Never a Cloud

by Jo Brunini, Molly Secours (Narrator)

Never a Cloud is a big old-fashioned, contemporary, social novel narrated by Violet Grey, an eccentric, out-of-the-ordinary loner, living on the coast of Maine. The deeply emotional love story of a complicated family in an enchanted place. A winter gathering at Margot Reid’s family home, Otyrburn, but this year is different, her oldest friend Owen and she will restore the walled garden. The party is interrupted by the unexpected arrival of the mysterious Ava Kerouac, Violet’s daughter and Margot’s half-sister—whom Margot has never met.

Violet’s voice—contemplative, melancholy, and occasionally sardonic—introduces each chapter, as the novel skips between Scotland, New York City, and Venice, and Margot’s husband, George Lowell, a director at the Metropolitan Museum is embroiled in an art world scandal. Within a web of secret loyalties and undeclared truths, three women redefine success on their own terms, and figure out who they really want to be.

Genres: Fiction

Audible Audio

Published February 24, 2023

About the author

Giovanna “Jo” Brunini is a writer and an artist. Generation “restless brood,” at nineteen she dropped out of university, and left home. She later earned a BS from the University of Vermont, with a concentration in mythology and cosmology. Published by EDEN, Evolving Magazine, and Your Tango, she’s appeared on the podcast Face2Face with David Peck. A Vermont native, Jo lives with poet Jonathan Tabakin where they enjoy chance encounters with white egrets, herons, coy-wolves, and the occasional lynx and bear. She has lived in California, Mexico City, the Yucatán, and Rome.

"Even clouds have character. A careful observer can only know the sky if they have taken the time to live beneath it."

—Jo Brunini, Never a Cloud

Reviews

[Sandi Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

J8Violet, Ava, and Margot find their way into a new understanding of home and family. This novel is told by Violet Grey, a child of the sixties, who writes from Hopper's Island, Maine, as the novel travels between Perthshire, Scotland, New York City, and Venice, Italy. The Regency Manor Otyrburn, Scotland now belongs to George Gardner and Margot Reid after the recent death of her father Archie Reid and who is the half-sister of Violet’s daughter, Ava. This is something Margot discovers only when Ava unexpectedly arrives. George is a director at the Metropolitan Museum, finds himself under suspicion for forgery and fraud, while Margot has reconnected Owen Fowler, her boyfriend and first love from her teen years who is now the gardener helping to renovate Otyrburn. George’s brother, Will, is also part of the art world and travels between Venice and New York. Some things can only be hidden for so long and some things are too difficult to talk about. I found this book very interesting as I felt like I was actually in Scotland and found the Highland history and legends very interesting also I can never get enough of the great works of art.
#GoodreadsGiveaway

[Jane · Rating 1 out of 5]

Thank you to Kirkus review and the author.

I didn't get this book at all and I didn't give it a chance maybe. I felt it started in the middle without really introducing the characters. Even after reading the plot before I started it I didn't get it. Too many characters and too many places for me.

Of course I’m in the minority again after seeing the 5 ⭐️ reviews on here and Amazon.

[Alicia Reads · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don’t usually read books like this but it sounded so darn good! It was too! Follow the lives of these ladies and fall in love with love again! A first read by Jo Bruniini and it won’t be the last. Happy reading!

[Ming Fen · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s a fantastic book, full of twists and turns. Thoughtfully written. It challenges the reader to imagine other possibilities in life.

[Jonathan Tabakin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Heartwarming, and yet uncompromising, a novel for our troubled times that speaks to where we've been, and where we want to go. Fresh, funny, and often delightfully irreverent.

[Breaona Patnode · Rating 1 out of 5]

Hands down the most poorly written book I’ve ever attempted to read. I had to stop multiple times and then drag myself back to it, against my better judgement.
There were no descriptive details to assist in picturing the characters or the settings, and the figurative language used, as well as the poor sentence structure was so overwhelming it “clouded” the actual moral of the story (assuming there was meant to be one).
I want my time back.