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Such Sweet Sorrow
A family divided by war but united by love. Marianne seems to have everything. She is married to a handsome naval officer, Neil Sheridan, commander of a corvette. They have a daughter, Libby, and a beautiful home near Prince's Park in Liverpool. When war comes, Marianne takes war work and moves into Crocus Street with her mother, Mrs Wainwright, and younger sister. Neil disapproves because the Wainwrights live so near the docks, which are bound to be a bombing target, but Marianne is firm. Meanwhile, Libby is evacuated to the country to stay with Miss Williams, who lives in an ancient house, Tregarth, at the head of a valley in North Wales and Libby, the wheelchair-bound Matthew and Miss Williams assume they can settle down to see out the war in comparative safety. But, Libby is forced to return to the city when her mother suffers an accident and her gran finds herself unable to cope...
643 pages, Paperback
First published September 16, 2008
About the author
Katie Flynn
105 books226 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.
Katie Flynn was born in Norwich and attended Norwich High School, where she was extremely happy and extremely undistinguished. Published at the tender age of eight, in Enid Blyton's Sunny Stories, she joined a Writers’ Circle as an adult, publishing short stories, articles, etc; only turning to novels in 1971 because the postal strike cut off her main source of income!
At first she wrote under several different names – Judith Saxton, Judy Turner, Lydia Balmain, Judith Arden – but her Katie Flynn books were a delight to write and proved far more popular than she had dreamed. She has now published nearly ninety novels, twenty-seven of which are Flynns. Her most recent titles are: Lost Days of Summer and Christmas Wishes.
Katie Flynn was born in Norwich and attended Norwich High School, where she was extremely happy and extremely undistinguished. Published at the tender age of eight, in Enid Blyton's Sunny Stories, she joined a Writers’ Circle as an adult, publishing short stories, articles, etc; only turning to novels in 1971 because the postal strike cut off her main source of income!
At first she wrote under several different names – Judith Saxton, Judy Turner, Lydia Balmain, Judith Arden – but her Katie Flynn books were a delight to write and proved far more popular than she had dreamed. She has now published nearly ninety novels, twenty-seven of which are Flynns. Her most recent titles are: Lost Days of Summer and Christmas Wishes.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
February 3, 2018
Awesome. Enjoyed every word. Recommended.
September 30, 2012
Ah! Why does the author have to mention street names ALL the time!!! Seriously, it's getting on my nerves.
After another bout of contemplation -
Why do i have this feeling that the author is obsessed with writing on 'lil' girls'??? O.o (stares helplessly at the covers and names of other books written by said author and shakes head sadly*...
Then:
That's it. The only reason this book's passed thru my hands is becoz it's as a favour for a 'friend' of mine. Her theory is that she doesn't read 'fat' books (sheesh...) so she's lent it to me becoz of course! I'm a gimme-books-so-i-can-test-read-them-for-u-if-it's-gonna-be-worth-it-for-you person! :( Ah well. Not that I'm complaining - everyone likes books about war-time. Especially books about pre-war time in which for 80 pages a parent and her 'lil' girl' keep on SHOPPING and SHOPPING and VISITING 'lil' girl's GAMMY *Yes. Gammy is the lastest name you call maternal grandmother's *sighs* Oh. There's more* and going from SO-and-SO street to SO-and-So street to this named restaurant to what you eat and drink and talk and aaaahhh!!
Moral: (well, temporary moral - I still have to brave the rest of the book - reverse psychology you see - coz otherwise I'll start feeling guilty or whatever)
I grudgingly admit I'm not exactly a navigational person. So the mention of bla-bla street to moving through bla-bla street coz of a blizzard and then sledging at a something something park - is not, and never will be, part of my reading forte.
Come to think of it. Please. Let the war strike everything down, obliterate the streets, atleast the signboards displaying 'such-and-such street name'... and it may, may be worth re'reading.
I fervently hope I'll never have to read this author or book again. No offense but I DO NOT READ stuff that's the basic foundations of BORING! So, I'm just gonna end this and let virtual dust gather this book in my GR library, and whether the real drab stuff gathers cobwebs in my 'friend's' house, or not... I can always hope that her cat may put an end to it!
2 Stars. Sorry me. First book I've rated without finishing it. Scratch that. First book-I've-an-intention-to-read-if-I-don't-sleep-first-literally, that I've rated.
My God. It just occured to me that i bet no one has ever written so much about this 'beautiful, ecstatic book with the a, I'll quote myself ''cute and little girl'' on the cover'! I think if I see another 'lil' girl' on the cover of a book again, I'll most definitely twitch.
After another bout of contemplation -
Why do i have this feeling that the author is obsessed with writing on 'lil' girls'??? O.o (stares helplessly at the covers and names of other books written by said author and shakes head sadly*...
Then:
That's it. The only reason this book's passed thru my hands is becoz it's as a favour for a 'friend' of mine. Her theory is that she doesn't read 'fat' books (sheesh...) so she's lent it to me becoz of course! I'm a gimme-books-so-i-can-test-read-them-for-u-if-it's-gonna-be-worth-it-for-you person! :( Ah well. Not that I'm complaining - everyone likes books about war-time. Especially books about pre-war time in which for 80 pages a parent and her 'lil' girl' keep on SHOPPING and SHOPPING and VISITING 'lil' girl's GAMMY *Yes. Gammy is the lastest name you call maternal grandmother's *sighs* Oh. There's more* and going from SO-and-SO street to SO-and-So street to this named restaurant to what you eat and drink and talk and aaaahhh!!
Moral: (well, temporary moral - I still have to brave the rest of the book - reverse psychology you see - coz otherwise I'll start feeling guilty or whatever)
I grudgingly admit I'm not exactly a navigational person. So the mention of bla-bla street to moving through bla-bla street coz of a blizzard and then sledging at a something something park - is not, and never will be, part of my reading forte.
Come to think of it. Please. Let the war strike everything down, obliterate the streets, atleast the signboards displaying 'such-and-such street name'... and it may, may be worth re'reading.
I fervently hope I'll never have to read this author or book again. No offense but I DO NOT READ stuff that's the basic foundations of BORING! So, I'm just gonna end this and let virtual dust gather this book in my GR library, and whether the real drab stuff gathers cobwebs in my 'friend's' house, or not... I can always hope that her cat may put an end to it!
2 Stars. Sorry me. First book I've rated without finishing it. Scratch that. First book-I've-an-intention-to-read-if-I-don't-sleep-first-literally, that I've rated.
My God. It just occured to me that i bet no one has ever written so much about this 'beautiful, ecstatic book with the a, I'll quote myself ''cute and little girl'' on the cover'! I think if I see another 'lil' girl' on the cover of a book again, I'll most definitely twitch.
July 24, 2015
A little drawn out to get to an obvious ending
October 30, 2017
First book I've read by this author and it was quite acceptable. It was pretty obvious how it was going to end but pleasant reading.
July 21, 2025
Although I got this book by mistake, thinking it was 'Sweet Sorrow' by David Nicholls, I really enjoyed it! A wartime family story set in Liverpool, starting in 1939, it was warm-hearted and well-written. Some plot turns were fairly loudly signalled ahead, but I didn't mind as the characters were very engaging and I couldn't wait to find a moment to listen to it. Great reading on Audible with convincing accents and individual voices for all the characters. A successful mistake on my part!!
March 31, 2018
Sorrow?
Carnt quite work out where the sorrow part comes into this story......must have been there somewhere, must have missed it.
Or was it supposed to be the part where Libby met up with Matthew, and why was he on crutches, but of a mystery to me.
Carnt quite work out where the sorrow part comes into this story......must have been there somewhere, must have missed it.
Or was it supposed to be the part where Libby met up with Matthew, and why was he on crutches, but of a mystery to me.
November 14, 2021
A lovely change of pace from my usual choice of Sci-fi stories. Beautifully written and evocative of the era and background setting of the second world war . Heartfelt characters and satisfying conclusion .
January 5, 2020
Such sweet sorrow
It took awhile before I got into the storyline and then I was hooked. Very enjoyable. Can't wait for the next novel.
It took awhile before I got into the storyline and then I was hooked. Very enjoyable. Can't wait for the next novel.
July 5, 2020
I loved it Katie Flynn is such a good story teller I love all her books, I hope that this story will continue I feel that it could the way it ended.
November 23, 2020
always a great book by Katie Flynn.
4 stars.
4 stars.
April 18, 2021
Simple and full of characters who love each other. This was not what I expected but much nicer.
June 17, 2023
A book about the war and evacuating people from towns. Particularly about a girl evacuated to the courry and about marriage and affairs. I was sad when the book finished.
February 25, 2013
Was ok bit long winded, repetitive
Disliked the Liverpudlian accents all the time but all in all ok
Disliked the Liverpudlian accents all the time but all in all ok
April 6, 2020
Good fun
Corona
Good fun to read the UK is a good 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍on of a new contract at mine was not to the same way to be a a good that it
Corona
Good fun to read the UK is a good 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍on of a new contract at mine was not to the same way to be a a good that it
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews