From Publishers Weekly
Straightforward and pleasingly plainspoken, Newman's first novel tells the story of Sarah Bridges's journey to find her birth mother and come to terms with her past. About to turn 35, Sarah appears to have it all: ensconced in New York City, she's adored by her painter boyfriend, who is six years her junior; she loves teaching English to foreign students and is working on a book about their struggles to assimilate. But while interviewing Alex Astor a handsome, wealthy Romanian immigrant whose rags-to-riches story Sarah wants to include in her book she reveals a secret of her parentage that she has hidden from friends and lovers her entire life: "I've never met my natural mother I don't even know her name." This unexpected confession forces Sarah to reevaluate her childhood and all its "hidden sadness," revealing a nagging emptiness at her core. Depression, poor concentration, boyfriend problems and difficulties at work follow, as Sarah scans the faces of strangers in search of her birth mother. Feeling increasingly like a "freak," she begins a more methodical search before she sinks into despair. Despite the thinly drawn characters, superfluous subplots and a far too predictable ending, it's difficult not to feel touched by Sarah's brave search for the truth. Her emotional breakdown as she approaches midlife and her need to understand her birth parents' choices is authentic. This heartfelt novel is sure to interest readers who have been affected by adoption. Agent, Anne Edelstein.
Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Heading toward her mid-thirties, the still-attractive Sarah Bridges has an enviable life: she has a job teaching English to immigrant adults, a sexy, artistic boyfriend named Stoddard, and aspirations to publish a book of interviews about the immigrant experience. But two things shake up her comfortable existence: she meets the mysterious and handsome Romanian migr Alex Astor, and she becomes fixated on locating her birth mother, who gave her up for adoption as a newborn. As she tracks down clues to her mother's identity and whereabouts, her relationship with Stoddard falls apart and her conflicted feelings about Alex veer toward the positive. Flat characters and a mishmash of main plots and subplots (Newman can't quite make up her mind whether she wants to write about searching for a birth mother or meeting the man of one's dreams) add up to a first novel that's less than satisfactory. Although the publisher is comparing this novel to Elinor Lipman's Then She Found Me, Newman's writing falls far short of Lipman's joie de vivre. Not a necessary purchase. Nancy Pearl, Washington Ctr. for the Book, Seattle
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.
