'Manhattan Beach' was an absorbing and epic pageturner, immersing the reader in the inner lives of its characters from beginning to end.

The novel follows Anna Kerrigan, her parents Eddie and Agnes, and her disabled sister Lydia in New York in in the 1920s up to the early 40s as the US enters the Second World War. Also featured as a main character is Dexter Styles, a gangster with a conscience whose life becomes inextricably linked with the Kerrigan family as the years pass.

Set against the backdrop of gangsters, speakeasies, the mob and the docks, the reader watches Anna emerge into adulthood and a city preparing for war. She becomes a headstrong and confident character who pushes for what she wants and fights to be heard, all the while still holding onto the ghost of what she once believed her father was.

This was an excellent read, with a huge amount of research evidently going into this rich and engaging story. Highly recommended.

Thank you NetGalley, though this was an odd read. Anna was an intriguing character but the time frame of the story was hard to keep a handle on. It felt like two very different stories, and it wasn’t ever quite enough of either.

The story is set in the US during WW2. The central characters, Eddie a man with no real profession who is a hanger-on, working for gangsters in New York and his daughter. The daughter, Anna is driven as a adult to become a diver in a mans's world. she succeeds but I found it hards to like her. She demands admiration for her determination but I felt little involvement or warmth towards her. This made the book feel a little over long at times. There is much interesting detail describing the working conditions in the naval yard and the uncertainties working in the world of the gangsters. I recommend the book but only gave it 3 stars.

Egan gives us a historical story set during the second world war in New York. Filled with accurate descriptions and settings, she has done a great job in that sense. As well as dealing sympathetically with a disabled member of the family. I was less taken with the main role of Anna Kerrigan as a diver at Brooklyn Naval Yard and the chauvinism she had to contend with. Overall, a good read.

This is a hauntingly ambitious historical novel of the sea and New York, set during the Depression era and the Second World War. It is impeccably researched in its period details and well plotted. Anna Kerrigan is 11 years old, with her beloved father, Eddie, as they make their way to Manhatton Beach, and the opulent home of nightclub owner Dexter Styles, a man with ties to the mob. The family are barely getting by, Eddie is a bagman for the union and he wants a job with Dexter. He needs money for his disabled daughter, Lydia, towards whom he has ambivalent feelings. One day Eddie fails to return home, leaving behind a devastated Anna who never gets over this event. There are three disparate and fragmentary storylines in the narrative, shifting in time and place, yet interconnected to reveal the mystery behind Eddie's disappearance. This is a story of the impact of war on women and the opportunities that open up whilst the men are away, class, crime, loss, tragedy and the relationship between fathers and daughters.

Anna goes on to work in the Brooklyn Naval Yard during the war, having to provide for her mother and Lydia. Upon sighting a diver, Anna wants to be one, irrespective of all the obstacles. Anna is a determined and courageous woman, letting nothing stand in her way. Her relationship with Lydia becomes close and tender, revealed in her care of her sister. A night out with a friend at a club brings Dexter into her close proximity resulting in a complex and intimate relationship. Dexter has no idea that Anna is Eddie's daughter and Anna is keen to find out what happened to her father. As Anna dives into sea waters that hide a multitude of secrets, such as treasures and dead bodies, revealed to the diver, so she gets closer to the dark truths that lie behind Eddie, to discover that there is so much she didn't know about him.

Egan gives us detailed insights of New York as a Port city and its importance to the US war effort through the Brooklyn Naval Yard and the specifics of the sea diving operations. She opens our eyes to crime and what might propel a person into a life of criminality. The impact of the war and its impact on women is astutely observed through Anna and her achievements. Oddly enough, the narrative includes the use of powerpoint in a chapter. The oceans and sea are representative of fate, transition, and the immovable forces of life relentlessly moving on. In a story of redemption and reconciliation, Egan captures an era. It is not a perfect novel by any means, for example, I would have liked to have seen more substance behind the disabled Lydia rather than the symbolism of her character in the narrative. This is epic storytelling that I enjoyed reading. Thanks to Little, Brown for an ARC.

Anna is close to her father often joining him on business trips. She is a real daddy girl. However her Dad leaves the family and Anna must look after her family. She meets Dexter Styles and their destinies are interwoven. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to review this book.

For anyone who thinks this is going to be like Goon Squad, it's not. This is such a beautiful historic novel though and I raced through it. Anna is such a real character and the way her story links with others is done perfectly. Unfortunately the ending of the novel kind of ruined it for me as the plot didn't really make sense and felt rushed. Overall I would recommend this though, the way she describes the landscape of the time is flawless.

A swirling epic of New York in war time often from the unusual perspective of a woman diver which added interest to the well worn stories of gangsters and victims.

This novel consists of linked stories - the main is the story of Anna from being a child in the 1930s through WW2 when women broke into men's jobs working in the Navy. This was interesting and I enjoyed this aspect of the book. There is also another narrative - of her father Eddie, and the world of organised crime and union corruption. I found this less enjoyable and think it would have been a better book if we'd had more of a focus on Anna.

Overall I was slightly disappointed as I've really enjoyed the author's other novels, but this less so.

Um, definitely not what I was expecting from Egan at all... is this really the same author who wrote A Visit from the Goon Squad?

Manhattan Beach feels like several stories in one, all struggling to come together, all lacking cohesion, none of them emotionally engaging. This is a messy book, full of plot points that seem unnecessary and deliberately convoluted. Is it a novel about a young woman navigating a male-dominated world and work force for the first time? Is it a gangster/mob story? Do we care either way? Personally, I didn't.

The first section is the strongest, introducing us to the spirited young Anna and her father, Eddie, who is about to break into the mob business in depression-era America. Anna's care for her disabled sister and her desire to appear strong and capable to her father drives the first few chapters, but it is over all too soon.

Then the novel makes one of many jumps through time and we find ourselves following Anna as an adult woman trying to forge a career for herself and support her family. After this, the book jumps back and forth, from past to present and from character to character, story to story. These jumps contributed to the scattered, almost rambling style of narration. The lack of cohesion really affected my enjoyment of the story and my ability to connect with the characters.

For such a talented author, I didn’t expect to see characters swooping in only when needed for the plot and then departing just as quickly. And it was incredibly slow, but not in the way that the recent Little Fires Everywhere was slow - a slowness that was still compelling, still left you asking questions and needing to know throughout - but slow in that it felt like there was nothing to read for.

I didn't feel like there was any point to the story, anything to question, wonder about, or want to know. Though that was perhaps a result of my inability to care for any of the characters. I was turning pages only to reach the end.

Looking back over the novel, I get an intense feeling of dissatisfaction. Everything is a series of disconnected plot points; many long, slow parts where nothing happens, and even the more action-filled parts were not particularly interesting. Bloodless and forgettable.

I loved the blurb and beautiful cover of the book, and the opening chapter is evocative and sets the scene beautifully - then we turn the page and it's 7 years later and the characters feel flat, the story unfeeling, despite emotive things happening.

This feels like a book full of loose threads: people appear then disappear abruptly. Her only female friend is absent then miraculously reappears just in time for the plot. A whole strand of the story and POV character suddenly appears midway through the book.

The diving scenes are fascinating but too often the research that's gone into the book is oh so determinedly thrust at us, and moments of clunky writing jar.

Overall, this is enjoyable enough as a piece of unchallenging, easy-read escapism: but I expected better from Egan.