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Good Good Loving

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What to expect

'MASSIVELY ENTERTAINING' BERNARDINE EVARISTO

'WARM, FUNNY, FULL OF HEART' DIANA EVANS, AUTHOR OF ORDINARY PEOPLE

'PROFOUNDLY MOVING' ANTONIA HODGSON, AUTHOR OF THE RAVEN SCHOLAR

'ABUNDANT IN LOVE, HEART AND SOUL' LISA OWENS, AUTHOR OF NOT WORKING

'HUGELY SATISFYING' BIDISHA

'A TRIUMPH' LISA SMITH, AUTHOR OF JAMAICA ROAD

Ellen's beloved, beautiful, complicated family are gathered around her hospital bed as she prepares to slip away, and boy, is she ready. You'd think she could finally get some peace and quiet, but instead her children have chosen now of all times to have a never-ending discussion about her failings. Every single tiny thing they think she's done wrong over the years - and the one big thing too. After all the sacrifices Ellen has made for every last ungrateful one of them, they still take their father's side. If only they knew the whole story.

Full of big personalities, big mistakes, burning love and quiet heartbreak, Good Good Loving moves backwards in time through some of the most dramatic turning points in the life of Ellen and her family. Their story is as heartrending as it is joyous.

Critics Review

Wonderful. Richly textured, warm, funny, full of heart and very moving
Sensational. A clever, funny and revelatory exploration of familial life with an unforgettable matriarch at its heart
A scorching, brilliant, witty, shocking, spirited and psychologically penetrating novel about complicated family secrets, betrayals, hidden resentments and buried tragedies. It peels back the layers of pretence and social niceties to reveal the raw wounds festering underneath, while also being massively entertaining
Travelling backwards in time through a life, we uncover secrets, missed chances, misunderstandings and regret. But there is also hope and passion and joy in these pages - and a family reaching for a better future. Good Good Loving is a wise, powerful, gripping and profoundly moving novel by a writer of exceptional talent
What a thoroughly entertaining read! I haven't had such solid enjoyment in a novel in a long while - this is a classic and hugely satisfying story of a family in all its rights and wrongs, sins and quirks, bickering and love. I plunged right in, led along by the author's brio and confidence and her absolute loving faith in her remarkably well-drawn characters, whose company over 50 years in the novel never flags for a moment. The wait was worth it: Good Good Loving is emotional, thoughtful, profoundly human, wise and good good fun
This is a story steeped in displacement, in the ache of leaving family and land behind, and it doesn't flinch from the heartbreak of internalized misogyny and pain that cuts across generations. The characters are flawed, stubborn, and absolutely infuriating, but you feel such tenderness towards them. And just when the story guts you, it turns around and makes you laugh
An intimate family drama interwoven with the story of the British-Caribbean experience since Windrush, Good Good Loving surprised me, gripped me, made me laugh out loud, and also left me deeply moved. A triumph. Yvvette Edwards is one of our very best writers
A comic masterpiece, as funny as it is heartbreaking. Brilliantly structured, the narrative twists backwards through time like a corkscrew. A large cast of exuberant characters burst out of the pages and into your heart. Original, warm, compassionate, angry, and unforgettable, this is Yvvette Edwards best book yet.
A clever, elegant novel, with an irresistible cast of characters, Good Good Loving is gut-wrenching, funny, profound and abundant in love, heart and soul
A tender, bracing portrait of a family bound by love and misunderstanding
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