Three Words for Goodbye

A Novel

By: Hazel Gaynor

Narrated by: Heather Webb, Suzanne Toren, Ann Marie Gideon, Megan Tusing

From Hazel Gaynor and Heather Webb, the best-selling authors of Meet Me in Monaco, comes a coming-of-age novel set in pre-WWII Europe, perfect for fans of Jennifer Robson, Beatriz Williams, and Kate Quinn.

Three cities, two sisters, one chance to correct the past....

New York, 1937: When estranged sisters Clara and Madeleine Sommers learn their grandmother is dying, they agree to fulfill her last wish: to travel across Europe - together. They are to deliver three letters, in which Violet will say good-bye to those she hasn’t seen since traveling to Europe 40 years earlier; a journey inspired by famed reporter Nellie Bly.

Clara, ever-dutiful, sees the trip as an inconvenient detour before her wedding to millionaire Charles Hancock, but it’s also a chance to embrace her love of art. Budding journalist Madeleine relishes the opportunity to develop her ambitions to report on the growing threat of Hitler’s Nazi party and Mussolini’s control in Italy.

Constantly at odds with each other as they explore the luxurious Queen Mary, the Orient Express, and the sights of Paris and Venice, Clara and Madeleine wonder if they can fulfil Violet’s wish, until a shocking truth about their family brings them closer together. But as they reach Vienna to deliver the final letter, old grudges threaten their reconciliation again. As political tensions rise, and Europe feels increasingly volatile, the pair are glad to head home on the Hindenburg, where fate will play its hand in the final stage of their journey.

©2021 Hazel Gaynor (P)2021 HarperCollins Publishers

A SISTER’S JOURNEY

I listened to this book simply because it was written by Hazel Gaynor. I’ve always enjoyed her books (“The Girl Who Came Home” — I listened to that one three times back to back)! This book was decent, but it took me longer to get into it than the other Hazel Gaynor books I have listened to so far. I found that by speeding up the book up to 1.2 helped quite a bit — the speech felt more natural; at 1.0, it felt very slow draggy. The voices of the narrators didn’t do anything for me.

The book became more interesting for me once the sisters reached Europe, with three letters from their grandmother they were to deliver before their grandmother died. The letters were the grandmother’s way of fixing old hurts and to teach her granddaughters something important. I enjoyed the pictures painted by the author’s words describing each European city the sister’s visited — Paris, Venice and Vienna.

Throughout the book, I was afraid WWII was going to break out and the sisters would be trapped as they carried their grandmother’s message to loved ones in each city. There was a brief run-in with Nazis in Vienna, but war had not yet been declared and the sisters, while shaken, were not detained.

As the sisters traveled, I also enjoyed the descriptions of their modes of transportation — the Queen Mary, the Orient Express and the Hindenburg.

I didn’t enjoy the constant squabbling the sisters did in the first half of the book, but it served to point out how different they were in personality and eventually showed how the girls mirrored the personalities of their grandmother and her estranged sister. Along the way, the sisters reconnect with each other, with family members they didn’t know they had, and most importantly with themselves as individuals. They learned what it was in life that meant the most to them and the things that they no longer wanted holding them back from being the best version of themselves they could be.

I found the overall affect and language of the story to be old-fashioned, but I suppose it was necessary due to the time period.

This is a sweet, old-fashioned story of family and love; a cautionary tale of not losing precious time with those you love over things that really don’t matter. The story is about appreciating what we have when we have it, of treasuring our time with loved ones, and of not being afraid of opening your heart and sharing how you feel. The grandmother didn’t want her granddaughters later in life to have regrets about things unsaid, choices not made and the paths not taken, as she herself had. Although the story took place in the 1930’s the lessons still relevant today.

Overall, I enjoyed the book and am not sorry I spent a credit on it.

Inspiring tale of family ties and a wonderful trip to the past

I love all of Hazel Gaynor’s books! The stories are lovely and I always enjoy the tidbits of history that I also get with each book.

I enjoyed it

Not my favorite book by Hazel Gaynor and not my favorite narrators but I enjoyed the story.

A truly fictional historical book about siblings about families

I like this book very much because of the interaction between the generations of sisters individual needs and wants and happinesses surpassing the family yet in the end, it is about the family and for those that are privileged enough to have sisters or brothers. They need to know how treasured they should be.

WWII novel about sisters

The complexity of sister’s relationships are perfectly flushed out in this novel with WWII brewing in the background. Wonderful narration and interesting story of secrets and betrayals all so familiar in families. Enjoy it!

sisters

This story is about family. It saddened me to read this book, because the sense of family values and connections aren’t always as strong as told in this story. Things have changed since 1937.

A sisters journey

Really enjoyed the sisters coming together to celebrate their family. I didn’t think there was a need to add a tragedy to make them realize what is really important in life.

Potential w/o full execution

Disappointing. I expected so much more considering the co author is Hazel Gaynor. First of all, I just didn't find the narrator was a good match for the story. The two younger sisters are adult women in their 20s but think and speak like 13 and 15 year olds. The constant repetition describing how they saw themselves or either was annoying. The grandmother's story is beautiful and interesting, yet none of the storylines were followed too deeply. The overall message is beautiful but the telling of the story was filled with too much fluff and very little substance. Still I stuck with it. It's not the worst book I've read this year, but it left me the most disappointed because it had so much potential.

Interesting premise

The characters left me tepid. Performances were shallow. The story was ok. The nook was mildly entertaining.

Review Three Words for Goodbye

I very much enjoyed this book by Hazel Gaynor! I’ve listened to several of her books and enjoyed all.
This book engaged me from the beginning & had twists that I didn’t see coming!!
I would highly recommend listening to Three Words for Goodbye if u are a fan of Historical fiction & travel!