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taunts from her middle school peers for
“Ja-fakin’ it.” In “Lovely,” she lands her
first job and loses her virginity at 17. In
“Celebration,” Kara and her mother, Eloise,
get drunk together for the first time on the
eve of her high school graduation, while in
“Drunk,” she and her friends party harder,
leading to Kara throwing up in front of
Eloise. Along the way, strong characters
emerge, including Eloise, a sharp, over-
bearing woman who wants nothing more
than to see her daughter succeed; and
Kara’s churchgoing grandmother, Nana,
who shows her affection through cooking
for the whole family. Reid-Benta makes
good use of the episodic form, artfully
blending Kara’s wit and distance with
startling vulnerability as she tracks Kara’s
thought processes and desires. This heralds
a notable new voice. (Mar.)
★ The Woman of a
Thousand Names
Alexandra Lapierre. Atria, $30 (640p).
ISBN 978-1-5011-9791-8
Lapierre (Between Love and Honor) serves
up a stirring portrait of a sensual Russian
aristocrat famous for her charm and
“thousand faces.” Three years into Maria
“Moura” Ignatyevna Zakrevskaya’s first
marriage, at age 18, to Djon von
Benckendorff, and facing the turmoil of
WWI and the Bolshevik revolution, Moura
continues to make new friends and lovers
while raising two children. After she meets
British diplomat Robert Bruce Lockhart,
she discovers true love’s “sensation of
lightness” and dives into a tumultuous
affair. Their romance subjects Moura to
manipulation and extortion by Bolshevik
police and the British military, both of
which want information from her.
Moura is repeatedly arrested, her house is
ransacked by rioters, and Djon is executed
by militants. With Robert shipped back
to Britain, Moura’s passion is reignited by
the celebrated author Maxim Gorky, a
personal confidant of Lenin. Djon’s
family, aware of Moura’s series of lovers,
insist that Moura remarry to reclaim her
children, leading to a mutually beneficial
deal with an alcoholic Baron named
Nikolai Budberg. Lapierre evokes
Moura’s appeal by moving between the
impressions she makes on others,
including Gorky and H.G. Wells, and
her own deep feelings, meshing history
with a captivating tale of a passionate
heart. This will move readers. (Mar.)The Land Beyond the Sea
Sharon Kay Penman. Putnam, $32 (688p)
ISBN 978-0-399-16528-3
Penman follows up her Plantagenet
series with an engrossing saga of King
Baldwin IV and his threatened Crusader
state in 12th-century Jerusalem. When
Baldwin is 10 years old, his tutor, William
of Tyre, discovers that the boy has no
feeling in one of his arms. Fearing Baldwin
might have leprosy, William consults a
Syrian doctor, who confirms the diagnosis,
drawing wrath from Baldwin’s father, King
Amalri (“If I ever hear you say that my son
could be a leper, I’ll cut your tongue out
myself!”), who resolves that Baldwin will
become a fierce warrior against the
Saracens. As Baldwin comes of age and
receives treatment, his resilience defies his
court’s expectations. When Amalri dies
while Baldwin is still too young to rule, a
regent executing power on his behalf makes
a compromising pact with the Arabians,which Baldwin reverses once he turns 15
and assumes the throne. He receives sound
advice from William and warrior Lord
Balain d’Ibelin, leading him to withdraw
from the Arabian peace treaty. Baldwin’s
success in keeping the would-be
Mediterranean and Muslim invaders at
bay makes the novel a riveting page-turner,
and Penman’s well-honed skill for weaving
deeply researched details into epic tales is
on full display. Fans of medieval historical
fiction won’t want to miss this. (Mar.)The Shape of Family
Shilpi Somaya Gowda. Morrow, $27.99
(352p) ISBN 978-0-06-293322-5
Gowda’s evocative if predictable
follow-up to The Golden Sun examines how
a family deals with the loss of a child. In a
California suburb, Karina spends her high
school years blaming herself for the
drowning death of her eight-year-old
brother, Prem, when she was a preteen
looking after him. Jaya, her mother, born
in India but raised internationally as her
diplomat father traveled the world, finds★ Love After Love
Ingrid Persaud. One World, $27 (336p) ISBN 978-0-593-15756-5P
ersaud’s auspicious debut traces the gut-wrenching
lives of a makeshift Trinidadian family over the
past two decades. After Betty Ramdin’s abusive,
alcoholic husband, Sunil, dies, Betty invites a
reserved math teacher, Mr. Chetan, to rent a room in her
house. Chetan, who knows Betty as an administrator at
his school, accepts the offer and forms a bond with
Betty’s five-year-old son, Solo. The three quickly form a
de facto family, and Chetan shines in the kitchen (“She
hand nowhere near sweet like mine,” he says). Cracks
emerge later, as Betty’s attempt to initiate sex with
Chetan falters when he reveals he is gay, and Solo, now a
teenager, overhears Betty confess to Chetan that she caused Sunil’s death by
pushing him down a set of stairs. After Solo graduates high school, he illegally
immigrates to New York City and cuts off all contact with his mother. Though
Solo’s uncle helps him find work, he isolates himself socially and descends into
self-harm. Meanwhile, Chetan, who came of age when sodomy was illegal in
Trinidad, navigates clandestine relationships with a controlling police officer and
an old flame, now married. After Solo hears tragic news from Trinidad, he returns
for a bittersweet reunion. In chapters alternately narrated by Solo, Betty, and
Chetan in vibrant Trinidadian dialect, Persaud expertly maps the trio’s emotional
development and builds a complicated yet seamless plot full of indelible insights
and poignant moments. This affecting family saga shines brightly. Agent: Zoe
Waldie, RCW Lit Agency. (Apr.)