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Library | Audience | Home Location | Material Type | Shelf Number | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Searching... Central | Adult | Non-fiction | Book | 306.734 V196 | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
Two childhood sweethearts meet again as adults, a young woman defies tradition, new love grows from the ruins of an earlier relationship, exiles find home in each other, love flourishes late in life, handwritten letters span the distance of oceans . . .
We love to hear about love.
In a world of bad news and bleak prophecies, it's life-affirming to hear a story with a happy ending. These are true tales of passion and perseverance, chance meetings, unexpected romance, lovers whose stars are un-crossed. There is sorrow here. There are questions, too, but no universal answers - and yet other people's happy endings inspire optimism in all of us.
People have told the author about their personal experiences. She has listened to their unique voices and woven heartfelt stories from their words. All the chapters are about love, but together they are about life.
Author Notes
Authors Bio, not available
Reviews (2)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Valmorbida (Matilde Waltzing) brings her gift for elegant language to this collection of narratives about the search for love. Having interviewed couples from a variety of backgrounds, Valmorbida relates the ups and downs of their eventually fulfilled relationships. Driven by passion for Rosi, a fellow professor, Anneke left her boyfriend in order to forge a union that resulted in the women's 1999 marriage in Holland. The Iran-Iraq War brought exiles Zainab and Mum'am together as lovers and political activists in London, where they have now lived together for 16 years. As Zhen Zhu taught Martin Chinese and he improved her English, their friendship and partnership developed and deepened, but they did not marry until years after they became the parents of twins. Threading through these and other anecdotes is a romance told almost completely in letters between a New Yorker and a Londoner, but their trials and tribulations grow wearying and are less compelling than the other, more straightforward tales. B&w photos. (Aug. 1) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Library Journal Review
In this intelligent and life-affirming book, Valmorbida (Matilde Waltzing) treats readers to stories of real people who met and fell in love under extremely challenging circumstances. The author interviewed a wide range of people in her adopted city of London and chronicled their accounts in 39 fictional narratives. Protagonists range from a Chinese waitress who escapes an abusive marriage, childhood sweethearts who reunite as adults in exile, and a Jewish refugee who falls for his aunt. One thread running through the stories is that endings are happy only when they follow a certain degree of hardship and wanting. This is a book that patrons will browse and be compelled to check out. Recommended for most public libraries. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
