Florence Adler Swims Forever

Florence Adler Swims Forever is a story about a family's loss and the tenacity of the human spirit as it explores just how far family will go to protect those they love.

I enjoy a good family saga - the characters, the issues and often, the secrets. I particularly love it when a story has been inspired by true events. In this instance, the story is based on the author's own family (which she details at the end of the book). When a tragedy happens to the Adler family, they decide to withhold the news to spare one family member. But as family tensions rise and more secrets and true feelings are revealed, we witness how this once tight family struggles to endure.

This was a quiet read set in 1930's Atlantic City and is told by several members of a Jewish family and their friends, giving readers a look into how different people deal with loss. Some characters are showcased more then others with one in particular being an easy person to hate, another easy to love (wee Gussie) and the others falling somewhere in between.

The story touches on several issues but none of them had a lot of depth and the story, at times, dragged a bit - particularly in the middle. I think if I had known the book was based on a true story beforehand, I may have found these slower bits and the ending, which was abrupt and oh-so-tidy, a little more tolerable.

This was an impressive and enjoyable debut that had a little bit of everything - romance, tragedy, and enough family secrets to keep me intrigued. It was a touching story about the strength and perseverance of family.

Disclaimer: My sincere thanks to Simon and Schuster Canada for 

providing me with a complimentary digital copy of this title in exchange

 for my honest review.

My Rating: 3.5 stars

Author: Rachel Beanland

Genre: Historical Fiction (USA, WWII)

Type and Source: eBook from NetGalley

Publisher: Simon and Schuster Canada

First Published: July 7, 2020

Opening Lines: Gussie Feldman didn't enjoy swimming but she did like 
to lie on the wet sand, in the shadow of Atlantic City's Steel Pier, 
and wait for the tiniest ripple of a wave to wash over her.

Book Description from GoodReads: Over the course of one summer that begins with a shocking tragedy, three generations of the Adler family grapple with heartbreak, romance, and the weight of family secrets in this stunning debut novel that’s perfect for fans of Manhattan Beach and The Dollhouse.

Atlantic City, 1934. Every summer, Esther and Joseph Adler rent their house out to vacationers escaping to “America’s Playground” and move into the small apartment above their bakery. Despite the cramped quarters, this is the apartment where they raised their two daughters, Fannie and Florence, and it always feels like home.

Now Florence has returned from college, determined to spend the summer training to swim the English Channel, and Fannie, pregnant again after recently losing a baby, is on bedrest for the duration of her pregnancy. After Joseph insists they take in a mysterious young woman whom he recently helped emigrate from Nazi Germany, the apartment is bursting at the seams.

Esther only wants to keep her daughters close and safe but some matters are beyond her control: there’s Fannie’s risky pregnancy—not to mention her always-scheming husband, Isaac—and the fact that the handsome heir of a hotel notorious for its anti-Semitic policies, seems to be in love with Florence.

When tragedy strikes, Esther makes the shocking decision to hide the truth—at least until Fannie’s baby is born—and pulls the family into an elaborate web of secret-keeping and lies, bringing long-buried tensions to the surface that reveal how quickly the act of protecting those we love can turn into betrayal.

Based on a true story and told in the vein of J. Courtney Sullivan’s Saints for All Occasions and Anita Diamant’s The Boston Girl, Beanland’s family saga is a breathtaking portrait of just how far we will go to in order to protect our loved ones and an uplifting portrayal of how the human spirit can endure—and even thrive—after tragedy.