by Bharti Kirchner ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 1, 2002
A textured melodrama.
A novelist and Indian cookbook writer mixes a sensual and at times suspenseful transcontinental family saga as two sisters vie for the same man.
This time out, Kirchner (Sharmila’s Book, 1999, etc.) combines several ingredients to make for a satisfying tale, including family discord and forbidden love. After older sister Aloka and younger sister Sujata both fell for Pranab, a Sanskrit scholar and manager of their family’s tea plantation, the two were forced to leave their home in Darjeeling. The story opens in New York ten years after that event, when Aloka, now a reporter at a newspaper for Indian immigrants, finds that her hard-won marriage to Pranab (she’s the one who got him) is ending, and, cutting back to Darjeeling, the author retraces the drama that occurred a decade before. Although Pranab and Aloka were engaged, Sujata and he shared a desire to better the living conditions of tea workers, and common sensibilities bloomed into a passionate but prohibited affair. When Sujata’s family discovered it, they banished her to Canada and threatened Pranab’s life. Despite his tryst with her sister, Aloka managed to secure Pranab’s vows, and the couple escaped to New York. A decade later, no one is happy. Pranab is bitter in marriage and unhappy in the US. Aloka finds letters suggesting Pranab’s unfinished affection for Sujata, and she faces the stigma of being an Indian divorcée. Although she’s built a successful tea-import business, Sujata resents the family who exiled her, and unresolved conflicts on all sides come to a head when the sisters and Pranab are summoned back to Darjeeling for a family birthday. Spicing her narrative with Bengali phrases, Kirchner suggests sympathy for her many characters, but her resolutions of their conflicts can seem insubstantial: Aloka and Pranab’s marriage is roughly sketched, and deeper tensions in the plot are too often resolved with a quickness that makes them emotionally unconvincing.
A textured melodrama.Pub Date: July 1, 2002
ISBN: 0-312-28642-2
Page Count: 320
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2002
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by Colleen Hoover ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 2, 2016
Packed with riveting drama and painful truths, this book powerfully illustrates the devastation of abuse—and the strength of...
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Hoover’s (November 9, 2015, etc.) latest tackles the difficult subject of domestic violence with romantic tenderness and emotional heft.
At first glance, the couple is edgy but cute: Lily Bloom runs a flower shop for people who hate flowers; Ryle Kincaid is a surgeon who says he never wants to get married or have kids. They meet on a rooftop in Boston on the night Ryle loses a patient and Lily attends her abusive father’s funeral. The provocative opening takes a dark turn when Lily receives a warning about Ryle’s intentions from his sister, who becomes Lily’s employee and close friend. Lily swears she’ll never end up in another abusive home, but when Ryle starts to show all the same warning signs that her mother ignored, Lily learns just how hard it is to say goodbye. When Ryle is not in the throes of a jealous rage, his redeeming qualities return, and Lily can justify his behavior: “I think we needed what happened on the stairwell to happen so that I would know his past and we’d be able to work on it together,” she tells herself. Lily marries Ryle hoping the good will outweigh the bad, and the mother-daughter dynamics evolve beautifully as Lily reflects on her childhood with fresh eyes. Diary entries fancifully addressed to TV host Ellen DeGeneres serve as flashbacks to Lily’s teenage years, when she met her first love, Atlas Corrigan, a homeless boy she found squatting in a neighbor’s house. When Atlas turns up in Boston, now a successful chef, he begs Lily to leave Ryle. Despite the better option right in front of her, an unexpected complication forces Lily to cut ties with Atlas, confront Ryle, and try to end the cycle of abuse before it’s too late. The relationships are portrayed with compassion and honesty, and the author’s note at the end that explains Hoover’s personal connection to the subject matter is a must-read.
Packed with riveting drama and painful truths, this book powerfully illustrates the devastation of abuse—and the strength of the survivors.Pub Date: Aug. 2, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-5011-1036-8
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: May 30, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2016
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SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
by Robinne Lee ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 13, 2017
A fascinating, thought-provoking, genre-bending romantic read.
When Solène Marchand takes her 12-year-old daughter to a concert by the hottest boy band on the planet, she doesn't expect to fall in love with one of the singers.
Middle-aged art gallery owner Solène hasn’t dated since her divorce, but when her ex-husband buys their daughter and a group of her friends tickets to Vegas and a backstage concert experience, then backs out at the last minute, she steps in as escort. The five guys in the wildly popular English boy band August Moon appeal to women of all ages, but Hayes, the brains behind the group’s success, flirts with Solène at the concert meet and greet, invites them to a party after the show, then pursues her once she gets back to Los Angeles. He’s only 20 and he’s incredibly famous; his attention is flattering and heady. The two fall into an affair that’s supposed to be light and easy, but before long they can’t ignore their intense emotional attachment. Solène is hesitant to tell her daughter, but when she procrastinates, Isabelle learns about it through an online tabloid, which damages their relationship and leaves Solène open to censure from her ex. Then, once the affair goes viral, she experiences the darker side of Hayes’ fan base. What started out as a jaunty adventure turns into an emotionally fraught journey, and Solène must decide what she’s willing to risk for her happiness and what she won’t risk for her daughter’s. Actress Lee, who appeared in Fifty Shades Darker, debuts with a beautifully written novel that explores sex, love, romance, and fantasy in moving, insightful ways while also examining a woman’s struggle with aging and sexism, with a nod at the tension between celebrity and privacy.
A fascinating, thought-provoking, genre-bending romantic read.Pub Date: June 13, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-250-12590-3
Page Count: 384
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Review Posted Online: April 3, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2017
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