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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Really lovely story, May 18, 2006
This review is from: Madame Mirabou's School of Love: A Novel (Paperback)
This novel tells a really lovely story about a recently-divorced woman reluctantly being forced to start her life over and find happiness and fulfillment.
All the characters are very well-written and well thought-out. Each one has a meaning and is not there for filler. I found all the emotions of the main character to be authentic, and her growing in fits and starts true to her situation - someone who did not want a divorce and grappled with so many emotions for her ex-husband (continuing love, anger, confusion), her daughter, her new friends, and eventually her promising new love.
The title of this novel suggests that it's some kind of quirky chick-lit story, but I think that is misleading. It is a novel of humor, yes, but not without lots of layers of other emotions. It even touches on depression and anorexia in the context of a secondary character in a thoughtful way.
I really enjoyed reading this book and was dreading the last page. It was a very satisfying reading experience.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A wonderful read!, March 29, 2006
This review is from: Madame Mirabou's School of Love: A Novel (Paperback)
For all the women who have loved, sacrificed themselves to that love and then lost it, Madame Mirabou's School of Love will resonate deep in their souls.
Nicole (Nikki) Carrington's house exploded due to an old and faulty furnace. It was the only thing of value that she received from her eighteen-year marriage to Daniel. Daniel even got custody of their fifteen-year-old daughter Giselle, who he has taken to London on vacation with his new wife. It's a trip Nikki always wanted to take and now she's homeless and "the other woman" is living her life.
At forty-three Nikki is firmly ensconced in a land called panic, fear and anxiety. But without the comfort of the family home, she is forced to leave her neighborhood and friends and find a new home in an apartment complex nicknamed Splitsville.
Without Nikki's insurance settlement she is low on cash, not to mention self-esteem. She takes a job as a waitress in a popular Colorado organic restaurant. There she learns to enjoy her work, the other employees and meets a dark, handsome and mysterious man from England.
Nikki takes stock of her life, explores the unrealized dream of owning a perfumery and realizes that her new eccentric neighbors are more real and a much better fit for her than those from the old neighborhood. Along the way she finds herself and learns that she can be happy and love again, if that is what she chooses.
Barbara Samuel's writing is complex, poignant, humorous and at times lyrical. Her story could be every woman's story and will touch your heart as the reader examines their life and the choices they make.
This is the first Barbara Samuel novel I have read--and it won't be the last.
Armchair Interviews says: Her characters are so real, you feel like you know them and when the last page is turned, you don't want to say good-bye.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
One more reason to love Barbara Samuel's writing!, November 5, 2006
This review is from: Madame Mirabou's School of Love: A Novel (Paperback)
I absolutely drooled all over Barbara Samuel's MADAME MIRABOU'S SCHOOL OF LOVE. I've been a Barbara Samuel (Who's also known as Ruth Wind when she writes for Harlequin.)fan for a long, long time. There's something about the rich flow of her language and her close-to-the-bone insight into her characters that fascinates me. I love that her books are about life, not necessarily as neat and pretty as we wish it was, but as it is. She writes about the struggles regular people face with eloquence and compassion. MADAME MIRABOU'S SCHOOL OF LOVE tells another one of these wonderful, rich, fabulous stories.
Nikki Carrington is recently divorced and unwilling or unable to let go of her former life until her house blows up. Left with nothing, she is homeless, jobless, and out of sync with who she used to be. To try to recover from the loss and rediscover the woman within, Nikki gets an apartment that happens to be in a building with another divorced woman and a soldier's wife, left behind when her husband is deployed. It is these women, and the women in the restaurant where Nikki gets a waitressing job, who encourage her and help her develop the courage to pursue dreams long set aside. As Nikki moves toward a life beyond her divorce and into a the tender beginnings of a new relationship, her neighbor Wanda, who helped Nikki regain her perspective, reveals the devastation that can occur when a woman refuses to grow and change.
Samuel recently won the Romance Writers of America® coveted Rita Award for her last book LADY LUCK'S MAP OF LAS VEGAS; I look for MADAME MIRABOUS SCHOOL OF LOVE to be a hot contender for next year's Rita.
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