Touching and bittersweet

The writing is so heartfelt. The characters are genuine and lovable.
This is a story of love and loss. It made me cry, laugh and smile.

I greatly enjoyed this book, thank you for giving me a preview copy. The plot was interesting and fast paced and I sympathised with the characters. This is the first novel I have read by this author but I hope it will not be the last!

When you reach 90 do you just give up, move into a care home and let the world pass by? Jack and Bet were different, no care home for them, independence their mantra despite the efforts of their only son Tommy. Jack’s chance meeting with a young Romanian , Marinela and her involvement in their lives forced them to look back, to question decisions made and indeed their relationship, their seventy year marriage.

Butler opened up their world, the differences that sometimes seemed to force Jack and Bet apart, yet also pulled them together. Their marriage wasn’t perfect, it had its secrets, their personalities almost polar opposites, yet still they remained together. Was it because their generation didn’t believe in divorce or was it because they really loved each other, depended on one another, couldn’t quite imagine a life on their own?

I loved Butler’s tender narrative, never sloppily sentimental as their story unfolded, each chapter told in their own distinctive voices. What I found particularly clever was Butler’s use of Marinela, young and vibrant, with her own secret. You could see the similarities between herself and the young Bet, the desire for a little bit more in life than what they had. Marinela had her own story, her own struggles, but she had a heart, she made time for Jack and Bet, she cared for them, respected them. Bet insistence on helping her almost seemed like she was living the life that she could have had, but couldn’t quite bring herself to take when the opportunity arose. Marinela allowed Butler to show that just because your 90 you can still embrace change, enjoy what modern society had to offer.

I think I knew what would happen towards the end but that didn’t take anything away from the novel. It only cemented the whole feeling of the novel, that life doesn’t end when we reach old age, we can still learn, and adapt, just like the younger generation.

Ninety doesn’t mean care homes, no life, no feelings, the body may fail, but the mind, thoughts and determination are still strong, a lesson for us all.

A beautiful, wise novel, full of emotion, tenderness and resolve, and just lovely.

This was a really cute story about an older couple in their nineties who’ve been together for seventy years. Their son wants them to consider going into a home but they have different ideas.... was easy to get lost in the characters and the story.

Jack and Bet have been married for 70 years and both are approaching 90. They've never had much but enjoyed living in the area around the Elephant and Castle in South London but they're getting older and their son, Tommy, wants them to move into a home. Neither wants this and when Jack strikes up a conversation with a young Romanian student, Marinela, Bet realises a way to help them all get on with life. The only problem is that this reopens issues that Bet has tried to hide for over 60 years and they could change everything.
This is such a lovely book. Jack and Bet are the Darby and Joan for a different generation but Butler doesn't make everything rosy - Jack doesn't talk much and is set in his ways, Bet has a secret she must keep - the writing is so sympathetic that it never feels contrived or schmaltzy. There are a lot of contrasts/changes considered in the book, not just generational but also about families, feelings of home, relationships and modernisation, it's easy for the reader to read over them. However what Butler has created is a gentle story that entertains, does not have a perfect ending actually makes one think, a rarity in this genre.

Jack and Bet have been married for 70 years. Every day, Jack makes the same trip to Elephant and Castle shopping centre to sit in his local cafe and watch how the surrounding area is changing around them. He worries about Bet's deteriorating eyesight and the fact that their son wants to move them into a care home.

One day at the cafe he meets a young Romanian woman called Marinela, and they spark an unlikely friendship. When Jack introduces Marinela to Bet, they think they have found the solution to all their problems. This does however, mean that Bet will have to uncover of a secret that she has kept from everyone, including Jack.

Jack and Bet is a beautifully written and moving tale of friendship, secrets, love and loss, and what it means to be home. It's very hard to review this without giving away any spoilers but I loved it, even though it had me crying on the commute to work 😭

This is the first time I've read anything by Sarah Butler, and I was drawn to Jack and Bet by the blurb - although I had not expected it to be such a beautiful and emotional story.

Jack and Bet are both approaching ninety. After almost seventy years of marriage, they have only one son. There are no grandchildren. Their son, Tommy, is now in his sixties and has two divorces behind him as well as other failed relationships. Tommy is concerned for his parents and would like Jack and Bet to be safe and looked after. He is urging them to go into a residential care facility. Bet is not at all keen on this idea.

Jack and Bet live in a small flat in London. They used to live in a flat on an estate nearby, but it is being pulled down, and the area redeveloped. Bet doesn't go out much these days. Her mobility is not what it was, and she doesn't see as well as she used to, but won't admit it. Jack goes out every day. He walks past the demolition site and notes all the changes around him.

It is Jack's habit to have a coffee in a cafe before heading home to tell Bet what he has seen, but on this occasion the cafe is full and there is nowhere for him to sit. A young woman calls him over to share her table, and he reluctantly sits down. She initiates a conversation. She is Marinela, a Romanian student, living in student digs and studying photography. She left Romania to study photography in London after she discovered her married boyfriend was cheating on her. Jack warms to her and invites her take photos at his and Bet's seventieth wedding anniversary party. Marinela is delighted to do so, and here she meets Bet.

The story is told in the third person, from the perspectives of Jack, Bet and Marinela. Jack and Bet reflect on their distant past, wondering whether things could have been different. Marinela is thinking about today with an eye on her future. She is paying her own way through college. Her family are in Romania and would not approve of how she is earning her living. Bet, however, marvels at her courage. In Bet's day, she had been a hostess in a night club but had wanted to be a dancer. She just wasn't quite brave enough to try it.

As Bet gets to know Marinela, Bet sees a lot of herself in the young woman. Bet eventually comes up with a solution to their care and Marinela's housing needs. The arrangement works out well until Tommy finds out about it. All the while, Jack and Bet are getting older, frailer...

It was easy to became emotionally involved with the three main characters, especially Jack. Oh Jack! I have to admit that, at one point, tears were shed. I found Jack and Bet to be an engaging and moving read which tugged on my heart-strings. It describes areas of London I used to be familiar with in the 1970s, which made it all the more authentic for me.

This was such a lovely story but so sad. Told by 3 different perspectives, felt there could be so much more from each of them. Each very interesting. Getting old is so unfair. Well worth a read.

So very beautiful. I completely fell for Jack, Bet and Marinela, and even ended up with sympathy for the heavy-handed son. A gentle, immersive and life-affirming read.

A lovely story, told from the perspective of the three main characters. I'll admit that I'd have liked the occasional chapter from Tommy as it'd have been nice to get a more rounded sense of him.
This was a veritable storm in a teacup, small and contained but full of depth and emotion. I did shed a tear or two.

A good book, written from the point of view of 3 different characters which gives differents perspectives of the past and present.
Jack and Bet have been married for 70 years. There are parallels between the lives of Bet and Mariele., a young student from Roumania who Jack met in a cafe. I loved this aspect of the book, it gave depth to the decisions both women made in their lives.
I also liked the acknowledgment that we often do not discuss our feelings in a long term relationship(especially not the English).
The descriptions of the areas of London and the flats were very realistic, so you can picture the scene extremely well. I also thought that the characterizations were well described. I knew the people well and understood why tgey did what they did. Thanks also for not adding an epilogue.... I like being able to imagine how it ended up!

Thank you to Net galley, the publisher and author (a fellow ex ou student!) for an Arc in exchange for an honest review

A story of a seventy year long marriage a couple Bet& Jack both in their nineties they have one son in his sixties A couple In a long long seemingly happily married.Jack at a coffee shop bumps into a young woman who they befriend.Through their friendship secrets will be revealed old lies consequences.This was a wonderful read a look at Jack& Bet as a couple a peek into their lives and the young girl who is befriended by them.#netgalley#panmacmillan