Three Words for Goodbye

by Hazel Gaynor, Heather Webb

Overview

From Hazel Gaynor and Heather Webb, the bestselling 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 goodbye to those she hasn’t seen since traveling to Europe forty 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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062965240
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	07/27/2021
Pages:	400
Sales rank:	59,658
Product dimensions:	5.20(w) x 7.50(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Hazel Gaynor is the award-winning New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of A Memory of Violets and The Girl Who Came Home, for which she received the 2015 Romantic Novelists’ Association Historical Romantic Novel of the Year award. Her third novel, The Girl from The Savoy, was an Irish Times and Globe and Mail bestseller, and was shortlisted for the 2016 Irish Book Awards Popular Fiction Book of the Year. Her most recent novel, The Lighthouse Keeper’s Daughter, was a USA Today and Irish Times bestseller, and was shortlisted for the 2019 Historical Writers’ Association Gold Crown Award. Hazel’s work has been translated into fourteen languages. She lives in Ireland with her husband and two children.

Heather Webb is the award-winning and USA Today bestselling author of The Last Ship Home, The Phantom's Apprentice, Rodin's Lover, and Becoming Josephine. Heather is also a freelance editor, and teaches craft courses at a local college. Her novels have been translated into more than a dozen languages, worldwide. She lives in Connecticut with her family and one feisty rabbit. 

Editorial Reviews

05/31/2021

Gaynor and Webb (Meet Me in Monaco) return with a slight historical romance. In 1937, worldly East Hampton, N.Y., matriarch Violet Bell is dying. She sends her adult granddaughters, Clara and Maddie, to Europe with letters to convey her final goodbyes to faraway loved ones. Inseparable during childhood, the girls have clashed since artist Clara’s recent engagement to real estate developer Charles Hancock, whose rapaciousness Maddie finds deplorable. Meanwhile, Clara secretly longs for her older, married art tutor, while the brilliant but awkward Maddie wants to break into journalism. The sisters cross the Atlantic on the Queen Mary, share a compartment on the Orient Express, continue by train to Austria, and, before returning via the ill-fated Hindenburg, see the sights of Paris, Venice, and Vienna. While discovering things about themselves and their family, they bond, just as Violet had hoped. Each chooses a worthy man without discarding her identity or ambitions, and the story doesn’t end with everyone tidily married off. Overall, though, the authors prize travelogue over deep feeling, and despite frequent mentions of Hitler and Mussolini, the ominous historical currents receive short shrift, and there is little to distinguish the protagonists as women of the 1930s . It’s diverting, but not particularly impressive. Agent: Michelle Brower, Aevitas Creative Management. (July)

Publishers Weekly

An enchanting novel...Gaynor & Webb weave a wonderful tale of love and loss, graced with the scents of perfumes, magnificent vistas and characters you will not soon forget. A delight for Francophiles, perfumistas, filmbuffs, and everyone who loves a good cry and happy ending.

MJ Rose

"Utterly delightful and the perfect escape. I loved being swept away to 1930s Paris, Venice, and Vienna alongside Maddie and Clara who, despite their differences, have come together to fulfill their dying grandmother’s final wish...A heartwarming and wonderful story about the power of forgiveness and the unbreakable bond of sisters.

Natasha Lester

"The perfect escapist read, full of heart."

Liz Fenwick

"Vibrant and laced with fascinating historical references...this tale of the complicated love between sisters and the mending of fractured relationships will move you, entertain you, and maybe even inspire you to seek out a truer path of your own."

Kristin Harmel

"Charming historical fiction."

Booklist

Gaynor and Webb’s first collaboration is beautifully told [...] the authors fully capture the characters’ voices as each person is dramatically shaped by the war to end all wars.” 

Booklist on Last Christmas in Paris

Gaynor and Webb’s first collaboration is beautifully told [...] the authors fully capture the characters’ voices as each person is dramatically shaped by the war to end all wars.” 

null Booklist on Last Christmas in Paris

Everyone from shop owners to paparazzi and movie stars arrive in glamorous Monaco against the backdrop of Grace Kelly’s ‘Wedding of the Century’ to Prince Rainier. A delightful beach read.” 

null New York Post on Meet Me in Monaco

"Oh, how I adored this. I missed Clara and Madeleine every time I had to put the book down and felt like I was with them on their journey."

Prima Magazine

The suspense of decisions to be made and secrets to be revealed are intensified as the sisters travel to each destination. In Three Words for Goodbye, the anticipation of what lies ahead for Clara and Maddy adds to this enriching, enjoyable journey.

Historical Novels Review

Three Words for Goodbye takes us there: inside the cultural and class norms, the social pressures, the sense of duty and propriety, unrealized dreams, plus all the complexities that test and form relationships along the way: from sisterhood to family, courtship, engagement, friendship, even an encounter with a charming stranger.

BookTrib

"Three glorious locations, two different but equally engaging sisters, family secrets to uncover and hearts to be won and lost, plus one big, shocking finale, Three Words for Goodbye is the very best of immersive, escapist historical fiction. I loved it from the first page. "

Liz Trenow

"Illuminating the importance of family and the power of forgiveness, Three Words for Goodbye beautifully renders the romance of France, Italy and Austria with picturesque streets and culinary delights...I couldn’t stop turning the novel's pages until I’d reached the high-octane conclusion." 

Meredith Jaeger

What a treat! Three Words for Goodbye is an absorbing, escapist, uplifting read... Reading this novel is like reclining in a comfortable beach chair with warm sun on your skin and a glass of champagne at your elbow: you won’t want it to end.

Gill Paul

"Charming historical fiction."

Booklist

Everyone from shop owners to paparazzi and movie stars arrive in glamorous Monaco against the backdrop of Grace Kelly’s ‘Wedding of the Century’ to Prince Rainier. A delightful beach read.

New York Post