I really loved this book. At first it seemed to have a lot of deaths in so I thought oh it’s about that but no. This book is about family secrets and what happens with one very big secret that has been kept hidden from one family member, all though at first it was a secret that the person thought she had kept from all the family but then as you read on you realise that it’s just one member who does not know what happened.. This book is about what happens to a family when no one talks and everything is hidden. I really liked all the characters in this book the way the 2 granddaughters found each other even though they had been kept apart all there life. It goes to show family means everything. Even though the end of the book I was sad it was also happy as well as 2 sisters found there way back to each other just in time. Would recommend to everyone.

Hannah Beckerman’s If Only I Could Tell You is a story of family secrets with a superb emotional twist. Something happened almost thirty years ago that tore Audrey’s family apart, but now she is dying and is determined to do all she can to reconcile her adult daughters. The sisters, Jess and Lily, although very different, both felt real – women I might know, who have experienced the kind of loss that touches most families. Although this novel is about grief and estrangement, there are also wonderful moments of warmth between Audrey and her two granddaughters, which I found particularly touching. Warning – have tissues at the ready for this beautiful read.

Sorry to say that i couldnt finish this. I just didnt gel with the story or the setting. I was bored to tears. Sorry.

Wow! What a book! I don't normally like family drama titles but this was amazing. It was tense, shocking, emotional and frustrating all at once. Almost cried on the tube reading some of it! My one gripe would be that the book didn't round up everything completely as I would have liked, I wanted to see how the two young cousins' lives worked out. They both had so much unsurity in their lives and we never found out the conclusion to the main few life problems they were going through.

Other than that, it was well written and very pacy. I did tend to skim read sometimes because I desperately wanted to find out the big reveal, but still managed to get most of the story reading that way. The mark of a good book! Highly recommend this title.

A dysfunctional family story with a number of layers to get through until you uncover the truth - a journey for the reader alongside the characters.
An enjoyable read that made me think all the way through. Will look for more from this author.

What a fantastic read, loved the characters and the complicated tale of their lives. Makes you realise that bit everything is always as it seems. Definitely recommend this book.

What a beautiful read. So thought provoking and well written. It makes you question so many things and really does make you believe that life is too short to hold any anger/grudges. You realise what the important things in life really are.
My Mum would have loved this if she was still here!

Why do family’s fall out? This book is about 2 sisters who haven’t spoken for years. Why not? The book is thought provoking and emotional and kept me gripped throughout.
Would read more from this author

I really enjoyed this book, not my usual type but I loved it. Not often a book makes me cry but this one did! Highly recommend

Oh my! This was beautiful and absolutely unputtdownble!! I was compelled to keep reading to find out what had happened. And I wasn’t disappointed by the end. Thank you to Netgalley and the author for the advance read- I’d definitely recommend

This is the story about 2 sisters who haven't spoken to each other for over 30 years, what caused them to fall out??? This kept me intrigued wanting to know what happened!!! I got it completely wrong! It's heart breaking in places and I did a lot of crying!! It's beautifully written and I couldn't put it down.

For those that like an emotional novel you can’t put down!

Audrey's family has fallen apart. Her two grown-up daughters, Jess and Lily, are estranged, and her two teenage granddaughters have never been allowed to meet. A secret that echoes back thirty years has splintered the family in two, but is also the one thing keeping them connected.

As tensions reach breaking point, the irrevocable choice that one of them made all those years ago is about to surface. After years of secrets and silence, how can one broken family find their way back to each other?

I kept trying to figure out what it was that was the secret to make two sisters so disconnected over a long period of time, it’s not how I thought it was! This book has many highs and lows and can be an emotional rollercoaster. I’d certainly recommend putting aside a day to read this though! 📚

I loved this book. compelling plot, beautiful characters . tinged with sadness and happiness, exploring the strength of the mind and the pull of families
estranged sisters, their mother and daughters, all trying to make sense of life and how they got to where they are. today
Life isnt always what it seems .

A wonderful, emotional story of love and loss and a family divided by a tragic past. This will really hit home for anyone who has experienced a turbulent relationship with a family member. It is so well written and so authentic I honestly didn't feel like I was reading a piece of fiction - I felt as though I was watching somebody's life unfold before my very eyes - as though I was intruding on something private. Really well done!

How many of us whose families have, through trauma perhaps, fallen apart can relate to this story of a mother and her two daughters. I found this compelling reading as we begin to build, little by little, throughout the story and ideas of just what happened. Initially I believed with Jess that it was her older sister, Lily, who had killed Zoe,. Even though we were told time and again that she was trying to protect her sister. As the story unfolds and mothers pain and longing to see her daughters reunite, a clearer idea of just what happened emerges. An emotional but really good storyline.

This book is brilliant really made me think about conversations I had not had with my family. One family impacted by events in one year which upended the whole family. Each person dealing with things in their own way but nobody talking. So much guilt and blame. Three decades later these unsaid conversations are impacting new and old relationships and are keeping a family at odds. Have the tissues ready for this one but definitely read it

I really struggled to stick with this, but was really glad I did as the second half surges with momentum and the twists and tales of Jess, Lily and Audrey and their relationships and shared history.

I enjoyed this book! At times it was a bit too easy to predict the outcome but the characters were interesting and generally sympathetic and the plot rattled along nicely. A good read for a holiday.

i absolutely loved this book - it focuses on a family and slowly unravels the secrets, but written in an amazing, clever way. Beautifully written, i was crying at some of the description, so powerful and such clarity when outlining the relationships which we come to fully understand by the end.

I am off to find any other books by Hannah, great author

I should've posted this earlier and highlighted what a potentially great gift idea this book for Mother's Day... my bad. What it doesn't need is a break down of the plot, the interplay between the character's is so realistic and well observed that any basic plot summary is an insult to the job that Hannah has achieved here. The nuance and tension is so keen that , at times, it makes for very uncomfortable reading. It's a testament to the writer's skill that she balances everything so finely and that the characters remain three dimensional. I saw Hannah interview Ruth Jones at the EIPF last summer and that piqued my interest in her writing. This book is a brilliant read and deserves your attention.