriage. But there is a crucial part of the story missing and time is running out. Aoife needs to know: what became of Rosaleen?
Spanning three generations of women, I Couldn’t Love You More is an unforgettable novel about love, motherhood, secrets and betrayal – and how only the truth can set us free.
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Mabe
I found it annoying that this book continuosly jumped the decades. It had so many characters in it making it difficult to follow.
I score it 4.
Carolyn
I found this book very difficult to get into and read. It was very confusing as it went backwards and forwards in time and between characters. It took a while to sort out how the women were related to each other. I didn't learn anything new from it. I did finish it but it won't stay with me for long. I did think the title was good as it could be taken in two ways, either I couldn't love you any more than I did or I couldn't love you any longer. Although I didn't enjoy this book I read another of her books, Mr Mac and Me which I really liked.
Score 4
Kirsty
Unfortunately I really did not get on with this book, managed to scrape to 120 odd pages. It was just too confusing, I didnt know who was who or what timeline it was at the time. Its a shame as it sounded interesting but was way too complicated for me x
Eve
I did enjoy this book but found it confusing to read. It had a confusing time line and a very large cast of characters I was lucky enough to be given a 'reading group guide' and even then, I read it twice before going on.
It was a very sad time, when young girls were forced to give up their babies because they were not married and I can understand that they wanted to search for them later in life.
Mostly they had been sent to the nuns on the Catholic mother and baby homes.
Although i enjoyed reading the story of this book, I do read for relaxation so would have liked this to be more reader friendly. Therefore I would give the book 6, this being for the story, not the complicated writing exercise.
Sonia
This is a rare occasion for me but I just couldn't read this book. Far too much jumping between decades and characters with never enough time spent anywhere or with anyone to properly develop the story. A shame because it could have been a good story but utterly spoilt for me by the writing style.
Average score based on 3 readers reviews : 4.5 out of 10
