A fascinatingly addictive story about a woman who is rejected by everyone apart from her best friend from school. At first Gilda seems unlikeable, deeply unpleasant and manipulative, until you learn that she's always experienced rejection and bullying, and desperately wants to be involved in her son's life now that he's married. But even he finds her annoying and cold.

Francesca Jakobi paints a vivid portrait of the Swinging 60s complete with patchouli oil and Mateus Rose in the present day timeline of the book, and is equally successful in the drab 40s and 50s of Gilda's girlhood. 'Bitter' examines how the lack of a loving family means Gilda has no confidence in herself and grows up unable to show her own love. Which impacts on her own son, Reuben. The novel hinges on misunderstandings that, by the end become clear, even if not completely ironed out; there are finally glimmers of hope. Gilda has always blamed herself, but she learns that she's been the victim of other people's manoeuvring and plotting. This could have been a misery-fest, but the sparky writing and humour lift the novel beyond mere wallowing in loss.

My only quibble, and this is for the publisher - how did grammatical errors like: 'showed Leo and I where to sign', 'left Frank and I together' and, even more surprising: 'pretending me and Reuben are fine' not get picked up by an editor?

I loved this book! It is an emotional, compelling, heartrendingly beautiful story about Gilda, a Jewish woman who is obsessed with her newly married son Rueben and his wife Alice. Set in 1969 with flashbacks to Gilda's earlier life the story unravels to give you a complete picture of how earlier consequences have molded the characters. It is very well written and I can't believe it is a debut novel. I can't wait to read more from Francesca Jakobi.
Highly recommend!

A thoroughly good read. It took me a little while to get into this book, possibly due to the unique style of the writing, but once I had I found it difficult to put down. A really enjoyable story filled with interesting characters.

It is sadly the case that motherhood doesn't always come naturally, and a good mother needs a good – or at least adequate - role model. So this desperately unhappy story of a mother’s dysfunctional relationship with her son and daughter-in-law will have a powerful emotional resonance for any mother.
In reference to the German narrator’s cruel nickname at an English boarding school – when she mistakenly says the German, instead of English, word for ‘please’- Gilda also comes across as a very bitter woman, who could be described as the mother-in-law from hell. But we soon find empathy for this painfully flawed character who went through a hellish childhood - rejected by her parents, sent away to boarding school in another country, and forced into an arranged marriage at 18 to a much older man. Unsurprisingly,when she becomes a mother, her parental skills are non-existent and she fails to develop a healthy maternal bond, with devastating consequences.
It is a tribute to the author’s skill that Gilda is an unsympathetic character who the reader can easily find empathy with – and even begin to like.

This was an amazing book. I read it in one sitting.
Gilda castigates herself for the fractured relationship with her son. It colours every aspect of her life. Married twice but still very lonely, she pretends to have a closer relationship with her son and follows her daughter in law and son to try and build a connection.
Even with her childhood friend, Margo, she tries to keep up the pretence. However, eventually she has to face reality but then finds that she did not have the complete picture following her acrimonious divorce and that others held their silence in not revealing the full situation.
Towards the end, she begins to come to terms with what happened and then at the end she finds a gentle way of becoming part of her son's history.
Do read this: you will not be disappointed.

The story of a complex Mam and Mother - in - law. and very descriptive of 1960's life. A great story

Thank you netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book. I’m going to be honest this book done nothing for me. I found it quite confusing there was two stories but in the same paragraph, it just seemed to jump from one thing to another and most of the time I was wondering what was going on. I only got as far as chapter 34 I just couldn’t read anymore. But the name rings true about reubens mum oh my she is bitter.

Gilda is now living in London Its 1969 and her only son has just got married. She is consumed by her want to be loved by him and over the chapters we look back on the past discover why he is so distant.

Boy is this emotionally powerful... the last thing I had expected it to be. I've read a number of books where the story is that of obsession, there have been a few, even ones where the mother is obsessed with her son, just like this one. Of course, that is oversimplistic but that is the basis of it. There were things I really didn't expect - the sadness and desperation of the mother - it made for quite an emotional read. It manages to be both heartbreaking and extremely sinister, a unique mix.

If you had explained the true nature of this novel I probably wouldn't have chosen to read it but it turned out to be so addictive, I reckon there will be a lot of people hearing about this one and reading it this summer. It's certainly worthy of the attention. The prose is engaging and flows well and the book is paced perfectly. This novel shows just how scary obsession can be and what it can drive people to do. Despite being mother and son, Gilda is so wildly jealous of others relationships with her son that she loses her mind. Insanity and obsession make for a whole heap of trouble. SCARY! I did, at times, feel a little sorry for Gilda. I loved the exploration of the relationship between mother and son.

Highly recommended. I loved it!

I would like to thank Francesca Jakobi, Orion Publishing Group and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Really liked this book. The main character is most definitely flawed but there's something deeply sad about her. This was written really well and I liked the moving between wartime and 1960s London. Ultimately a tale of love and loss - really enjoyed it, would recommend

How much do you know about those around you not as much as you think is probably the answer in most cases. Gilda is a Jew born in Hamburg Germany just before the rise of the Nazi party began to arise in her own country. Then when she interrupts her father busy with his secretary she is shipped of to boarding school in England and stays at her uncles in the holidays. She then at the age of seventeen is introduced to Frank a business partner of her Dad's and married of.
But this is two stories (for the price of one) running along side each other plenty of twists to make you back up and rethink the story and you have to do that quite a few times. It's certainly a book that had me gripped and holding my breath which if it was a film it would of past quicker than having to keep reading, but it is well worth the hold. I do recommend this book and hope you enjoy it as well. The important part of this story is of a mother's love for her child and how it may not run smoothly all the time some are more blessed than others and for others the pain is beyond well read it and see.
I have been given a free copy of this book from NetGalley in return for a honest review.

This is the absorbing story of Gilda, a German Jew who has spent most of her life in England. It is told from her point of view, going into flashback as she muses on past events. The setting in time (pre-war to 1960s) is very well evoked. Gilda's background has been harsh and, obeying her father, she marries a much older man. They have a son, Reuben, and it is the mother/son relationship that the book is concerned with. Her son marries a blonde, blue-eyed English girl, Alice, and Gilda is consumed with jealousy. She is by now split from her second husband, Leo, and only has one friend, Margo, from her schooldays. She has had episodes of depression and drinks too much, and becomes obsessed with Alice and begins to stalk her, as her son has grown cold and distant with her.
Gilda has made many major wrong choices in her life and is now paying for them. She is not a likeable woman, and is spiteful and, indeed, bitter at how her life has turned out, but much of it is her own fault. The sunny, loyal Margo stands by her despite Gilda pushing her away at times, and Alice tries really hard to help her build bridges with Reuben. Does she shed the bitterness and redeem herself in the end? Maybe...
This is powerful and accomplished writing.

It would not naturally be my choice to read a book entitled Bitter – especially as a few pages in it dawned on me that it is about a bitter woman. Angst mixed with sheer bitchiness do not make for easy reading material. I was also somewhat phased by the mix of past and present in the same paragraph – I had to concentrate really hard when that happened. I persisted though and appreciated the perfectly captured eras. The boarding school bullying and the London department store cosmetic counters both resonated with me.
From the cover and the reviews I anticipated a psychological thriller but I was obviously mistaken. This book is undoubtedly well written and well researched. I feel that it will not have universal appeal but from the previous reviews I’ve read I am already in the minority. Thanks to Orion Publishing and NetGalley for this ARC in return for an honest, unbiased review.

Bitter is a great tragi-comedy, and Gilda is a wonderful comic character, beautifully realised. If this isn't a Bafta award-winning show within two years I will eat my yarmulke. I see, perhaps, Tamsin Greig as Gilda, and Stephen Mangan as her estranged husband. Just a thought.
Bitter is so well written you can see Gilda sat on your sofa, looking disdainfully at your curtains and bad china. You can hear her voice in your head and feel her disappointment.
Gilda always gets the fuzzy end of the lollipop. Even as a child. She looks wrong. Her sister is so embarrassed of her she makes her wait five minutes before joining her in school. Her parents show her no affection. When she sees her father in a compromising position, she is exiled to England. In her new school, she is treated to vile Anti-Semitism.
Up to date, it is 1969. The times are changing. Women are going out to work, skirts are getting shorter and Gilda's son Reuben has just married lovely (non-Jewish) Alice.
Learning through flashbacks, we see how Gilda's life has not gone according to plan. She was forced into an arranged marriage at 18. She suffers from depression, and self-medicates. Her relationship with her son is distant at best.
Reuben never returns Gilda's calls, so she feels compelled to take action. What Gilda does next the reader may not agree with, but it makes for great comedy. Gilda, however, is far from being a bad person, and does not bear all of the blame for her family breakdown. Humour gives way increasingly to pathos, as Gilda makes small steps towards growth. Gilda realises she has people who love her, and it helps her put her life in order.
I kept being reminded of Princess Diana's famous interview quote: “there were three of us in this marriage.” It helps the reader understand so much of what happens in this great book.

Readers who love a strong main character will feel for Gilda, the bitter 50 something divorced Jewish mother whose passion is her son, Reuben.

When Reuben marries Alice, a sweet young Gentile girl, Gilda cannot understand why he loves her so much and not herself, his mother. Set in London in 1969, Gilda's story is told through flashbacks interspersed with her present day life, jealously stalking Reuben and Alice or complaining to her one long time friend, Margo.

Bitter is an exceptional tale of mother/child relationships and how we are treated in our youth affects how we act as adults. One of my favourite books of 2017 was also an unforgettable character and voice, Eleanor Oliphant, and, although Bitter covers a very different life, Gilda will stay in my mind in much the same way Eleanor did. Many thanks to NetGalley and W&N books for the opportunity to read and review Bitter.

This is such a beautiful story and one that was so easy to get into and hard to put down!
Gilda is a twice divorced 52 year old living alone. The story opens with her son Reuben's wedding to Alice. Gilda can't understand what he sees in her. You think then this is going to be a book about a jealous mother and her daughter-in-law but it is so much more than that. As Gilda tells her story from her childhood spent in Hamburg at the start of the second world war, her unsupportive parents and sister, her 2 weddings, and the relationship she has with her son from birth you get to see why she feels the way she does.
The setting of the 60's in London was quite vivid and well described.
I loved it.

BITTER is an emotional minefield of a debut from a writer I expect we will all soon be hearing a lot more about. On the surface, this is the story of Gilda Meyer, a middle-aged train wreck waiting to happen in her newly-married son Ruben's life. The problem, it appears, is that Gilda is jealous of her shiny new daughter-in-law. Why is it Ruben loves this bland, blonde, Alice person, while remaining resolutely indifferent to his own mother? In her quest to find out the answer to this, and more, Gilda begins to 'follow' Alice and to infiltrate her son's marriage in a variety of strange and unsettling ways.

Not only is Gilda a crazy stalker-mum, whose behaviour falls well-short of exemplary at every possible turn, she’s a wonderfully prickly piece of work into the bargain. So, while Ruben may not love his mother, the reader quickly does. In this sense, BITTER reminded me of Claire Morrall’s Booker nominated ‘Astonishing Splashes of Colour’. Like Kitty, Gilda is out there on a limb, actively making own problems explode into other people’s live. But when it’s all done in such a heartbreakingly vulnerable way, what’s not to love?

Francesca Jakobi’s prose is exceptionally stylish, with dry, elegant sentences unfurling to reveal all manner of delightful shocks and surprises. Often hilarious, sometimes harrowing, Gilda’s keenly observed worldview is always fascinating.

I also loved the way the various time periods (the war, and the 60s) were evoked and it is not hard to imagine BITTER being turned into a mini-series or film. Both Gilda and her daughter-in-law are products/prisoners of their times and yet also examples of how quickly things were changing for women in post-war Britain.

There are so many great lines in this novel but I don’t want to spoil anything by quoting them here. However, I will never reach for a rolling pin again without thinking of Gilda and her older sister’s advice.

With thanks to the publisher for letting me see an advanced reader’s copy of BITTER in exchange for an honest review.

Set in 1969 Bitter follows the story of Gilda, a 52-year old woman, twice-divorced and lonely in London. Following her only son’s wedding Gilda is plagued by memories of her past, and feelings of guilt for being a terrible mother, and her desperate attempts to make amends.

What I loved about this?
• Voice, voice, voice. Narrated in first-person by Gilda what gripped me from the opening line was her voice. It's sharp and fierce, but as the story goes on you start to see cracks and catch glimpses of Gilda’s loneliness and melancholy. It's raw and intense, but so emotionally engaging.
• Plot and structure. I found Bitter incredibly pacy and well-plotted. Jakobi wonderfully balances the shifts in narratives through short, alternating chapters and, personally for me it didn't waver in tension nor did I find myself, as can often be the case, preferring one narrative over the others.
Overall – I loved this book. I found the characters and premise so fresh and different. Stories about ‘terrible’ mothers is hardly written about, and I found this to be such an honest read about a flawed woman trying to redeem herself. Reminiscent of the works of Jean Rhys, Zoe Heller, and Patricia Highsmith Bitter is an unflinching and searing portrait of motherhood, love and envy.