For Alys, Grace’s daughter, Elin’s mother she has been constantly running from herself and has come close throughout her life to time running out. But Grace is close to the end of her life, and she knows she has no choice but to try to heal her family. Meanwhile Grace’s great-grand-daughter Beca is oblivious to all these worries, too busy navigating the highs and lows of teenage life and keeping secrets of her own.

This is a story of mother and daughter relationships, a bitter sweet tale that tells of heartbreaks, joy and forgiveness. Told from different points of view, this book is measured as it builds on all the past and present frustrations that all the characters have. I cried and I laughed and now there’s a hole in my life where Grace and her dysfunctional family used to be. The novel is set in Jones’s beloved Wales, and scattered with Welsh terms of endearment, which adds to the sensation of reading it wrapped in a comfort blanket. You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice.

This review was written voluntarily and my rating was in no way influenced by the fact that I received a complimentary digital copy of this novel from Transworld Publishers, Random House UK, Bantam Press via NetGalley. This heart-warming story about Grama Grace and her descendants is eventful and fraught with misunderstanding. Her daughter, Alys reluctantly moves in with her but escapes to London as soon as she turned eighteen. Ruth’s second novel, Us Three, was an instant Sunday Times bestseller in hardback and paperback and has sold almost a quarter of a million copies. Any mother or daughter will identify with many of the situations in this book and be encouraged by the final denouement.

Four generations of Welsh women are locked into this marvellously heartwarming novel from Ruth Jones: Grace, her daughter Alys, granddaughter Elin and great-granddaughter Beca. We follow Elin as she struggles with her marriage, and Becca as she discovers love for the first time. The plot is mostly set in the present, although there are a few moments where we flash back to different stages in the past 70 years. But Grace’s granddaughter, Elin, is also estranged from Alys and any reconciliation will cause huge problems in the family. Grace is eighty-nine, she’s proud and independent and enjoys an early morning swim in the sea, no matter what the weather.Ruth Jones’ third novel is another warm, heartfelt story, filled with strong and joyful female characters that captures the challenges and joys of relationships and family. I would like to thank both Netgalley and Random House for supplying a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review. It is possible to empathise with each of them in some way but also to despair of any forgiveness for the irresponsible Alys. Like many chic lit books the characters learn all about love; but unlike a lot of books, they experience the bad parts of love as well as the good. What a wonderful, heart-warming, beautifully emotional story by Ruth Jones of 4 generations, trying to navigate their own lives and their relationships with others and each other.