Once Upon a Time, There Was You, Elizabeth Berg
Once Upon a Time, There Was You, Elizabeth Berg
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Once Upon a Time, There Was You

Author: Elizabeth Berg

Narrator: Gabrielle De Cuir

Unabridged: 9 hr 27 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 04/05/2011

Synopsis

From the beloved New York Times bestselling author of Home Safe and The Last Time I Saw You comes a beautiful and moving novel about a man and woman, long divorced, who rediscover the power of love and family in the midst of an unthinkable crisis. 

Even on their wedding day, John and Irene sensed that they were about to make a mistake. Years later, divorced, dating other people, and living in different parts of the country, they seem to have nothing in common—nothing except the most important person in each of their lives: Sadie, their spirited eighteen-year-old  daughter. Feeling smothered by Irene and distanced from John, Sadie is growing more and more attached to her new boyfriend, Ron.
When tragedy strikes, Irene and John come together to support the daughter they love so dearly. What takes longer is to remember how they really feel about each other.

Elizabeth Berg has once again created characters who embody the many shades of the human spirit. Reading Berg’s fiction allows us to reflect on our deepest emotions, and her gifts as a writer make Once Upon a Time, There Was You a wonderful novel about the power of love, the unshakeable bonds of family, and the beauty of second chances.

About The Author

Elizabeth Berg is the author of many bestselling novels, as well as two collections of short stories and two works of nonfiction. Open House was an Oprah’s Book Club selection, Durable Goods and Joy School were selected as ALA Best Books of the Year, and Talk Before Sleep was short-listed for an ABBY Award. Berg has been honored by both the Boston Public Library and the Chicago Public Library, and is a recipient of the New England Booksellers Award for her body of work. Her writing has been translated into twenty-seven languages, and she adapted her novel Pull of the Moon into a play that has been successfully performed on two stages in the Chicago area. Berg lives in Chicago.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Karen on November 14, 2024

Once Upon a Time There Was You by Elizabeth Berg is an engaging study of family dynamics, its humor, frustrations, scares, scars and secrets. The author’s character development is superb. Like them or not, her characters ring true, flaws and all. The story is a portrayal of love: love between a man......more

Goodreads review by Sheila on July 11, 2011

As I continue my way through the works of Elizabeth Berg I found myself with her newest release, Once Upon A Time There was You. I felt almost from the beginning that this book was going to be predictable. A few pages in, I felt as though I knew how it would all end and with a resigned sigh, I proce......more

Goodreads review by Alex on August 28, 2016

At First Sight: At age 36, John and Irene got married against their better judgement, mostly because they were growing older and didn't want to be alone. But neither of them had a good example to follow, both coming from broken homes and with less than ideal mother figures. So it's no surprise that......more

Goodreads review by The Dusty Jacket on February 26, 2022

DISCLAIMER: This is going to deviate a lot from my normal review format because I just can’t bring myself to devote any more time to this book, so here goes… Synopsis: Two people (John and Irene) who never wanted to get married to each other get married to each other, have a kid (Sadie), get divorced......more

Goodreads review by Tmholland38 on October 22, 2011

I haven't read any of Elizabeth Berg's other works but I have to admit that despite the praise, I'm not overly impressed. Everything about this book seemed to just fall a little short. I felt like what could have been a very poignant story about the mistakes of life, finding your true self and the c......more

Quotes

Praise for Elizabeth Berg
 
“[Berg] has a knack for taking you right into the soul of her characters, as they respond to joy and tragedy in a perfectly imperfect way.”—Chicago Sun-Times, about The Last Time I Saw You
 
“Truth rings clearly from every page. Berg captures the way women think—and especially the way they talk to other women—as well as any writer I can think of.”—The Charlottesville Observer, about Talk Before Sleep
 
“Lyrical from start to finish . . . Shaped by Berg’s artistic talents, these stories of ordinary people in ordinary situations are anything but ordinary.”—Fort Worth Star-Telegram, about Ordinary Life
 
“Berg writes with humor and understanding about matters of the heart.”—St. Louis Post-Dispatch, about Until the Real Thing Comes Along
 
“An enchanting and empathic storyteller, Berg delights in the eccentricities that shape complex personalities and excels in decoding the chemistry and paradoxes of relationships. She is also an avid appreciator of the pleasures of food, funny and assuring on the subject of age, and an advocate for kindness. All these elements are at work in her latest comedy of marriage. . . . All is droll and intriguing until Berg swerves, briefly, into the realm of terror, thus dramatically deepening questions about fear, love, family, and what one makes of one’s life. Berg’s tender and wise novels are oases in a harsh world.”—Booklist

“This addictive read shows anew what a wonderful writing talent Berg is: strong characters illuminate a tender story about what makes a marriage work (or not), and how a family binds itself together despite things that pull it apart.”—Library Journal

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