Ember

by Catherine Yardley

ABOUT THE BOOK

A family torn apart by their father's infidelity are forced to confront the past thirty years later. As Natalie's younger sister, Amanda, prepares for marriage and impending motherhood, her plea for the family to reunite uncovers pent-up tension and animosity. Can they forget the past and become a family again?

Natalie's life begins to unravel as their father starts to creep back into their lives and family tensions resurface, affecting her relationship with her boyfriend, Rob. Will the couple find their way back to each other, and can a family that has been torn apart ever heal their wounds?

Can you ever walk away from someone you love, or do some fires never die out?


ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Catherine Yardley has been writing since she was in single figures. She is happiest when she is either reading or writing. She writes women's fiction because she believes women have the right to have their stories told in all of their messy, complex glory. Ember is her first novel. She lives in London with her husband and children.

352 pages, Paperback

Published March 31, 2022

Reviews

[Mairi Chong · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ember is a beautifully detailed study of sibling rivalry and how the traumas of family life as a child can impact the adult self. Reading it was an absolute joy and I found the book flowed so well that it was difficult to put down. Yardley’s almost forensic understanding of the psychology of her characters is quite an achievement and although the subject matter was serious, the delivery was so effortless and palatable, it felt incredibly uplifting as a read. No family is perfect. Everyone should read this book!

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. It was so clever and engaging. The characters are brilliant and I loved them. The plot is good. The subject could have been too heavy but is done so well. The book is also funny in many places. I felt every emotion when reading this book. It is so so good. It reminded me of The Split a bit, but also Meg Mason.
The writer is incredibly talented and I cannot wait for the next book. I also loved the love story in the book, and the dual timeline between the past and present. So good.

[Susan Cowan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have just finished reading Ember and loved the way the characters intertwined with each other yet were so different in their personalities despite being from the same family. Kept the pages turning as it made me want to delve more into Natalie whose childhood experiences as the older sister seemed to have influenced her relationships later on in life with others including her siblings. A lovely read and a great ending. It shows how even the most broken and dysfunctional families can resolve their problems with love and goodwill. It was a privilege to have read this.

[Rosemary Hennigan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ember is a story about the intricate, fraught, and sometimes fragile bonds that hold us to the people we love. At the heart of this story is Natalie, who is struggling to come to terms with a difficult childhood and a deeply strained relationship with her estranged father. His attempts to reconcile with other family members create new tensions in those relationships, intensifying Natalie's feelings of familial alienation. Yardley draws characters with such genuine emotional intensity and complexity that they feel very real to the reader, making the story hugely compelling. It unfolds with great tenderness and emotional astuteness. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ember is a thought provoking and hear warming book about the complexities of family and yet how even the most broken of relationships can be healed. I loved this book. I loved the characters, all so well drawn and engaging. It's an easy and enjoyable read and yet touches on some serious issues, but with a lightness of touch that is testimony to the skill of the writer. A strong recommendation and well deserving of 5 stars.

[Natalie Peeke · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely adore Ember , Yardley creates amazing characters and a emotional plot. Ember is one of those rare books that you pick up and can read it whilst time flies by. I became so captivated and I can not wait to see what the future has in store for this phenomenal author

[Estela González · Rating 5 out of 5]

In Ember, Catherine Yardley spins the story of a complicated protagonist—a young woman who apparently has everything going for her: she has a career as an ob/gyn and is in love with her handsome, loving, successful boyfriend who can’t wait to settle down with her. So I was shaken as I watched her blow her future with him in the most outlandish way. Soon, as we meet her father and siblings we begin to understand the deep, traumatic reasons for what at first glance seemed a self-destructive grudge. Intriguing and fascinating.

[Caron McKinlay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yardley explores the complex relationships that exist within siblings and their parents in this emotionally driven drama.

She does so with a real flair and understanding of how our memories are tinged with our own perspectives. Of how siblings can have completely different relationships with the same set of parents. There were scenes here that were heartbreaking and raw

- The chapter with the tiara at Christmas.
- The phone calls from her father after a
shopping trip.
- The lack of proper care
- Their mother and her motives

But overall, this is an uplifting book. It speaks of sacrifice for those you love. Of healing. Of letting go of fear.

The relationship between Natalie and Amanda is brilliantly portrayed. All those little nuances between sisters forensically explored.

And while, Tim their father influences both sisters in very different ways. Yardley examines that construct in a very accomplished manner and lays it bare

A truly gorgeous tale, poignant but centred around love. It will resonate with many readers. Just as it did with me.

[Deedle · Rating 5 out of 5]

A novel about family, relationships, childhood, and its effect on adult life--this is an intriguing and incisive study of sibling relationships.

I found myself rooting for the characters, and feeling for them as they went on their journey of healing. Some wounds can never be healed, so it was heartwarming to have that arc here.

This is a deftly-wrought study of human frailties and strengths. The writing at the sentence level is deceptively simple and easy to read, but deals with some very heavy subjects of justice, abandonment, and parental relationships. Absolutely recommended!

[Maggie · Rating 5 out of 5]

So clever. The depth of writing in this book is outstanding. It has many heartbreaking moments, and plenty of joyful ones too. The dual time line is done so well and I loved how it showed different people have different relationships with tbe same parent or sibling. It also shows how childhood trauma can stay with is and affect our relationships when we are older.’i also loved Natalie and Rob’s relationship. Will they end up together? Read the book and find out!

[Helen Hall · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this wonderful book. The protagonist is an endearing doctor who is triggered by something that happened in childhood. Her younger sister is getting married before her and her life begins to unravel. I love a love story and the relationship between Natalie and Rob is perfectly done. I cannot recommend this enough.

[Leigh Turner · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Family is not easy"

"Ember" takes an intense, intimate look at a family torn apart by infidelity, resentment and tragedy. Different narrators give their take on what went wrong years earlier and how it plays into the present. Why does Natalie break up with Rob, whom she loves? Why is Natalie so outraged when her sister, Amanda, becomes pregnant? Why is Natalie so angry with everyone, and so suspicious about everything they say? What led to the split, years before, before Natalie and Amanda's father, Tim, and their mother Jacqueline? Can the ghosts of the past be laid to rest?

This is an unflinching, sometimes uncomfortable look at a family torn apart by the past. Natalie in particular is a damaged, half-maddened, maddening individual, obsessed by her inability to conceive as she toils, ironically, as a doctor in the labour ward. Gradually, as the narrative proceeds, the threads are slowly drawn together - but the resolution remains unclear until the final moment.

A great read and an extraordinary family drama.

[T Munro · Rating 5 out of 5]

Natalie can’t forgive her father for destroying her family with his unfaithfulness when she was a child. Thirty years later, when he returns and tries to inveigle himself into her life, the hurt that she has suppressed comes crashing back only this time threatens to destroy her relationship with her boyfriend, Rob, and with her younger sister, Amanda. Natalie’s father’s return upends Natalie’s life, forcing her to question all that she holds dear.
The emotional core of Ember is Natalie’s relationship with her father, which I thought was beautifully handled by the author. It hooked me straight away. We understand and empathize with Natalie’s hurt which is compounded by her siblings' acceptance of their father’s behaviour. I was fascinated by the idea that a childhood event brushed off as inconsequential by an adult can have consequences that reach far into adulthood and, given Natalie's rejection of any notion of forgiveness of her father, I found myself needing to know how she reconciles the impact of this painful childhood memory with her present-day world. Ember is a wonderful page-turner of a novel.

[Jinny Alexander · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ember is an intriguing story of family, sibling rivalry, and a long-term grudge held by one daughter after her father's infidelity. The author beautifully captures many angles of the lasting impact this has on the whole family and how the siblings and father deal with it in the present day. I recognise many elements of the bond between the siblings, and the stubbornness of Natalie in her refusal to move on.
At times I felt things moved too quickly - Natalie is quite fickle at times, swinging from 'I'll never meet him' to 'Ok let's have dinner' in the space of a paragraph, and was not always the most likeable character (I do love a good unlikeable character!) in her thoughts and actions. This is a strong message of how a parent's past actions can affect a child/family for eternity, and Yardley does well to encapsulate this, and Natalie's resentments of her place in her family.

[A Linden · Rating 5 out of 5]

From the first moment, when a woman throws her sleeping husband out of their car and drives off with no explanation, I was hooked. This is a tight tense drama about a family who have been fractured by the Dad leaving them when they were young. Although he returns, the divisions and resentments run deep and when he tries to mend fences at one of the daughter's marriages, long buried tensions bubble to the surface. This book covers serious subjects, but is incredibly readable because the characters are so 3D and their struggles and interactions are so believable. The plot did not go where I expected and I found the end so moving. Very much looking forward to this author's next book.

[Chris Morgan]

Catherine Yardley lays bare what a devastating impact infidelity can have on a family. The portrayal of the central character Natalie is unflinching and brutally honest, if at times it can make it hard to sympathise with her but I think that’s the point. It’s an easy read in one way, I finished the book in just a few days but not easy emotionally. The twist at the end of chapter one is particularly heart-wrenching. A deep reminder to us all to love faithfully.

[thewoollygeek (tea, cake, crochet & books) · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is such a beautiful and moving story, so wonderfully executed moving from past to present , Catherine Yardley is a fantastic storyteller and I’m so impressed that this is her first novel, it’s so much better than many books I’ve read when the author is on the 4th or 5th book. I am really looking forward to future books from the author and I will definitely following her career.

This is such an original story, I am completely enamoured with the honest way it portrays the relationships of real family lives, it’s brutally raw in it’s study of siblings and family, how children raised the same way by the same parents can experience such differences, an often fraught at times read this is still really enjoyable due to the realistic portrayal of the characters, how human they are and it really is a book full of hope and optimism.

Catherine Yardley deals so sensitively with serious issues such as fertility and emotional abuse, this is such a poignant tale, centred around love. It’s an imperfect love, but that’s how real families are, the sacrifices you make for those you love, how you can let go of past mistakes and ultimately heal. I loved the ending and no spoilers, but I did love how it was left ultimately to the very last moments to be resolved.

I very much look forward to many future books by Catherine Yardley , there is clearly so much talent as an author and I for one am looking forward to her future releases. Thanks so much to Rachel’s Random Resources, And Catherine Yardley for the opportunity to read and join in on the blog tour. For full disclosure I was provided with an E-copy of the book in exchange for an honest review, all opinions expressed are my own and freely given.

[Emma book blogger Fitzgerald · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed Ember from the minute I picked it up I was addicted to it. I wanted to know how Natalie fixed her relationship with her sister. The story is about family trauma from childhood and how it toppled over in to there adulthood. Natalie is the eldest sister and she saw her family torn apart and had to be mum to her brother and sister. Natalie does not took to her father and suddenly she sees his paid for her sister wedding dress and comes to the wedding. Natalie cant believe it. Her sister and brother want to become a family with there dad and they try to convince Natalie to meet up with him. Natalie faces lots of challenges in her life not just her father. Most of the chapters are about Natalie and her boyfriend and in other chapters you hear from her mum and dad. The characters were really easy to like I did found her sister annoying in places. I would definitely recommend Ember by Catherine Yardley it very well written. I give it 5 stars.
Thank you Racheal random resources and @Balayage for being part of this tour and reviewing this book

[Ann Sei Lin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ember is a raw and honest look at the complexities of family and the difficulties of navigating relationships between people related to you, people you cannot choose but are family nonetheless. It is a look into one deals with their pettiness, jealousy and trauma of family, and how they reconcile with one another after tragedy. Each of Ember's characters are wonderfully flawed, with their own problems and outlooks on life. Watching them bump against each other, help, and hurt one another in their attempts to sort out their own problems was fascinating.

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A family, a relationship and a past that intrudes into everyday life, this is a book of a woman who is struggling with a broken family. Natalie is a successful doctor, in love with Rob, but is coming under enormous pressure to accept her father, Tim, who she holds responsible for the breakup of her family many years before. This is an intense contemporary novel of a difficult part of a woman’s life, when memories and past trauma transform her view. Told mainly from Natalie’s point of view and in her distinctive voice, this is a voice that gives a rare insight into her actions in the light of a difficult past. There are also sections from Rob’s viewpoint, as he tries to understand and come to terms with what Natalie is going through. This is a book that provides an excellent insight into family dynamics. It looks at the individuals that make up the relationships, with sections that recount the feelings of a mother Jacqueline and a father, Tim, on at least one occasion. This powerful and heartfelt novel is a powerful book of a family in distress. I was pleased to have the opportunity to read and review this book.

The book opens with an Introduction in what turns out to be Natalie’s voice recording how she pulled up and ejected Rob from his car. It was a totally unexpected act that Rob cannot understand, that he is completely fazed by as we learn later. Not that Natalie can explain it; it appears to be a reaction to the impossible circumstances that she finds herself in. She moves out of the house that she shares with Rob, going to stay with her brother Paul. It emerges that Natalie has been doing the bulk of the preparation for her younger sister Amanda’s wedding. Beautiful, headstrong and spoiled, Amanda is demanding and is only just staying within Natalie’s ability to cope with her. When the latter makes the discovery that their father has paid for the dress and has visited the shop with Amanda, she is shocked. This was the man who she covered for, put up with and nearly hates. When Amanda also reveals that she is pregnant, it is a body blow to Natalie. She has no children herself, but her job as a consultant involves her delivering babies all day. Amanda, in her usual way, demands so much of Natalie, especially in terms of welcoming their father back into a real relationship. Natalie remembers all too clearly what growing up in her family was like, defined by her father’s behaviour and his closeness to Amanda. She has had enough, and she reacts in a very unpredictable way.

This is a novel written with real feeling for the ways that a family can become dysfunctional , and the long lasting effect of parental behaviour. Natalie is a complex but completely believable and relatable character, almost pushed beyond endurance by the demands of those closest to her. I read this book in two sittings, thoroughly engaged by the story, in particular the characters who are so well drawn. This is a powerful and strong book of relationships, strongly felt and deeply moving.

[J. Johnson]

If you enjoy family drama, relate to the enigma that is sibling rivalry yet fiercely protective love, and a flowing tale (written in present tense), whose layers are peeled back slowly to reveal the historical events and emotions which have brought the characters to their current state, then ‘Ember’ is for you! Yardley’s various narrators help weave the story from past to present, and her crisp sentence structure and dialogue ensure that the reader will not become bogged down in descriptive melancholy. Her overall question —how long should resentment be held in a heart that just wants to love?—reminds us to cherish what we have now (for we are all imperfect souls), and to look beyond the early traumas to a place of forgiveness.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a feisty family drama story told in the style of a soap opera, it’s such an easy story to relate to because every single one of us has been involved in some kind of family drama at some point in our lives!

The story is told from multiple points of view (mostly Natalie’s and Rob’s) whereby each character gives their recollections and opinions on what went wrong in the past and how it has all affected everyone in the present day.

It is very interesting to see how incidents in early life can contribute to shaping how someone is as an adult. The book explores this in depth, we look at how the past can affect an individuals attitude towards other people, how they see other people, how they choose to make decisions and how they feel about themselves.

The story highlights the fact that the past is what shapes and moulds every last one of us into the adults that we are today, and how we all got to this point via our past experiences. Whether our upbringings be good or bad, it all comes together to hopefully make us better, stronger people.

There were some parts of the story where I felt that the author may have been speaking from personal experience, so much emotion, hurt and anger came through the pages and there were plenty of times when I felt like giving a certain character a good slap!

It is not all doom and gloom though! There is a strong focus on love and forgiveness which mixes in well with all of the heartache!

Overall this was a very gripping, relatable, well thought out, unforgettable story which I feel will leave people with plenty of food for thought, but also with a sense of satisfaction. The characters all have a certain charm about them and they are all very human.

5 stars! - an amazing read!

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

I would like to thank Rachel’s Random Resources for providing me with a review copy of this book for free. Views and opinions are my own and have not been influenced by anyone. @rararesources

[Claire (c.isfor.claire_reads) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book in just over 24 hours mostly sat in the sun.
This is a story about childhood and family bonds, and how these relationships have an effect on adult life and how we have a view on things that happened. The story also showed how fragile these bonds can be. The story mostly centres around Natalie and how she deals with her father returning to her life after walking out on her mother and younger brother for another women taking her sister with him.
Deep down Natalie has never come to terms with this abandonment and she feels resentful of the fact that her siblings seemingly are able to forgive and forget and want to build a relationship with their father, Tim.

The family is torn apart and fractured at its centre, but it is also so intertwined. The author captured all the heartbreak, fears, and buried grudges between the siblings beautifully in a way that is so easily relatable.
A sometimes heartbreaking, but captivating read.

[mrsbookburnee Niamh Burnett · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely fell in love with Natalie as a character and the authors writing style.

This is a fantastic insight into a broken family and the trauma that an absent parent causes and how this effects a child both at the time and throughout the rest of their life.

I completely understood her emotions around not being able to conceive while coping with people falling pregnant in her work and personal life.

This is a heavy book through its subjects, but the author also makes it uplifting at the same time.

A fantastic debut and I’m looking forward to reading more by the author.

[Ivy Ngeow · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this tense family story from beginning to end. I was intrigued from when the female character kicks her husband out of the car and drives off. I especially liked the character of the father whose weaknesses broke up the family stability thereby adding to the conflicts which he caused and which Natalie and Rob have to handle. The ending was well resolved, carried through and showed the characters’ resilience, empathy and love. I highly recommend this book to readers of thoughtful, character-driven family stories.

[Tiziana Langone · Rating 4 out of 5]

You never know the insides of a normal person 
Thirty years ago, Natalie’s father walked away from his family, as his infidelity has reached its peak. In the present, Natalie is finding herself ambushed by her younger sister Amanda to reconcile with their father. Amanda always kept in touch with their father, while Natalie cannot let go of the past.  And with Amanda’s wedding around the corner, and Amada finding herself pregnant, Natalie seems not able to escape her father.
Even her brother Paul betrays her by reaching out to their father…
But Natalie is not inclined at all to forgive him, and tensions arise between the family members. This also affects her relationship with Rob, her amazing boyfriend. 
Can all wounds be healed over time? Or are some actions unforgivable? And is all truly lost for Natalie and Rob? 
This story took some time to grow on me. Not because it’s badly written or it doesn’t appear to go somewhere, but because initially it was difficult to properly understand and know Natalie.
Her first actions aren’t understandable at all, and I found it difficult to somehow sympathize with her.
Obviously that is the purpose of the author, as slowly we get to know about Natalie’s past and her present issues. 
The more is revealed the more I could understand her reluctance of being in touch with her father. I admired how as a young girl herself, she did everything she could for her mother and her siblings, how she was the one always taking matter in hands. And while her father was not in the run for the award for best father of the year. 
While it may seem a hard decision, not wanting to have her father back in her life, I saw where she was coming from, and I respected her decision. But it frustrated me that her siblings couldn’t just respect it too.
I found Amanda very selfish, she seems never to be content, it is always about her and noting is ever her fault. And everything seems to go so easy for her.
Even if Paul takes Natalie’s feelings more in account, he also seems to be pushing her to do things she truly doesn’t want to do. 
So is it really a surprise that Natalie at one point had enough? For me, no.  
Although, it took me a very long time to understand why she would break things off with Rob. They were together for such a long time, and nothing special had happened. So why throw away the best thing you have? 
But people don’t always reason logically, as this book clearly shows. And when it’s all too much, you make decisions that normally you wouldn’t make.
How would you act if you find yourself cornered?  
In books, often broken families somehow find a way back together. But in real life that is not always the case. Sometimes taking a step back is the best thing you can do, for your own peace of mind and happiness. 
While Natalie has endured many things in the past, and is only now trying to come to terms with it all, this book is also filled with hope and love. Because no matter how some things may be broken, literally and figuratively, there is always hope to fix these broken things. And it’s in the highest need that we realize what is worth fixing. 
Despite the maybe a little rough start for me, once I was in the flow of the story, I found myself submerged in Natalie’s life. There were many, many heart – breaking moments, but the book was also filled with happier moments, that made me smile. 
The author managed to describe the fragility of a family, how one event can change the course of a whole life and how that one event still affects someone even after many years have passed. Family is not made of people of your own choosing, and even if related by blood, members can be totally different. And while you obviously love them, it’s perfectly okay to chose your own happiness over theirs. 
But most important of this story is the message that despite the lemons that life throws at you, for the right person, you are perfectly enough, even with your imperfections and strange thoughts and that things will be all right after all. If that isn’t a hopeful message…