Title: More Than You Know
Author: Penny Vincenzi
Genre: Fiction
Published: April 2012 – Doubleday
My take: The setting is (mostly) London. The time is late 1950s to early 1970s. Eliza Fullerton-Clark is old money, Matt Shaw is no money. Matt is an old basic training buddy of Eliza’s brother Charles. They first meet when Charles and Matt are on leave. There’s an attraction but, given their different backgrounds, neither Eliza nor Matt take it seriously. They meet some time later and find the attraction cannot be ignored. They marry but, as much as Matt loves Eliza, he can’t get rid of the chip on his shoulder where the class difference is concerned. That remains an underlying issue in their marriage.
They start a family and get on with life. Given the time period, you can imagine the issues that pop up: women working outside the home, abortion, drugs, etc. Vincenzi works them all into the story of Matt and Eliza as well as the secondary characters.
More Than You Know is an emotional and entertaining story of the Fullerton-Clark and Shaw families and their friends during a time of great change.
Note: Vincenzi did a great service for her readers by providing a Cast of Characters at the beginning. Without it, it would have been easy to forget who each character was and how he/she fit into the story.
Source: Doubleday
Disclosure: See sidebar. I was not compensated for my review.
Bookfan 
Sounds like a good beach read for this summer. Nice short thorough review!
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Thanks, Peggy. I’m a fan of short reviews 🙂
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I do like the sound of this one Mary. I have the eBook version for summer reading. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this one.
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Great summer read, Diane! And, at 600 pages, you’ll be glad you have the ebook! I had the paper arc – a real brick of a book 🙂
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This is definitely the year that I will read another Vincenzi novel. I read one a few years and ago and have meant to return to her books. They remind of those family sagas of the ’80’s – Barbara Taylor Bradford, Susan Howatch, and others.
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Yes, definitely a family saga. I could even see this as a British tv series or a Lifetime miniseries.
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I loved this book! And I loved the cast of characters, too!!!
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I’m glad you loved it, Patty 🙂
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I love Penny Vincenzi and have read a few of her books, with a few others on my shelf just waiting for me. It sounds as if this is an excellent read with a lot of layers, which is just what I have come to expect from Vincenzi. So glad that you loved it. I am going to be on the lookout for it!
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I would like to read one of her earlier novels to compare it to this book. I’m not sure I’d say I loved it but I liked it enough to read all 600 pages 😀
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I do like it when an author includes a list of characters when there are a lot in a book. This sounds really good.
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The cast of characters is 3 pages long 🙂
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I’ve wanted to read this since the first time I saw it and not just because I think the cover is beautiful. I agree it’s so helpful when an author includes a cast of characters.
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My arc had a different cover which I liked even more than the final cover (which I also like).
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I am pretty sure that I once read a book by her..surley I must have
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This is the first of hers I’ve read. I’ll definitely read more!
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I’ve never read any of her books! The cast of characters is something that I wish more authors would incorporate into their books when they know they have a lot of people running through the pages!
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I agree, Staci. I referred to it several times while reading the book.
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When there are many characters I find a list of who they are so helpful!
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It was very helpful in this case, Sheila.
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I have not read anything by this author before. It sounds like a great story and I love books set in London.
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If you’re in the mood for a lengthy (600 pages) family saga, you might want to give it a try!
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My sister is a big fan of this author and yet has never passed on any of her books for me to read, I think I’ll have to put that right as if this is typical of her books I’m sure I’ll enjoy them.
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It is the first of the author’s books I’ve read. I wonder what your sister would say is her favorite.
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Ooh, I like the sound of this one, often attracted to this time and place setting. Many books would benefit from a character list I think.
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[…] “More Than You Know is an emotional and entertaining story of the Fullerton-Clark and Shaw families and their friends during a time of great change.” — Bookfan […]
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Isn’t this book identical to the last one “The Decision?” I am truly
confused!
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Hi Betty, thanks for your comment. This is the only book by Vincenzi I’ve read so I looked up The Decision and it looks like it IS the same book. I wonder if the British title is The Decision and they changed it for the US publication. Heaven knows why they’d do that!
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