Love Untold by Ruth Jones

 

Grace Meredith is approaching her ninetieth birthday and her granddaughter, Elin, is determined to celebrate it in style by throwing a surprise party. Grace means the world to Elin as she rescued her at the age of twelve and has acted has her mother and father for over thirty years. Elin's daughter, Beca, is pretty sure Grama Grace really wouldn't appreciate a party. As her birthday approaches all Grace really wants is to be reconciled with the daughter she last saw thirty years ago, Alys.

This is a feel good story but it is tinged with sadness throughout. We learn so much about each character and what has molded them along with everything they are dealing with in life. 

Grace is a wonderful character, the type of grandmother we would all wish for. Patient, forgiving, always willing to listen. Grace is also a feisty character, refusing to give in to old age. Over time we learn that Grace was forced into a loveless marriage. Her husbands death triggers the poor relationship between her and her daughter Alys.

Elin is the head teacher of a secondary school, very organised and extremely concerned about appearances. Her marriage is in a rut but at the moment her main concerns are organising the surprise party for Grace and her daughter Beca's GCSE results.

Beca isn't academic and this is causing friction between her and her mother. Beca doesn't know what she wants to do with her life but she does know she doesn't want to go back to school. Beca loves art and music and it's her talent for music that has her forming a friendship that will build her self-esteem.

Alys is the least likeable of the four women. She's flighty and for the majority of her life has made questionable choices. Alcohol has played a major part in many of the poor decisions she has made and even though she's been sober for thirty years she still makes some dubious choices.

The vast majority of the story is set in current day, however at various points we jump back to periods in time over the past seventy years. These points give us insight into how the relationships between the four women developed. Many of these instances also allow us to see how similar the women are even though they would probably deny they are similar in any way. They are all stubborn, refuse to accept help and refuse to discuss things. There were times reading this novel that you wanted to shake some of them.

The country of Wales and it's friendly people come across really well. Throughout I could hear Ruth Jones as Nessa whenever anyone spoke.

There are redemption arcs as we reach the conclusion, some of which are left slightly vague. I'm happy with that as we know that in real life not everything is tied up neatly with a bow all at the same time. Most of all this is a story of love, love in it's many different forms. 

Love Untold by Ruth Jones will be published on 29th September 2022 in hardback, ebook and audio format. My thanks to NetGalley and Transworld Books for a review copy.