Hidden lives: A novel [Unknown Binding]

Marvin H Albert (Author)

Product Details

• Unknown Binding: 494 pages
• Publisher: Delacorte Press (1981)
• Language: English
• ASIN: B0006E1O8W
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars Good start, great middle, not so good end.., January 8, 2007

By 

Peter LaPrade (worcester ma) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hidden Lives (Paperback)

Marvin Albert's "Hidden Lives" is an ambitious novel. It starts in Paris in the early 1920s as an unorthodox American artist tries to make a living and confront his long-lost father. He finds that his father has Alzheimer's and starts to fall in love with someone he shouldn't: his half-sister. In first part ends as the hero kills his lover's husband after most of his paintings are destroyed maliciously in a fire. The middle has the hero escaping prison and trying to find himself as a member of the Foreign Legion and later an advisor to a Berber chieftain. This part was great as we get a real feel for the High Atlas mountains and the Berber culture. The hero is then sent on a journey to save the chieftain's son by sending him far away, and as a reward he gains enough riches to lead a third life, as a chateau owner/art collector in Provence where he is reunited with his lover/half-sister and his daughter/niece. Thei happiness is short-lived as Germany invades France and they fight for the Resistence. This part gets bogged down in logic errors and such. Then a crucial choice has to be made as the German occupiers threaten mass slaughter as reprisal for "terrorism" and well...a parting between the hero and his long-time friend occurs and the ending is rushed at. Still good enough to recommend.