Bethlehem by Karen Kelly @StMartinsPress #travelingsistersread

Bethlehem by Karen Kelly is now available!

Bethlehem is a carefully written, touching and moving family saga that takes a different approach here to those buried family secrets. The story explores temptation, regret, cost of carrying those secrets and how it changes the people who do.

Things start off slow here or better described as quietly as we see the relationships between the characters develop and get a strong sense of how they care for each other.  It takes some patience here and comes at risk here for reviewers as we are often rushed to get to the long list of titles we have. However, my Traveling Sisters warned me and I waited to start this one when I could give it the focus it needs.  

What seems as a simple story develops into a complex story and there is a lot of depth to this one.  Once the layers are placed the pace starts to pick up and the story becomes quite interesting. There are two timelines and stories going on here with our main characters and I found one to be much stronger than the other and at times the weaker one added some weight to the story.  However, I really enjoyed how it all came together and thought it was brilliantly done. There is a lot to think about and discuss with this one and it really lead to a great discussion among the Traveling Sisters who read this one. I highly recommend for group reads especially when they are read over a longer period of time and some focus can be given to it.

Thank you to NetGalley and St Martin Press for my copy to read and review.