Every Time We Say Goodbye by Natalie Jenner

1955. Vivien Lowry's latest play, the only female-authored in London’s West End that winter, opened to a rapturous reception from the audience. However, the critics' savage reviews have forced its closure and called into question her entire career. So, when then the opportunity arises for her to work as a script doctor on a film shooting in Rome's Cinecittà Studios, a world populated with the likes of Ava Gardner and Sophia Loren, she takes it. What Vivien doesn't count on is the greatest male bastion of them all: the Vatican.
Caught between church and censors, as well as two very different men, Vivien must also face the long-buried truth of the recent World War and what really happened to her fiancé if she's to deal with her past and step into the future.


This book was my sort of read, full of emotion and historical detail, but also grappling with recovery from a momentous life event. The event in this case being WW2 with differing perspectives across Europe and how to find a way to interact with each other in the present? We’re taken from the city of Rome to the countryside, where tales are told of the exploits of the Italian resistance with so many people still needing to know the truth and have justice for themselves and their loved ones. The differences between how war impacted the urban and rural landscapes were interesting, but also the terrible impact on those who did survive.

Vivien is our central character, currently employed as a screenwriter within the Italian film industry. She jumped at the job of script doctor on a film, after her most recent West End play was a flop. This is the 1950s and the movie studios are populated with characters who are famous actors of the period, Sophia Loren for example, mixed in with those of the book. I always think this is such a clever thing to do, but so difficult to do well. Here it adds to the realism of the novel, because if Vivien worked in the Italian version of Hollywood these are the people she would meet. Being Catholic I was interested in the role of the Vatican in WW2, it’s power and it’s role in censoring people’s experiences and artistic endeavours. The stories people wanted to tell and the ones it was allowed to tell were two different things. Vivien is also hoping to find out what happened to her fiancé David after he was posted overseas and never returned.

In flashbacks we travel to ten years ago to Levi and Tabitha’s stories, not told gratuitously but with the knowledge that stories like this must be told and shared, so people understand and know it can never happen again.
There is such emotional depth in all these characters and it’s so clear that the author believes in her story. She also knows that these events happened to real people so treats them with empathy and compassion.
Through all of them we get to see how people operated under such enormous pressures, particularly featuring the resilience of women. There’s also the pressure applied from above, whether the source is political or spiritual, it’s so hard to push against especially when it’s an internalised belief system and part of your culture. The central message of course, is to keep hold of even the smallest shred of hope, however desperate circumstances seem to be.

This turned out to be a really enjoyable read. I wondered as I started the book whether it was for me. There was a large focus on celebrity culture centred on the Italian film industry in the 1950’s and I was hoping for more detail about the struggles in Rome for the Italian Resistance. However, as I read on the book became more engrossing with a quality of reflection on personal experience that was unusually good. What impressed me was the retelling of how people dealt with the trauma associated with extreme violence in warfare, in particular how people used charitable enterprise and philanthropy to move on from their grief. Something we can all learn from.

Against the stunning backdrop of Italian cobbled streets a screenwriter faces many difficulties in the 1950s, the biggest, the Vatican. All at once enthralled and enticed an immerserve novel to lose the mundanity of everyday.

There was a lot to like about this book. I enjoyed my immersion in 1955 Italy, where the scars of the war were still deep. The historical background about the movie industry, the role of the church and the flashbacks to 1943 were great to read about. Vivien,s story both past and as it evolved was poignant. However, I found there were too many subplots running off on tangents, then the author had to tell us what the moral was, rather than showing us. This would have had more emotional impact had she stuck to a main plot and explored it fully. I also hadn’t read the earlier books, however, it did all make sense, as this can be read as a standalone.
Thanks to NetGalley for an ARC to read and give an honest review of.