I Couldn't Love You More

This novel entwines the stories of three Irish women living in London. Aoife leaves rural Ireland for London in the forties, and meets a pub owner who only wants to return and run a farm. They persevere and save through the war and its aftermath, sending their daughters to the safety of an Irish boarding school. Rosaleen flees to London in the sixties, falling deeply in love with a much older Jewish artist. And then there's Kate, also an artist, but forced to put her own ambitions on hold as her daughter is young and her partner prioritizes his music and his drinking over childcare.

At first, the book feels like three unconnected stories woven together, but Freud slowly reveals connections and parallels that unify the novel. The novel show more looks at the choices that women have been allowed to make over the years and how those choices, or lack of choice, form them. Freud is such a fine writer and has so fully developed each of her three protagonists, that I never felt frustrated when the novel switched from one to another. As each woman's story is told, it deepens the other stories as well, and in the end, all was pulled together into a single cohesive whole. I was impressed with Freud's writing and her skill in both telling a story and how well she developed her characters. I'll certainly be reading more by this author. show less

A beautifully written book about three generations of women whose stories entwine and unfold through the book. Aoife (pronounced Eefa) Kelly’s story starts in the 1930’s. She escapes Ireland only to return when her husband decides to run a farm there. With their strong Catholic faith, Aiofe has always put her husband’s needs before her own and played the dutiful wife.

Their headstrong daughter Rosaleen’s story of the 1960’s is quite different. She, like her mother, escapes Ireland and the constraints of her father and the Church, to live in bohemian London and a life as a sculptor's lover. Tragically, she finds herself abandoned and alone and is horribly betrayed.

Finally, there is Kate in the 1990’s, a struggling artist, with show more a young daughter Freya, her lifeline. Unhappily married, constrained and manipulated by her unreliable husband and completely lost and adrift, she is searching for a history that seems lost.

Their relationship to each other is gradually revealed as their stories unfold, and the reader becomes fully immersed in their very different lives. With themes of motherhood, love, abandonment, loss, fear and betrayal, it is a very moving book and despite some of the content being extremely upsetting and at times absolutely horrifying it is enthralling and immensely enjoyable.

Initially the book is a little disorientating as the timeline jumps about making it feel rather jarring and confusing, but Freud manages this well and the feeling soon dissipates as the main characters are established and their connections revealed to make it a very consuming read. show less

The story of three interconnected generations of women set in Ireland and London beginning during WWII and taking the reader up to the present day.

This is a beautifully written and moving tale. I was a little confused at first as there are several different characters and the timeline skips about without warning. It needs some concentration. However, once I got used to the writing style, I found myself immersed in the lives of these three women - Aoife, one time pub landlady, then farmer’s wife, her daughter, Rosaleen, who becomes pregnant by a married man and then there’s Kate who is searching for her biological mother and ‘sees’ her everywhere. It delves into family relationships, particularly motherhood. Some of the story is show more quite harrowing. The treatment of unmarried mothers in the care of nuns within the Catholic church is heartbreaking. It beggars belief. I am so glad that women now have more choices. It’s not all tragedy and sadness, though, as there is more to it than that and it’s left on a note of hope which brought a tear to my eye. An enjoyable and thought provoking read. show less

I normally love Esther Freud's writing - she's up there as one of my favourite authors - but this book was so poor compared to her other novels.

I don't know if her publishers put the squeeze on her or something, but this is such a mass market read with a cliched storyline centred around a woman forced into an Irish convent for unmarried mothers and the impact on her mother's and daughter's lives. There were none of the hallmarks of Freud's usual turn of phrase, and the storyline was horribly confused - halfway through and I still wasn't sure who was who, and from the reviews on Amazon I wasn't the only one.

2.5 stars - hugely disappointing. I hope this is not the kind of writing we're going to see from Freud going forward.

What a deeply sad but wonderful story. It's about being a mother and the lengths you go to both find yourself in the midst of being a mom and lose yourself.

It's a story of three women, and at first their three stories are a bit jarring. You can't tell how they all fit although they book even tells you. I think Kate's story of 'now' was the easiest to read. Her struggles and juggles as a mother and wife while also working as a teaching and practicing artist are easy to understand and identify with. Rosaleen is an easy second to understand as you learn of her affair with an older man and her easy, simple life. It's Aoife's story that a struggled through more and found it more of a distraction than an addition to the story.

These three show more women are at very different stages of their life and it all revolves around their love of their child but also their journey to discover themselves (and be surprised by what they are capable of) and to understand what they want from life. It was mesmerizing and hard to stop reading once you started. As I was completely swept away with the story, it was easy to love this one.

A huge thank you to the author and publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book. show less

[b:I Couldn't Love You More|55659634|I Couldn't Love You More|Esther Freud|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1617707335l/55659634._SY75_.jpg|84068413]tells of three generations of women, their daughters, and their disappointing men. Alternating between characters and time periods, sometimes frustrating the reader when suspense builds (once or twice I skipped ahead), the middle woman is forced to go to the Catholic home for unwed mothers i.e. like the Irish Magdalen Laundries and gives up her baby for adoption. Once this child grows up, she seeks out the secret story of her mother and tries to find her. The writing is skilled and the story moves along at a good pace. Highly recommended.

This is a tender and heart-rending tale that follows three generations of mothers and daughters from 1939 to 1991. Their sorrow from their loss of contact with their daughters is delicately and movingly revealed as their stories unfold in alternating chapters following Aoife, her daughter Rosaleen and in turn, her daughter Kate. But the love is not only shared between the daughters, as there are some men in their lives who play key roles in giving them help at crucial times. The stories moves from Ireland to London and then to Sussex and the lives and regrets of the three are hauntingly described in Esther Freud’s deeply enchanting and compelling writing, which reverberates long after the final page is turned.