SHOULD HAVE TOLD YOU SOONER
By: Jane Ward
Published: February 10, 2026
Publisher: She Writes Press
Fiction
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
In the press package for this novel, I immediately noticed that one of the settings for this story was Wales. It’s rare to see books set in Wales, and I’m always looking for them since that is my heritage.
This is a story of choices and consequences, regrets and serendipitous chances. It’s a love story and a heartbreak story. The novel begins with a letter from a ten-year-old to his mum, and in it you get the feel that this boy doesn’t know his mum. We then meet Noel in 2022, recently separated from her husband and trying to stay connected to his daughter, her step-daughter whom she helped raise for the last six years. Noel works in Art History and has been offered a 6-month job in London, which seems like perfect timing given her recent split, but she hasn’t been back to London in nearly 30 years.
“Mastering the water doesn’t always mean pushing through it. Sometimes a swimmer has to conserve energy; sometimes it is enough to stay afloat.”
The novel is broken up into 7 parts with chapters defined by the location, such as Noel’s Airbnb in 2022 or flashing back to Noel’s life in London during her college days in the early 1990s, where she meets Bryn, an artist who changes her life forever. Among the chapters, we also read letters written by the same boy, at various stages in his life, to his mum. We soon realize this boy was given up for adoption, but it isn’t clear who the mum is quite yet, even though you have some guesses.
“But I don’t much like that all the different parts of my life have fences around them, maintaining borders between each other.”
This story is heavy on emotion and character building, but I was also taken in by the settings and descriptions of art, both painted by Bryn in the 1990s, and by a new artist in 2022 that Noel meets. As someone who isn’t very knowledgeable in art or art techniques, I was able to imagine the various paintings described in my mind. I wanted to be at Bryn’s home in the middle of the woods in Wales. I could imagine his studio, the disheveled state, with canvases, easels, and paints lying around.
“We tend to think of life as a straight line until we’re reminded it’s lines that sometimes fold back on themselves or go in circles and figure eights.”
When Noel learns that what she knew of her past may not be exactly how she understood it, she is sent on a path of forgiveness, reconnection, and hope that maybe there is a different future for her. Even though the characters were flawed, they had characteristics and values that the reader could connect with. There are a lot of emotions in this story, and even though the reader might not agree with the characters’ choices, you’ll still feel their heartbreak. If you’ve ever wondered, “What if?” related to the choices you made in your past, this might be the book for you. In the final chapter, I found my heart begging for the ending I’d been hoping for and was thrilled with the last line of the novel.
“So, ask yourself, how did I get to this place where things are so good? I’m sure you’ll see there’s only one answer: you got right here, right now by living your life, your most unexpected life, with its every up and every down.”
Jane Ward is the author of Hunger (Forge 2001), The Mosaic Artist (2011), and In the Aftermath (She Writes Press 2021). After graduating from Simmons College, she worked in the food and hospitality industry; later, she became a contributing writer to an online food magazine and a blogger and occasional host of cooking videos for an internet recipe resource affiliated with several regional newspapers. Most recently, she has contributed book reviews to Story Circle and Mom Egg Review. She loves to travel, and to document her trips through travel photography. Jane lives in Ipswich, Massachusetts.
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Posted Under Book Review, Jane Ward, Wales, adoption, fiction