A heartfelt journey to discover the joys of family and home.
Three women at different stages of life struggle to reconcile their own desires with the expectations of clashing Arab and American cultures in this first novel by an American woman who married into an Arab family.
After 20 years of marriage to Ahmed, a Palestinian-born restaurateur, American-born Margaret is beginning to have doubts. Although still a practicing Muslim, she hasn’t worn the hijab in years, not since she caught sight of herself in a mirror and did not recognize the old woman staring back at her. Her frustrations have only grown since her recently widowed mother-in-law, Zainab, has moved in, with her stifling prejudices against non-Arab and non-Muslim ways. Zainab herself isn’t entirely happy with the situation. Certainly, her eldest son ought to give his own mother refuge, but living in America affronts everything Zainab values. Even worse, her younger son, Khalid, has brought home another American bride, Alison, a student of Near Eastern studies. Of Syrian descent, Alison is at first intrigued to join a real Arab family, yet she tries to maintain her independence, watching rather than participating in daily prayer practices, for example. But Khalid soon begins monitoring her dress and behavior, shifting Islamic culture from her course of study to a scarf constricting her every movement. Tensions increase when Alison discovers she is pregnant, and she wonders whether motherhood will tether her even more tightly. Meanwhile, Ahmed announces a job offer in the United Arab Emirates, which pushes Margaret to realize the limits of her acculturation. Rich with culture, Warah’s debut novel deftly intertwines these three women’s tales of longing and sacrifice. Yet at times the characters fall flat; Zainab in particular seems smothered by stereotypes, as she focuses unceasingly on her faith, family, and lost homeland. Consequently, the final epiphanies, while emotionally bursting, seem too easy.
A heartfelt journey to discover the joys of family and home.Pub Date: April 25, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-62872-749-4
Page Count: 392
Publisher: Skyhorse Publishing
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2017
Still, a respectful and absorbing page-turner.
Hannah’s new novel is an homage to the extraordinary courage and endurance of Frenchwomen during World War II.
In 1995, an elderly unnamed widow is moving into an Oregon nursing home on the urging of her controlling son, Julien, a surgeon. This trajectory is interrupted when she receives an invitation to return to France to attend a ceremony honoring passeurs: people who aided the escape of others during the war. Cut to spring, 1940: Viann has said goodbye to husband Antoine, who's off to hold the Maginot line against invading Germans. She returns to tending her small farm, Le Jardin, in the Loire Valley, teaching at the local school and coping with daughter Sophie’s adolescent rebellion. Soon, that world is upended: The Germans march into Paris and refugees flee south, overrunning Viann’s land. Her long-estranged younger sister, Isabelle, who has been kicked out of multiple convent schools, is sent to Le Jardin by Julien, their father in Paris, a drunken, decidedly unpaternal Great War veteran. As the depredations increase in the occupied zone—food rationing, systematic looting, and the billeting of a German officer, Capt. Beck, at Le Jardin—Isabelle’s outspokenness is a liability. She joins the Resistance, volunteering for dangerous duty: shepherding downed Allied airmen across the Pyrenees to Spain. Code-named the Nightingale, Isabelle will rescue many before she's captured. Meanwhile, Viann’s journey from passive to active resistance is less dramatic but no less wrenching. Hannah vividly demonstrates how the Nazis, through starvation, intimidation and barbarity both casual and calculated, demoralized the French, engineering a community collapse that enabled the deportations and deaths of more than 70,000 Jews. Hannah’s proven storytelling skills are ideally suited to depicting such cataclysmic events, but her tendency to sentimentalize undermines the gravitas of this tale.
Still, a respectful and absorbing page-turner.Pub Date: Feb. 3, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-312-57722-3
Page Count: 448
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: Nov. 19, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2014
BOOK TO SCREEN
SEEN & HEARD
Hoover is one of the freshest voices in new-adult fiction, and her latest resonates with true emotion, unforgettable...
Sydney and Ridge make beautiful music together in a love triangle written by Hoover (Losing Hope, 2013, etc.), with a link to a digital soundtrack by American Idol contestant Griffin Peterson.
Hoover is a master at writing scenes from dual perspectives. While music student Sydney is watching her neighbor Ridge play guitar on his balcony across the courtyard, Ridge is watching Sydney’s boyfriend, Hunter, secretly make out with her best friend on her balcony. The two begin a songwriting partnership that grows into something more once Sydney dumps Hunter and decides to crash with Ridge and his two roommates while she gets back on her feet. She finds out after the fact that Ridge already has a long-distance girlfriend, Maggie—and that he's deaf. Ridge’s deafness doesn’t impede their relationship or their music. In fact, it creates opportunities for sexy nonverbal communication and witty text messages: Ridge tenderly washes off a message he wrote on Sydney’s hand in ink, and when Sydney adds a few too many e’s to the word “squee” in her text, Ridge replies, “If those letters really make up a sound, I am so, so glad I can’t hear it.” While they fight their mutual attraction, their hope that “maybe someday” they can be together playfully comes out in their music. Peterson’s eight original songs flesh out Sydney’s lyrics with a good mix of moody musical styles: “Living a Lie” has the drama of a Coldplay piano ballad, while the chorus of “Maybe Someday” marches to the rhythm of the Lumineers. But Ridge’s lingering feelings for Maggie cause heartache for all three of them. Independent Maggie never complains about Ridge’s friendship with Sydney, and it's hard to even want Ridge to leave Maggie when she reveals her devastating secret. But Ridge can’t hide his feelings for Sydney long—and they face their dilemma with refreshing emotional honesty.
Hoover is one of the freshest voices in new-adult fiction, and her latest resonates with true emotion, unforgettable characters and just the right amount of sexual tension.Pub Date: March 18, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4767-5316-4
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: May 6, 2014
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