Nora Eldridge is a schoolteacher in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in her forties, once an aspiring artist, who has been living a careful, respectable life. When the Shahid family arrives, with a young boy, Reza, who is in her class, his mother Sirena, an artist, and his father Skandar, a scholar, Nora becomes obsessed with all three. She shares a studio with Sirena and imagines a closeness that leads to a painful betrayal. The novel is written in an angry, intense voice, and it begins with the narrator announcing her fury.
Readers of literary fiction who like portraits of women's ambition and disappointment will find it sharp. It is a good book to discuss.
Inward-looking and thought-provoking; a moderate read.
Best for readers like The Empathetic Explorer. Which reader are you?
- Published
- 2013
- Language
- EN
