I began this book with skepticism. The format is not my normal preference, but the author has converted me. I loved every character who seemed to be telling their story directly to me. Each chapter was a deeply personal letter that lingers with the reader. An absolute wonder of a book.

A beautifully written and deeply atmospheric debut!

Some chapters resonated more than others, and the overall pacing felt a bit uneven for my personal taste.

A solid choice for readers who enjoy quiet, experimental historical fiction and "resurrected" forgotten histories!

This is a beautiful collection of stories. Even though each woman’s story unfolds in just a few pages, every one feels powerful and deeply emotional, exploring the complex layers of human experience. The author manages to create rich, moving portraits that linger long after you finish reading. The way these individuals ultimately connect is especially beautiful and adds a sense of warmth and unity to the book as a whole. A truly touching and memorable read.

What Keeps Us is a quietly powerful, deeply humane collection that threads together the lives of ten New York women across more than a century, all anchored by the haunting, hallowed grounds of Green‑Wood Cemetery. The result is a tapestry of stories that feel both intimate and sweeping, each one shaped by the city’s relentless churn and the histories it tries to bury.

The structure is beautifully handled. Each woman’s story stands on its own, yet the echoes between them—loss, reinvention, survival, the weight of choices made in impossible circumstances—create a resonant whole. From a post–Civil War school principal fighting to hold her community together, to a young wife in the Depression discovering her voice through a necessary lie, to four seniors navigating the isolating fear of the pandemic, the collection captures the shifting face of New York with tenderness and clarity.

Green‑Wood itself becomes a kind of witness, a keeper of truths the city forgets. Through Rebecca, the archivist who tends its records, the book gains a quiet emotional anchor. Her discovery that her own story is entwined with the cemetery’s past adds a gentle, compelling through-line, reminding us how memory—personal and collective—shapes who we become.

The writing is elegant and atmospheric, rich with empathy and a keen sense of place. These stories honour the women history often overlooks, illuminating the small acts of endurance that define a life. What Keeps Us is thoughtful, layered, and deeply moving—a meditation on remembrance, reinvention, and the quiet legacies we leave behind.

With thanks to Jeanne Boulay, the publisher and netgalley for the ARC

What Keeps Us is a quietly luminous collection that feels less like reading a book and more like being entrusted with memory.

Anchored in the rolling hills and shadowed paths of Green-Wood Cemetery, these linked stories stretch across generations of New York women — from post–Civil War Manhattan to the isolation of the pandemic. Each narrative stands on its own, yet together they form something greater: a meditation on erasure, endurance, and the invisible threads that bind women across time.

Jeanne Boulay writes with restraint and reverence. There is no melodrama here, only careful excavation. A school principal losing her daughter while holding her community together. A Depression-era wife finding her voice through a necessary lie. Four seniors bartering vitality for survival during COVID. Each woman faces impossible choices, and each story honors the quiet, complicated ways women endure history rather than simply inhabit it.

What elevates this collection even further is the presence of Green-Wood itself. The cemetery is not merely a setting — it is a witness. It remembers what the city forgets. Through Rebecca, the archivist who tends its records, the book gains a subtle emotional spine. Her own origin story, buried among the countless lives she preserves, becomes a powerful reflection on how understanding history is also a way of understanding ourselves.

The structure is delicately handled. The echoes between stories — sacrifice, reinvention, motherhood, loneliness, survival — create a resonance that lingers long after the final page. The connections feel earned rather than imposed, and the final weaving together is deeply satisfying.

There is something brave about a collection this restrained. It trusts the reader. It allows silence to speak. And in doing so, it gives voice to women history too often overlooks.

What Keeps Us is thoughtful, atmospheric, and deeply humane. It is a book about remembrance — and in reading it, you feel like you are participating in that act.

With thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the ARC. This is a debut that feels both confident and necessary, and I look forward to seeing where Jeanne Boulay’s voice leads next.

What Keeps Us is a steady, poignant collection of stories that focus on both the struggles and resilience of women in New York City throughout history.

The stories are well written, though I struggled with how some were paced. Though short, a few dragged me along. At the same time, I found myself yearning for more a few times - especially with Sarah and Margie. Everything feels very matter of fact, with no dramatic flairs or exaggeration, which means the emotions felt as a reader are all the more real. This is especially true when reading chapters from years I’m old enough to remember. The 2001 story in particular was difficult to read purely because of the strong emotion it brought forward - a testament to the strength of the writing.

What strikes me the most is how everyday realistic the stories are - some pass by like a stranger on the street, while others will likely linger with me for a while. Because of this, some of the weaving together was lost on me - as names from the past were mentioned I found myself struggling to recall their stories. But that’s also how life works, isn’t it?

What Keeps Us is being published on March 1, and I recommend it for readers of literary fiction, historical fiction, and short stories.

Thank you to the author, publisher and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this as an ARC.

My grandparents are buried in Green-Wood Cometary, so this book was of special interest to me. I enjoyed this collection, especially the older stores (like 1960s and earlier). I found the ones that took place in more recent times felt a little false to me. I was glad they all connected at the end of the book, and wished there had been more of that! This book would be interesting to Brooklyn residents!

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for letting me preview this book, all opinions are my own.

I thoroughly enjoyed sifting through the lives of the diverse characters featured in the stories of Jeanine Boulay’s “What Keeps Us.” With the backdrop of the Green-Wood Cemetery intertwined through each narrative, the dualities of love and loss, despair and hope, sacrifice and utter disregard, and so much more kept me turning pages late into the night. It also often left me wanting more time with their individual lives and stories, although the last feature gave closure to many. The expansive time period from pre-Civil War to the present, allowed us to see a wide breadth of history through the lens and lives of each character; which was a much appreciated feature of this novel in stories.

Many thanks to the author, Jeanine Boulay, publisher, and NetGalley for the ARC. I would welcome the opportunity to read more from this author.

Thank you to NetGalley and Echo Road Press for this ARC!

This novel in short stories was such a beautiful reading experience and I absolutely loved Boulay’s writing style. I actually so compelled by one of the chapters that I impulsively booked theatre tickets for that night and am so grateful that this book inspired me to create that experience for myself.

Every one of these short stories explores a tiny snippet of each characters life but this is done so well that you cannot help but connect with every single character. I really rooted for some of the characters, cried with them and cheered them on.

I love that all of these stories are connected to one location, the Green-Wood Cemetery, but are all so different and unique. I also loved reading the authors note at the end of the book to find out where the inspiration for each story came from and which ones are based off of true stories.

I really enjoyed the ending of this book, with all of the stories coming together in a very beautiful and reflective way.

This was such a pleasant read and I’m sure that every reader will find a chapter that speaks to them. Beautifully written and very human.

What a beautiful, thoughtful book. I’ve honestly never read anything quite like it.

This story gives us a condensed history of New York City, stretching from the mid-1800s to the present day. Most of it centers around those interred in a Brooklyn cemetery. While a few storylines intertwine, many stand on their own, each one offering a glimpse into a life that might otherwise be forgotten. Alongside them are the stories of the living—people who are trying to preserve, understand, and share the histories of the dead.

The women at the heart of this book are powerful, fictionalized versions of real historical figures. We learn what they fought for, what they accomplished, and how they left their mark. But they are not portrayed as perfect. Their flaws are examined with honesty and care. That isn’t the point of the book, though. The point is something both simple and profound.

You are more than what your headstone says.

You are a whole, complicated person with depth, history, and a story worth telling. This book reminds us that every life is layered and meaningful, even if history tries to condense it down to a name and two dates.

I’m so grateful to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this and can’t wait for others to experience it.

I really enjoyed that this tells the story of different women and the stories that were happening with this novel. I was invested in what was happening and thought the overall journey was so well written and cared about the characters during this. Jeanine Boulay was able to create something perfectly done and was glad I read this.