A lovely book about fractured families and how they can be put back together.
Amelia has just found out her husband is in major debt, and on top of the is cheating on her, she is forced to move back in with her mother Grace, taking her daughter Charlotte with her.
Grace isn't the best at showing Amelia the love she needs, and this has led to many tough conversations.
Charlotte is having to start a new school, but maybe she finds what she needs from Sammy.
Told from the perspective of Grace, Amelia, and Charlotte, the book shows the difficulties in relationships but also shines through with love shown in many different ways.
I liked how the story was woven together, how the women mended relationships and became stronger.

Another heartwarming, emotional and in-depth book from Elizabeth she really knows how to weave a tale. I love the fact it's about every day things that make you feel connected to the characters.

The Art of Belonging

‘Sometimes you need to open your heart to find where you truly belong . . .’

I love finding reads that are about life and the extraordinary and life-changing events that can happen in the everyday. This gentle little gem of a novel is about the relationships between three generations of women in the same family. Grace has been estranged from her daughter Amelia and her granddaughter Charlotte, but when circumstances mean they need somewhere to live Grace welcomes them into her home. Now, brought together under one roof, feelings begin to unravel and with them the truth of what drove them all apart in the first place.

I loved the development of these three characters and how they interact with each other. Grace falls in love with her granddaughter before our eyes and their growing relationship is joyous to watch. Amelia takes longer to thaw and I felt at times, that her treatment of Grace was unfair but slowly the story unfolds and we start to understand what caused the rift. The author manages to capture what makes mother/ daughter relationships so complicated but without bitterness. What was so heartwarming about the story was an acceptance that family relationships are not easy, but having that deep sense of belonging is so important in life, even where there are disagreements and complications. The author brings other charming elements into the story such as a miniature railway and a mystery at Charlotte’s school. These are devices to bring the family together as they work through their feelings and learn to appreciate each other. I felt wonderfully uplifted by the story and very grateful for my own mad, messy and complicated family.

A delightful story of family and forgiveness.
Families are messy and complicated, but also loving and healing.
The novel follows three generations of women - Grace, her daughter Amelia and her daughter, Charlotte.
I loved watching their relationships and interactions - the blossoming relationship between Grace and her granddaughter, was such utter joy, and why was Amelia rejecting Grace, but as the story progresses we understand why.
Such a beautiful, heartwarming story - appreciating what it truly means to belong in a family unit
“sometimes you need to open your heart to find where you truly belong”
Thanks @eleanorraybooks @piatkus & @netgalley for the heartwarming read

The art of belonging by Eleanor Ray is the story of three females in the same family, grandmother Grace, who is 72, her daughter Amelia and her granddaughter Charlotte. When Amelia’s marriage breaks down, Grace offers the two of them a home for as long as they need.
The storyline is how all three of them reconnect and how they all manage to make new friends and move on when Tim, the husband, tells them he has met someone else and they are expecting a child.
There are many incidents along the way, some good and some indifferent but they all manage in the end to have meaningful relationships with with each other and make friends with other people.
Highly recommended

I haven’t read any of the author's previous works so I went in based purely on the synopsis which caught my attention, as it was my type of read.
It’s a beautiful heartwarming read that revolves around three generations of women - Amelia and her daughter, Charlotte, who move back to live with Amelia's estranged mother, Grace, following the end of Amelia's marriage.

A highly recommended compelling and emotionally resonant read.

“She’d decided when she hit seventy that she didn’t have enough life left to make her own puff pastry, and the ready-rolled packets stared back at her as if full of accusations.”

When unexpected circumstances bring Grace's estranged daughter, Amelia, and granddaughter, Charlotte, to live in her home, complicated feelings start to emerge, revealing a messy and emotional past which drove this family apart.

It will take a school mystery, an exquisite miniature railway and some brave decisions to help them each find not only themselves, but also each other - and to appreciate what it truly means to belong together.

The Art of Belonging is an emotionally healing novel about infusing new life in relationships. It is about family, friendship, and standing in solidarity with those who matter to you.

Eleanor Ray has this knack of blending heart-warming, uplit fiction with a riveting mystery that adds layers to the central story and brings unexpected twists.

I thought Charlotte was a wonderful character in this story. As she struggles to settle into a new home and school, she chances upon an unusual friend. Eventually, Charlotte ends up being the one around whom everything starts to revolve.

My favourite character, however, was Sammy, Charlotte’s new friend at school. I loved his enthusiasm and conviction in everything he does. I absolutely adored his charm and playfulness, and his willingness to trust this new friend he discovers.

A story that recognises the messy, complex family dynamics and the tangled differences that come with it, The Art of Belonging is a beautiful, captivating read, with characters you come to cherish.

This ARC courtesy of NetGalley and Little, Brown Book Group.

I would like to thank the author, the publisher and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read an ARC of this book. Having read the author's previous book I was looking forward to this one and I wasn't disappointed, it had great characters and a lovely story. I will be recommending it to everyone I know.

When Amelia’s marriage ends, the last thing she wants to do is move back in with her mum. But she has no choice. Along with her nearly teenage daughter she moves back to her childhood home, one that is filled with memories, not all of them good,

Living with her mum again is odd at first, but as time goes on they begin to rebuild their relationship, maybe they can even mend the rift between them.

This was a lovely read. Themes of family, love, loss, belonging and friendship run through the book. The relationship between Amelia’s mother Grace and her daughter, Charlotte is lovely as it develops. I loved the characters, their relationships and whizzed through this one.

If you enjoyed Ray’s first book, Everything is Beautiful, you’ll love this one.

What a gorgeous, gentle book. Three generations of a family thrown together by circumstance. They negotiate the hurt and pain that all families knowingly or unknowingly inflict on each other as well as receiving the unconditional love that is nearly always there as well. Grace, Amelia and Charlotte discover that their experiences and feelings are not so different after all. Definitely a five star read.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read an advance copy. All opinions are my own.

I adored Eleanor's debut in 2021 and so have been eagerly anticipating the chance to get my hands on this one, and I was not disappointed.
Following 3 generations of women: Grace, her daughter Amelia, and her daughter Charlotte, this was an effortless and heartwarming read.
I loved getting to know them each individually as well as seeing their relationships - I felt for Grace a lot, often being rejected by Amelia and feeling pushed away, but as the story progresses we begin to understand why they all do the things they do.
There were some sub plots that just fitted in so nicely and added something to the story without it being too much, as well as some twists I wasn't expecting.
A beautiful story I won't be forgetting any time soon.

This is a beautifully written book. It is uplifting and heart warming. The characters simply are delightful. This book will stay with me for a long time.

I really enjoyed this book. It had me feeling many different emotions whilst being immersed innthe journey of love and the joy and heartache that it can cause.