Thin and disappointing, despite vivid scenes of immigrant life and recollections of home.
Overwrought and sluggishly paced sequel to Sister of My Heart (1999), continuing the tale of two Indian cousins who now find their close relationship threatened by old loves and new sorrows in California.
Divakaruni excels at creating distinctive characters and nicely evoked settings, whether in San Francisco or Calcutta, but the story she tells here is much less uncompelling. The mention of significant events happening elsewhere (Mandela’s election, the war in Sarajevo) seems annoyingly pretentious when counterpoised against the melodrama of the characters’ lives. The year is 1993. Anju, married to Sunil and living in San Francisco, is having difficulty recovering from a recent miscarriage. Her marriage is also suffering, and so homesick Anju decides that a visit from her cousin might help. Sudha, who left husband Ramesh when he supported his mother’s demand that she abort the female child she was carrying, arrives with baby Dayita. The cousins are delighted to see each other, but tensions soon strain their former closeness. Sudha, distressed to observe that Anju and Sunil are unhappy, is even more distressed when Sunil tries to kiss her. He’s been in love with his beautiful cousin-by-marriage since they first met in India. Soon, though, Sudha acquires an admirer with no strings attached: Lalit, an Indian doctor. She is more preoccupied with Anju’s unhappiness, however, not to mention her own dilemma: always the dutiful daughter, she has no professional skills and no money. Sudha tentatively begins to make an independent life while Anju starts college; then, however, Sunil seduces her and she realizes she must move out. She finds work as a live-in caregiver for an Indian family, and the cousins who once called themselves sisters are no longer on speaking terms. Not to worry: reconciliation and independence are soon in order.
Thin and disappointing, despite vivid scenes of immigrant life and recollections of home.Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2002
ISBN: 0-385-49729-6
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2001
A little slower-paced than the typical Roberts romantic mystery (Black Hills, 2009, etc.) but every bit as steamy. It may...
A dog trainer and a wood craftsman dance around love and danger in the Pacific Northwest.
Fiona Bristow is the only victim who got away from serial killer George Perry. Now a copycat, inspired and perhaps guided by the jailed Perry, is on her trail. After Perry murdered her fiancé, Fiona rebuilt her life as a dog trainer and search-and-rescue expert on lovely Orcas Island. She’s recently met talented woodworker Simon Doyle and his misbehaving puppy Jaws, and her dormant love life is about to revive as she and the reluctant Simon slowly build a complicated relationship. Though she’s done her best to overcome her fears and make herself whole again, this new series of killings, with herself as the ultimate target, can’t help but strain her nerves. As the police and FBI track the killer, a persistent reporter makes Fiona’s life more difficult by printing information about her life and location. Through it all, Fiona keeps working. As she continues to go on rescue missions with a team that may soon include Simon and Jaws, her friends help to keep her balanced. But ultimately it will be the trust she has built up with Simon and the talents of her dogs that will change her life forever.
A little slower-paced than the typical Roberts romantic mystery (Black Hills, 2009, etc.) but every bit as steamy. It may well add dog lovers to her legion of fans.Pub Date: July 7, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-399-15657-1
Page Count: 496
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: March 6, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2010
A smooth blend of suspense and romance. As ever, the author's trademark effortless style keeps a complex plot moving without...
Megaselling Roberts (River's End, 1999, etc.) goes to Napa Valley for the tale of an Italian-American family wine producers rocked by scandal and a series of murders.
Dynasty head Tereza Giambelli knows that her granddaughter Sophia is the only family member capable of running a multimillion-dollar wine business—and no one contradicts La Signora. It's just as well the lovely young woman is still single: Tereza has plans for her. The matriarch has recently married Eli MacMillan, the American founder of another famous wine company. Eli's grandson Tyler knows everything there is to know about producing wine, from the vineyard to the vat. Ruggedly handsome, intelligent and earthy, he's a perfect match for public-relations whiz Sophia—or so thinks Tereza. The two young people begin to work together; Tyler teaches Sophia the fine art of making wine and making love. But other family members hope to claim their share of the Giambelli fortune, and people start dying mysteriously, including Sophia's good-for-nothing father, Tony Avano. Long divorced from long-suffering Pilar Giambelli, Tony led an opulent, self-indulgent life that provides plenty of murder suspects. He might have been killed by the mob, or a jealous mistress, or his spoiled brother-in-law, Tereza's lazy son, who's produced a passel of brats with his foolish Italian wife in the hopes of making Tereza happy. Everyone has a motive, and nothing is what it seems, Sophia discovers, but Tyler stands by her. Then a bottle of tainted merlot kills a company exec. A tragic mishap caused by poisonous plants growing near the vines? Or deliberate product tampering intended to destroy the company? Sophia and Tyler will need to delve even deeper into the convoluted and sometimes unsavory history of the family and its three-generation business.
A smooth blend of suspense and romance. As ever, the author's trademark effortless style keeps a complex plot moving without a hitch.Pub Date: March 19, 2001
ISBN: 0-399-14712-8
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2001
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