Publisher's Weekly Review
In this understated blend of several genres, Pywell (What Happened to Henry) explores the relationship between love and power against the backdrop of mid-20th-century America. As sisters Lilly and Neave grow up during an era changed and defined by WWII and its lingering aftereffects, they struggle with what it means to be women with varying degrees of freedom and opportunity, ultimately establishing a flourishing cosmetics business. But when Lilly runs afoul of her increasingly abusive, possibly homicidal husband and vanishes, Neave has to carry on in her absence, aided only by a pair of ghosts. The narrative is interspersed with extracts from Neave's favorite trashy pirate love story, whose events parallel her own experiences. This tale comes off as a fondly tongue-in-cheek commentary on the influence of romances on societal expectations, but it never quite reconciles its disparate elements. This is simultaneously the leisurely coming-of-age of two sisters, a bodice-ripper pastiche, and a psychological thriller that never truly embraces its romantic aspects. (Apr.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
Two very different sisters, their post-World War II cosmetics business, a swashbuckling pirate novel, and a dead dog with a shoe fetish are among the wildly disparate ingredients Pywell (Everything After, 2006, etc.) stirs into a zesty fictional stew.The author throw us off balance from the get-go, as older sister Lilly opens the story by revealing that she's dead. She wants us to know she's not as reckless as little sister Neave will shortly tell us, even though the narrative counterpoint between the siblings soon makes it clear that Lilly is dead because of her poor judgment about men. Neave initially takes us back to Lynn, Massachusetts, in 1936, when the bookish 11-year-old begins reading aloud to elderly, wealthy Mrs. Daniels. When she helps herself to a book from the shelf her employer has told her to stay away from until she's less young and impressionable, Neave discovers the addictive pleasures of romance fiction. The Pirate Lover adds a third narrative strand with its tale of inevitably young, inevitably gorgeous, inevitably poor Electra, who is in danger of being married off by her mother to a wealthy nobleman in the glittering Paris of the vaguely Napoleonic period favored by romance writers. Pywell knows the genre conventions, but she tweaks them to paint a very dark picture of male-female relationships (the nobleman is an out-and-out sadist) reinforced by Lilly's checkered marital career (second husband Ricky is particularly scary). Male menace is countered by female empowerment as the sisters build Be Your Best cosmetics to provide an income and self-respect for the women who sell its products. The plot verges on zanydon't even ask about the dead dogbut Pywell also crafts mounting suspense that overwhelms any readerly skepticism. And thank goodness her tough, unsentimental take on sexual and familial power dynamics is softened by the fortuitous arrival of decent men for both Electra and Neave. Smart, funny, and compulsively readable: this one may finally win the underrecognized author the wider audience her talent deserves. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Sisters Lilly and Neave Terhune have been inseparable from their childhoods in post-WWI Lynn, Massachusetts, on to their partnership as founders of a successful cosmetics company. Lilly, slightly older, is confident and fashionable, while Neave is reserved and practical. Yet however outwardly cynical Neave appears to be, she is also a closet reader of romance novels, a secret childhood habit that becomes increasingly important to her as she grows older and realizes how little real-life relationships live up to the excitement and passion found in her books. When Lilly goes missing under suspicious circumstances, Neave must not only become the public face of their company but also avoid meeting a similar fate. Pywell cleverly and effectively intersperses Neave's story with that of her favorite romance novel, The Pirate Lover, and the two tales ultimately converge in surprising ways. Equal parts mystery, romance, and family saga, with a dash of dark comedy, this book has something for fans of all genres.--Harmon, Lindsay Copyright 2017 Booklist
New York Review of Books Review
AUGUSTOWN, by Kei Miller. (Vintage, $16.) When Kaia, a schoolboy, comes home with his dreadlocks shorn off - a violation of his Rastafari beliefs - his town in Jamaica erupts, setting in motion a reckoning of the humiliations its people have suffered at the hands of the establishment, which they call Babylon. "Each observant sentence in this gorgeous book is a gem," our reviewer, V. V. Ganeshananthan, wrote. THE UPSTARTS: Uber, Airbnb, and the Battle for the New Silicon Valley, by Brad Stone. (Back Bay/Little, Brown, $17.99.) Stone, of Bloomberg News, offers a balanced view of these companies' spectacular rise: On one side, the disruption ushered in a new era of freedom regarding the services people use; on the other, the start-ups' growth represents "the overweening hubris of the techno-elite." THE ROMANCE READER'S GUIDE TO LIFE, by Sharon Pywell. (Flatiron, $16.99.) The plot of a purloined novel, "The Pirate Lover," runs parallel to the lives of Neave and Lilly, two sisters in working-class Massachusetts. An unusual narrative device - Lilly's sections are told from beyond the grave - helps keep the story interesting, and Pywell clearly has fun riffing on the romance genre's tropes and overstuffed language. THE STORIED CITY: The Quest for Timbuktu and the Fantastic Mission to Save Its Past, by Charlie English. (Riverhead, $17.) Timbuktu, in Mali, had long been home to thousands of ancient African documents on everything from politics to science to religion. When A1 Qaeda arrived in 2012, intent on destroying anything that did not adhere to its vision of Islam, a heroic effort was started to move and save the manuscripts. English places this story of Timbuktu's libraries in the city's remarkable history. SYMPATHY, by Olivia Sudjic. (Mariner, $14.99.) After Alice Hare, a lonely and adrift 23-year-old, arrives in New York from London, she becomes infatuated via social media with Mizuko, a Japanese writer. As Alice's obsession intensifies, she attempts to force a friendship - to a devastating end. This debut novel deals with the particular heartbreak of unrequited affection and jilted friendship in the internet age. AMERICAN ORIGINALITY: Essays on Poetry, by Louise Glück. (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $16.) The author, a Pulitzer Prize winner and former poet laureate, assesses contemporary poetry in this brief volume, with an eye to broader questions of American identity. Our reviewer, Craig Morgan Teicher, praised the collection, writing, "In the guise of a poetry critic, Glück shows herself to be a kind of dark contemporary conscience."
Library Journal Review
Neave and her sister older Lilly grow up in Massachusetts in the years preceding World War II. While Lilly is charming, popular, and beautiful, Neave is temperamental and bookish, getting into fights with her mother and brother. Neave's only solace is the time spent reading to elderly Mrs. Daniels, and it is there that she discovers a love of romance novels, including one steamy tale entitled The Pirate Lover. During the war, Neave takes a job baking pies and Lilly works at a makeup counter. The postwar world finds the siblings launching a door-to-door cosmetics business. But just as their company is at its most successful, Lilly disappears and Neave starts receiving threatening messages. Both a coming-of-age tale and a romance, this genre-bending novel should appeal widely to readers of historical fiction who like strong female heroines as well as readers who enjoy a good love story. A thread of suspense weaves well with elements of the paranormal. Verdict The themes of women's rights, sisterhood, various kinds of love, and family duty are also lightly explored in Pywell's (My Other Mother: Everything After) entertaining novel.-Christina Thurairatnam, Holmes Cty. Dist. P.L., Millersburg, OH © Copyright 2017. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.