In her 70's Edith writes a letter to her nephew who was adopted at birth. Ripeness describes the circumstances of his birth whilst also detailing Edith's life as a septunian living in a remote part of Ireland.
First and foremost this was an enjoyable read , Moss writes vivid characters, you can see the teen ballerinas living it up in 60's Italy despite the reason for them being there was one of the company was in "trouble", you can also Edith and her friends wild swimming in the bitter Atlantic wrinkles and all. Moss touches on a lot of issues in the book, anti-semitism, sexism, ageism , the horror of enforced adoptions but apart from the adoption being a key story none are explored in depth . In some ways this felt a little shallow but in others it was such a good story that if she'd started exploring issues it might have detracted from book.

3 stars is my bench mark for a good book, a solid read, but it didn't touch me enough for more. I might not remember the book , but I’ll definitely be adding any other books by the author to my too be read pile

Such an engaging story of belonging! Her writing is beautiful and now I am definitely diving into her backlist!

Not as dark or despairing as other Moss books, this follows Edith in present day Ireland as she looks back to 1960s Italy. Back then, as a 17 year old on an enforced ‘gap year‘ before Oxford, she was sent to look after her sister who was due to give birth.

Ripeness is certainly an apt description of this book - gorgeous writing and descriptions - I loved it!

Some lovely passages which were a delight to read but overall I found the book too hard going. Depressing in parts or just overdone.

I'm a big fan of Sarah Moss' writing and enjoyed this new offering. The journey through the different points in time and the character development was great.

With thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for an advance review copy.

The narrative is told in chapters which alternate between first person narration by 17-year-old Edith and third person narration by the same Edith at the age of 73. Young Edith has been sent from the family farm in the Midlands to a villa in Italy to help her unwed sister who is about to have a baby (father undisclosed) which will be given up for adoption.

At the other end of her life, older Edith, now divorced and living on the Irish west coast, thinks back on the choices and personality traits which brought her here. She is the daughter of a Holocaust survivor who fled to England, the only one of her family to survive. Edith's mother never properly settled into her life as a farmer's wife and mother to two daughters; likewise Edith has inherited a similar distrust of settling too much. With her family history and an adult life in Dublin with an Irish husband, against a background of local unrest at an asylum seekers' hotel, she reflects on the nature of being a refugee, of belonging - or not. Her friend in the village is dealing with the discovery out of the blue of an older brother who had been given up for adoption to American parents, and it slowly becomes clear that this has prompted Edith to confront long-buried feelings about her own sister's baby.

As an immigrant myself, and a woman who has always been at best ambivalent about having children, I found a lot that resonated in this book. Edith is not an especially pleasant character but she is true to herself and owns her choices and attitudes and philosophy with a level of clear-sightedness that I could admire. This is one to read slowly and think about. Recommended.

As expected from Sarah Moss the writing is assured, the story offers a twisting look at human relationships and dextrously manages leaps in time. I've enjoyed her other books and enjoyed this too!

A very engaging story about belonging, switching between Italy in the 1960s and the Irish coast today. We follow Edith, who as a 17 year old is sent to Lake Como to take care of her pregnant sister. And in the alternating chapter we see Edith again, now in her seventies, living in Ireland.

So what does belonging mean? Does it have to do with nationality? Family history? Or DNA? Feeling at home? Being accepted by the community? Can you belong when you remain an outsider?

Sarah Moss' writing is excellent as always. I like that she always has interesting observations that are completely naturally embedded in the narrative.

Sarah Moss is a must-read author for me, and while Ripeness wasn’t my favourite of hers (that title is held by Ghost Wall or Bodies of Light), it is nevertheless an accomplished and beautiful novel.

A joy from start to finish. This is a slow read, but in Moss's style, which we are all coming to appreciate more with each new work. Characters are well drawn with just enough pace to keep us interested. May there be many more books like this from Moss - rapidly becoming a 'one to watch'. Highly recommended

I absolutely loved this book. Yes, some people will think the lack of punctuation is a challenge, but for me, once I got into the flow and rhythm of the book it faded into the background and the words came to life on the page. Following Edith’s backstory as a seventeen year old sent to be with her pregnant sister in rural Italy, as well as her mother’s family history, alongside her present self in her seventies, now divorced with a lover in Ireland and her best friend Maebh who has been contacted by an unknown brother, the sudden realisation that the stories are about to collide hits you with such an emotional and profound feeling. I was absolutely swept away by this novel. A mixture of coming of age, family ties, secrets, friendships, love and loss, for me this is a beautiful and tender telling of the sad reality of unmarried mothers whose babies were sent away for adoption.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy in exchange for a review.

Absolutely delicious. This is a remarkable and very enjoyable book from start to finish. I love Sarah Moss's work and this is no exception, The story runs from Edith's point of view on a dual timeline - she is seventeen, about to go up to Oxford and is called by her mother to take care of her dancer sister who is about to give birth and give away her baby in an isolated Italian villa. And she is seventy - living a happily divorced life in Ireland when a friend, Maebh has a long-lost brother turn up to claim his birth family. Across the storylines Moss examines how people's attitudes are changed over time, the grief and liberation of being in a position to give up a child, and her own survivor's guilt about the situation her sister found herself in.

There is so much to unpack as Edith reflects on her life, her family and friends, and it all held together by the most precise language and sensory descriptions that make you want to linger and reread again and again. So beautiful and just excellent.

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC.

I really wanted to get into this book. The story sounded very interesting however the style of writing threw me off completely.

I managed to read about 1/3 of the book and still was confused of the story line.

I am sure people would love this one however it was not for me.

I love Sarah Moss’s writing. You enter into one of her novels knowing that you’ll be enveloped into a story that will take you along an emotional path but one tinged with deep insight and leaving you to question your own path in life. ‘Ripeness’ is a novel that combines part coming-of-age awakening in 1960s Italy with quiet later life rebellion on the west coast of Ireland. What a book,

I have never read this author before, but I was immersed in it immediately unfortunately my Kindle needed charging before I could finish it so I was forced to read it over two days.
Where to start? This novel is both poignant and yet it shares situations that many are having to face today. It starts in rural Ireland where Edith, the heroine, lived in her early years on a farm, but then the reader is shown how her life is affected by the Nazi regime which has her French,Jewish mother and family murdered in Belsen, We then have glimpses between Edith in her late teens and Edith at seventy. Her relationships with her older sister who is a ballet dancer, her father a farmer in Derbyshire and her lover, Gunter. who she meets in her seventies. This is an altogether stunning novel and I thank #NetGalley, #PanMacmillan #Picador for offering me the chance to read and review this book.

What a fascinating book. This is Edith’s story told by Edith at 17 in the 1960’s after leaving school and excited to go to Oxford university and by a narrator telling 70 year old Edith’s story in the present. Edith is the daughter of a French-Jewish mother and a Derbyshire farmer. I cannot believe I haven’t read this author before, I was engrossed in the story, it’s not fast paced but it’s wonderful reading.

Briefly, Edith’s mother wants her to travel before taking her place at university and Edith goes along with it until her plans are changed and she is sent to Italy to help her older sister, ballet dancer Lydia, who is unmarried and pregnant. The present thread finds Edith in rural Ireland, happily divorced, and we learn about how she came to be where she now is. Then her closest friend Maebh asks for her help after being contacted by an America claiming to be her half brother.

This is an emotional and enjoyable story of one woman’s life from teen to old age, and from the British countryside, through Italy to Ireland. There is a lot of trauma discussed in the book including reference to Jewish Holocaust refugees, Magdalene Laundries and the current war in Ukraine. A story of searching for the place where you belong, of family and friends and of acceptance.

Teenage Edith is taking a 'gap year' before going to Oxford and she is tasking with staying with her older sister. Lydia is a ballerina who is carrying an illegitimate child and living in a villa in Italy. Many years later ageing Edith is happily divorced and living in the West of Ireland. However, events in the here and now make her consider the past.
I found this a difficult book to read, mainly because the paragraphs were so long and the prose so intense. There were lots of areas to reflect on, particularly the bits about immigration and also the key theme of illegitimate babies. It's a very rich book and beautifully written but just felt a little long and over-important.

A beautiful and melancholic novel—language that leaps, characters that remain long after the book has ended. Sparkling right till the end.

This is the first book I’ve read by Sarah Moss and I’m very keen to read her other books. Ripeness is a slow read, set between modern day and the past where Edith stays in Lake Como with her sister. We see themes of love, loss and isolation at its core, it’s beautifully told, I really enjoyed the sections in Italy and the descriptions of life there.

Like all Sarah Moss books this explores isolation, but is a departure from her recent novels which were very short and cranked up the tension to propel you to the conclusion. This is a much slower read as it tries to unpick how important nature and nurture are to our sense of self and belonging.

The story is told through dual timelines. One appears to observe Edith’s life in modern day Ireland where we see how she, as a Jewish immigrant, reacts to Ukrainian refugees joining the rural community as well as events in her friends lives. The second is her reminiscing about a time when she was young and went to stay with her sister who was about to give birth at Lake Como.