Thursday, June 25, 2015

Dark Family Secrets and Love

Roberta works in a bookstore. She's half in love with the owner, but feels there's no chance for her since he is interested in someone else. When she finds a letter in her grandmother's suitcase, it opens the door to questioning who she really is, and more important what happened in her grandmother's life.

The stories of Roberta and her grandmother, Dorothy are told in sequential chapters. Roberta's chapters are written in the first person: Dorothy's in the third person. I suppose this was meant to give a sense of immediacy to Roberta's chapters. However, since more can be done to set the scene in third person, I found those chapters more interesting.

The theme of the book revolves around motherhood – who wants to be a mother, who doesn't, and what will they do to either embrace the role or flee it. It's a theme that will appeal to women and will raise questions about their own choices.

I enjoyed the book, but I found the back and forth between the eras more frustrating than enlightening. It may make a good selection to discuss with a reading group, but as a standalone novel, it left me cold.


I reviewed this book for the Amazon Vine Program.

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