A review by emilypoche
Greenwich: A Novel by Kate Broad

emotional reflective sad fast-paced

4.25

Thank you to St Martin’s Press for providing this ARC for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own. 

Greenwich by Kate Broad follow Rachel, a recent high school graduate during the pivotal summer months before leaving for college. Her life is fraught with isolation and messiness, hidden behind a facade of wealth, politeness, and secrecy. 

The story’s plot moves at a fairly quick pace. The asides, the internal longings and guilt Rachel feels, moves at a more tortured, languorous pace. The book manages to touch on a lot of tough topics through a story that’s somewhat limited in duration and characters. There are prominent themes of the power of wealth, racism, the difficulties of domestic workers, sexuality, lies, forgiveness, and conscience. 

The characters in this story are devastatingly selfish and punitive. It really shows how insidious entitlement and class struggles around wealth can infiltrate every aspect of lives with relationships. Claudia, the most sympathetic character, is predictably, but heart-wrenchingly dragged for not being an insider. 

For me this was a very quick read, that I really enjoyed. My only qualm is that the ending and “college years” don’t have the same emotional power as the chapters covering the summer. I felt like the plot was still effective and interesting, but that after the trial the book did sort to putter out and didn’t meet the standards of the earlier chapters. 

For me an easy 4/5 or 4.25/5. 


(Trigger warning: scenes involving animal-on-animal violence, child death, and addiction) 
Expand filter menu Content Warnings