I enjoyed this book and loved the characters with the grandmother being my favourite
many thanks to net galley and publisher for the opportunity of this arc in exchange for this review

This book was EXCELLENT. I love a generational story that involves family members, and the trio of Tennyson ladies were an absolute joy to get to0 know.
Each woman is so different, however as we read on, we learn how they have more similarities than we would have originally thought. A gorgeous look into the intricacies and strength of women.

In Bloom by Eve Verde

‘This is my family story. From all I’ve sown together, through all I couldn’t ask. I want to be the bud who makes it.’

In Blooms tells of strength, survival, forgiveness, resilience and determination, and the fierce love and unbreakable bonds between mothers and daughters.

Ever since Sol’s untimely death left her pregnant and alone at twenty-two, Delph’s kept herself small as a form of self-protection. Now, over a decade later, she lives with their daughter Roche and her new partner Itsy, a kind and protective cabbie, on the fourteenth floor of Esplanade Point on the Essex coast.

But Delph’s protective bubble bursts when Roche moves in with her estranged nan, Moon. Feeling on the outside of the bond between her fierce-yet-flaky tarot-reading mother and volatile martial-arts-champion daughter, Delph begins questioning her own freedom. And when Roche’s snooping into her grandmother’s past unearths a familial line of downtrodden women; a worrying pattern emerges. Has keeping small and safe truly been Delph’s choice all these years…?

I don’t believe in trigger warnings, despite their intended purpose to flag up material that may ‘trigger’ difficult emotions in the reader, I feel that they might stop someone experiencing a connection with a text. It might well be a trigger, but that doesn’t always have to mean it’s a negative one. It might be a trigger that starts a healing process. If anyone should have avoided this book it was me, because I was Delphine. I lost the love of my life in my early thirties and then sleepwalked into a coercive and damaging relationship. Yes, it was a hard read at times, but it wasn’t remotely negative. Moon, Delphine and Roche are three generations of a family. Each woman has her own issues, but they all stem from one place. Right back at the beginning. As the book opens Roche can no longer live with her mother and Itsy, the man she’s been living with for most of Roche’s life. So she decamps to her grandmother Moon’s house. Roche can’t stand Itsy, he dislikes her and wishes she wasn’t there. In fact what he wants is Delphine all to himself, it’s easier to control someone who’s isolated. Delphine has had a glazed over look ever since he arrived in her life and she doesn’t seem like her mum anymore. Delphine has done everything she can to keep Itsy happy. She’s changed how she dressed, made herself less beautiful, stayed at home and stopped going out with friends. Every day she makes herself smaller to make more space for him and Roche can’t watch it anymore. However, things are changing slowly. Delphine has a job she enjoys at B & Q, new connections with her colleagues and today she has made a choice. Delphine is pregnant and she knows deep down in her soul that ‘the thought of more years, more life, tied to him’ is more than she can bear. She goes quietly on her own for an abortion, the quietest but most powerful act of rebellion she can make. Then comes her opportunity, Itsy receives a phone call from Jamaica to tell him his mother is dying. He must jump straight on a flight, so Delphine lets him go alone, knowing that now she has several weeks to herself. She doesn’t stop Roche from moving out and accepts this as her time to heal, time to be the parent that so often Roche has to be for her. However, this isn’t the only recovery needed in the three generations of this family thanks to the actions of men.

I felt at first that I was slowly piecing together the story of a client. Being a person- centred therapist means letting the client choose what they want to talk about. I would use my counselling skills to tease out that story and ask questions where it needs to be clarified or where I might only be getting one perspective. Here the story has it’s own pace and each woman narrates her own section. We flit back and forth, also delving into the past here and there and it’s like doing a jigsaw puzzle but only being handed one piece at a time, then another from a different angle. It takes some time to perceive the whole and that was definitely the case here. Only we the reader can see where they all are in relation to one another. The reality of being a woman in today’s world is explored fully, there is no doubt that these women’s lives would have been immeasurably better had they not encountered men. It takes Roche to articulate this properly with the words and wisdom of her generation.

“Roche knows, remembers, how her life changed at around the time she started secondary, and her bubble of invisibility popped. How, despite the school uniform screaming otherwise, she very suddenly became the inhabitant of a woman’s body, complete with a depressing self-awareness that this was now Roche’s life until one day men deemed her invisible again. In fairness, it’s not her contemporaries who usually do the perving – no, it’s men, grown–ass men who have always done the bulk of the wolf–whistling, the innuendoes and basic compliments that they expect her to ‘smile, love’ and be grateful for.”

As a middle aged woman I now know the power of that invisibility and how, in many ways, it’s a blessing.

I love how carefully the author drew the threads between generations, those behaviours that create a pattern of intergenerational trauma. There are moments in her journey where Delph needs her daughter by her side, but she recognises that it’s a selfish need. Delphi’s lived experience stops her; “is not for a child to fix the parent. Nor is Roche the ointment to Delph’s current troubles”. Then we go back into her mother Moon’s early years, when her grandmother is in hospital, suffering from mental ill health. Her name was still Joy back then and her job is to dispense sunshine to a women who can’t even remember her name. ‘Come on,’ Ma says, in a giddy-up way. ‘You know how happy your little face always makes her.’ This a learned behaviour, people pleasing and exactly what Delph is trying to avoid for her own daughter, three generations later. By sitting with her own pain, Delph is avoiding instilling that behaviour in her own daughter, she’s actively breaking the cycle. Yes, there are traumatic moments in these women’s lives, Moon’s story being particularly harrowing, but we can also see the women’s determination to change. It’s that change and what it means for Roche that brings such an uplifting feeling to the book. For me it’s Delph’s struggle that touched me deeply. The loss of Sol, who’d been there her entire life, is devastating. So moving out of Itsy’s orbit and the mental paralysis she’s been living with means opening up her emotions. That’s all of the emotions including her grief, but it’s a process that needs to happen so that Roche can talk about her father openly and in a joyful way. I found myself more engrossed in the later stages of the book as I had to see whether these women could heal together. This is beautifully written and manages to be funny, moving and hopeful.

In Bloom is one of those unexpected gems of a book - a moving and utterly captivating story of three generations of women that stole my heart and I couldn’t have loved more!

It’s the story of Moon, her daughter Delph and her granddaughter Roche. Three very different women but all in their own ways products of their environment, as we all are, it manages to be a heartbreaking but ultimately hopeful journey for the reader.

Thanks to Verde’s characterisation all three leap off the page and it all feels so real as they try to move forward in their own way - and the evolution of the mother/daughter relationships is something many of us can relate to.

It’s one of those books that will make you laugh and make you cry - it tackles some tough subjects but is pitch perfect in the way those are balanced against the humour. It’s a relatively small book with a huge heart - and one you need to read!

This is a powerful and emotional story of the bond between mothers and daughters and the links created in these relationships. The story of three strong women, Roche, Delph and Moon, forging their own path, through the hardships of life and love.
I loved seeing Delph blossom as she realised what she had missed out on in her life- the life she had missed and the relationships damaged. A chance for a second life was beautifully written and I was routing for her completely to be the bud who made it. The link between the three of them although strained at times remained connected and strong and reminded me of the need for women like these in all of our lives.

This is full of thoughtful and relatable characters.
A story of three generations of Tennyson women: self-named Moon the grandmother; Delphine Magenta, irritated daughter and painfully loving mother and teenage Roche, daughter and granddaughter who is just now ready to enter her full bloom of life.
I love the way she tells this family saga in a raw and realistic way, showing the good and ugly parts of the grandmother, mother and granddaughter. Really pulled at the heart strings.

Content warning: this book and review both deal with the theme of male violence against women & girls. If you’re not in the right headspace for that analysis, please don’t feel pressured to read any further.

Earlier this year I discovered Eva Verde’s writing, and fell head-over-heels in love with her debut novel: Lives Like Mine. It’s one of the most innovative and deeply moving books I’ve ever read. As a Black biracial woman who deals with themes of identity and belonging in my own work, it meant the world to find Verde’s perspective explored masterfully through her characters’ dilemmas. And I knew right away that I was going to read everything she ever published. With In Bloom, Verde has built on the success of her debut, growing as a writer while telling a heartfelt story about love, growth, and redemption.

Delphine Tennyson has been lost since her first love Sol died in suspicious circumstances. Delph gave birth to their daughter alone – and as a grief-stricken single mother fell prey to the charms of Itsy, a man with a knack for exploiting vulnerabilities. Instead of helping Delph get back on her feet, Itsy chips away at her sense of self. And after years of making Delph’s world smaller, Itsy tries to do the same with her teen daughter. But spirited Roche has had enough of Itsy’s bullying, and moves in with Delph’s estranged mother, a renegade by the name of Moon.

Initially Delph is devastated. She’s never fully forgiven Moon for the addiction-fuelled chaos and neglect of her childhood. But Moon too had a difficult upbringing, raised by an abusive father determined to stamp out the spark in his wife and daughters. Understanding firsthand what Roche is going through, Moon becomes a refuge for her young granddaughter. And Roche becomes freshly curious about her family history, determined to break through the layers of silence to discover the truth. Delph too grows during their time apart, evaluating her own life and realising the full extent of Itsy’s abuse.


In Bloom is a remarkable story about the love between three generations of women, each with their own complex lives and inner struggles. And there isn’t a single thing I don’t completely love about this book. In terms of characterisation, plot, theme, style, and pacing, In Bloom is the full package. It’s impossible not to root for this family.

From Delphine’s first monumental, secret act of resistance against Itsy’s control in the opening chapter, she had my heart. It’s obvious from the beginning that this relationship is rapidly approaching boiling point – with Delph’s persistent thoughts of suicide and the threat of Itsy’s violence constantly looming, the stakes couldn’t be higher. Women in abusive relationships are most likely to be murdered by male partners around the time they leave and, while I spent the book desperate for Delph to escape, I was deeply afraid for her too.

That being said, while In Bloom deals with some incredibly difficult themes, Verde handles the topic of male violence with real sensitivity. And while her female characters – like countless women and girls around the world – are victimised by men, they are never defined solely as victims. These characters have personality, verve, hopes, dreams, humour… and nothing any man does to them ever stands in the way of their full humanity being recognised on the page. Which is a powerful message to send, given how harmful and cruel the media can be in framing stories about survivors, even in 2023.

Plus, Delph’s arc is one of the most uplifting stories I’ve ever read. It’s utterly delicious that at 42 years old, around the age society starts to treat women as invisible, she embarks on this glorious voyage of self-discovery. And while improving things with Roche certainly brings joy and fulfilment to Delph’s life, being a mother is only one facet of who she is. Delph reconnects with herself, processing grief and trauma, learning to live life on her own terms. She’s also shown to desire and be desired, recognised as a sexual being.

While every woman contains a multitude of truths, they haven’t always been recognised in the stories told about us – particularly mothers. And that In Bloom was picked up by a mainstream, Big Five publisher gives me hope for the future of female representation in literature.

Also, as a lesbian reader, I adored Delph’s daughter. Roche is a young lesbian, deeply in love with her best friend Eden – who isn’t ready to go public with their romance. I read tonnes of books about lesbians – these are the stories I’m most passionate about as a reader and writer, and sapphic romance is the staple of Lou’s Reviews. Yet, for all the advances we’ve made in sapphic representation, it’s still incredibly rare to pick up a traditionally published novel which shows two Black girls in love with each other. Verde handles this aspect of the book with an empathy characteristic of her writing.

However well intentioned, when white writers include Black sapphic characters, they can strip away our connection to Black culture and identity – perhaps because of how deeply entrenched homophobia can be in African & Caribbean communities. And Verde takes a more nuanced approach, acknowledging that particular truth through characters like Itsy, who calls Roche variations of “batty” (a classic Jamaican slur), and Geena, whose homophobia keeps her daughter Eden closeted. However, Verde also shows that – just like in white communities – homophobia isn’t the only story. Roche and Eden find not only acceptance, but love and respect, from other Black characters.

The girls save up to see Little Simz together; Eden does Roche’s hair; Roche reads bell hooks, James Baldwin, Maya Angelou. It’s never a case of having to choose between Black and sapphic identity – rather, the two co-exist. Not always comfortably, but that’s life. In Bloom holds more truth in its Black sapphic representation than every “colourblind” white-authored book I’ve ever read put together.


Couldn’t resist the hardback
My love for Roche is by no means limited to the politics of representation. She’s utterly believable as a teenage girl just starting to get a sense of who she is, who she might become, and where she fits into the wider world. She’s passionate, smart, and socially conscious. And she’s lovable even when her trauma manifests in challenging ways – another truth often denied to female characters, especially those who are women of colour and/or working class. Roche’s curiosity and spirit make her chapters an absolute joy to read.

And then there’s Joy herself, Mother Moon. She’s perceptive, compassionate, and every bit as political as her granddaughter. She’s also – beneath the outward fire – fragile, and somewhat flaky. Though Moon has mostly got her act together, she’s still a regular passenger on the 4:20 train and prone to binges in times of stress. But even while battling her own demons she protects Roche and looks out for Delph, though Itsy has done everything in his power to undermine that connection.

While Moon certainly has her flaws, they are fully contextualised as we learn more about her story. Moon’s self-medicalisation and other trauma responses led her to traumatise Delph in turn. And I love that all three generations of women, together and apart, work to consciously resist that cycle and hold compassion for each other.

Also, though this is easily my longest review yet, it would be remiss of me not to mention the beauty of Verde’s writing. It’s alive and urgent, poetic without ever being pretentious. The term #OwnVoices is an interesting one, because publishers and critics alike can still expect people who are none of those things to write like wealthy straight white men for our work to be perceived as legitimate or literary. But Verde’s authenticity, the courage she has to write in a style entirely her own, is her greatest strength. It’s what makes her books so distinctive.

Whereas Lives Like Mine was written in the first person, pegged to Monica’s worldview, In Bloom is written in a close third person that shifts between all three protagonists. And this style works incredibly well, giving the reader an intimate view of each character while never losing sight of their connectedness – which is the lifeblood running through this narrative. The chapters are all short, every flashback driving change and action in the present, so pacing is tight throughout.

In Bloom is a spectacular read from start to soaring finish – one I can easily imagine myself returning to time and time again over the years, discovering new detail with every visit. Whether you’re into women’s fiction, romance, literary, or sagas, or domestic thrillers, this novel has something for every reader. It’s a life-affirming page turner. And Verde is one of the most exciting writers of this decade.

Always love a story that follows mother-daughter dynamics, and this one was quite rough at times to read, but very necessary.

A mother daughter tale. I enjoyed this read that kept me wanting to findout what happened next. Would recommend.

Meet grandmother Moon, daughter Delphine and granddaughter Rochelle - three women who have to battle to find their own voice and independence against a background of impoverishment and controlling menfolk. This was a moving and very authentic story, with all three women's stories dovetailing neatly into each other, as they explore their own, often fraught relationship with each other and with the outside world.
They are very different women, but each has an inner strength, though Delphine sometimes struggles to find hers. The narrative, told from their different viewpoints, builds up a vivid and rich picture of their lives, past and present, and has us hoping and praying that each will find a better future, and forge on together with a better understanding of each other's frailties and strength. You can't choose a favourite between the women - Moon is so gloriously, independently herself, Rochelle so feisty, and Delphine so sweet and vulnerable.
Their story is told with empathy and humour, and though it never falters in its exploration of issues like abuse, racism, and coercive control, it offers hope and joy to the reader. A superb read.

Ah what a great book. Verde is a properly skilful writer.

This is full of thoughtful, brilliant detail, utterly convincing characters, the grit and scurry of life in the 2020s, a nicely complex yet uncomplicated story of three generations of Tennyson women: self-named Moon, angry damaged daughter, messy mum and grandmother; Delphine Magenta, irritated daughter and painfully loving mother, emerging blinking into her early forties, escape finally looking possible after years in the darkness of grief and oppression; and teenage Roche, daughter and grandaughter, vivid, brilliant, everything waiting for her to grasp it, to finally escape.

We're all formed so deeply by our experiences, childhoods shaped by the experiences of our parents, it's amazing anyone ever gets anywhere at all, and Verde's light touch works really well to explore this, that weight of generations of women unable to extract themselves from obligation and expectation, dreams of a more rewarding life put away or crushed.

A beautiful book and wonderfully written.

“ Avoiding the tantalizing edge of the balcony, Delph touches the soil of her seedlings, finds there’s little to tend to this evening. The small space groans with greenery, plants of all kinds, old and young, healthy and loved. A thin bench holds pots of new beginnings, small shoots, delicate and protected beneath a drawer from the old freezer. Gardening. One of the few good things she’s kept close over the years. And Roche. Till now, anyway.”

Book Review 📚
In Bloom by Eva Verde - 4/5 ⭐

The blurb sold me, was very intrigued and wanted to read it immediately. To say I wasn't disappointed is an understatement. What a phenomenal read. My first book by Eva Verde but it's safe to say I'll definitely read others.

I love how the story follows three reasonably normal working class women, all of whom are related. Grandmother, mother and daughter. That was a nice touch. The way you feel some connection to the female lead is mind-blowing. There's something so real about her and her story.

The writing is flawless throughout the book, with a range of emotions blowing you away every so often. As well great character development across the board. There isn't anything I can fault with the story, the characters or the writing. It's a must read.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster for allowing me to read this ARC - this is an HONEST review from my own personal opinion.

I admit, I was totally taken in by the beautiful cover and was not too sure what to expect from the story but this book was fantastic, Nuanced and well thought out it was a great read.

What can I say, truly this is a phenomenal second novel from Eva Verde. After the much deserved success of her debut Lives Like Mine I couldn't help but immediately preorder In Bloom as soon as I could, as well as being lucky to be an early reader of this digital copy. My expectations were high from the blurb, but wow, it floored me with the intune perceptions, outstanding characters and agonising realness reaching from each page and pulling you further in to the depths of these perfectly flawed people.
With a fluid narrative that captures the psyche and thoughts of the three generations of working class women, Mama Moon, her daughter Delph and granddaughter Roche, as well as Itsy, Delph's long-term partner. Such perspectives lead you through the weaving path of emotions you can't help but connect so strongly to throughout the story, I certainly couldn't. Elation, revulsion, despair, anger, hope, fear; so many emotions as the catastrophic reality of each character literally blossoms over and truths emerge, but the changing landscape leaves you forever altered and hopeful for what is to come.
I personally felt such a depth of connection to both the characters within the story but also the themes, particularly generational trauma, intuition and the fine thread of love that binds down each woman within the line.

It will be a book I recommend to as many people as I can for quite some time.