Review: One Kiss in Havana, Michelle Jackson

A thumbs up from the Irish Independant book review on Michelle Jackson's latest novel 'One Kiss in Havana'.  This book is a sure fire winner to pack in your bag for a holiday read.

Irish Independant, Saturday 10 July 2010

Review: One Kiss in Havana

Michelle Jackson

Michelle Jackson is back on the shelves with the latest in a successful series of novels based on a winning format -- a life-changing foreign holiday and the dramatic aftermath back in Dublin.

Previous locations were Biarritz and New York.  This time its Cuba's turn to come under her spell, in a tale featuring three sisters, Emma, Louise and Sophie.

Six months after husband Paul's sudden and puzzling death, Emma gets a surprise in the post -- tickets for a trip to Cuba, from her late husband.  But this is no PS I Love You.  She takes her youngest sister Sophie along, unaware that Sophie had been sleeping with Paul and that the trip was intended for himself and Sophie.

At the idyllic beach paradise of Varadero, Emma meets the gentle and gorgeous Felipe who takes her to the music-filled haunts of Havana, while Sophie meets Greg, a Canadian art dealer.  But they could be merely holiday romances.

Back in Dublin, Louise's marriage is floundering and when she meets an old flame, her world is turned upside-down.  By the time Sophie and Emma return home, their entire family is in turmoil.  Decisions need to be taken and it takes a huge crisis to change the family dynamics.

A former art teacher, Jackson's wonderfully evocative descriptions set her books aside from the rest, transporting readers down dusty streets in Havana and into Hemingway's house, making it a perfect holiday read.

She is currently writing her fourth novel, set in Las Vegas and her non-fiction collaboration with Dr Juilet Bressan, What Women Know, is due out in August.

Irish Independant

Book Review: A Reliable Wife

Book Review: The Reliable Wife

Country Businessman seeks Reliable Wife. Compelled by practical reasons. Reply by letter.

Rural Wisconsin, 1907. In the bitter cold Ralph Truitt stands alone on a train platform waiting for the woman who answered his newspaper advertisement. But when Catherine steps of the train she's not the 'simple honest' woman Ralph is expecting. For she is motivated by greed. But what Catherine has not counted on is that Ralph might have plans of his own for his new wife...

Two of us bookshop ladies (and we're using the term 'ladies' loosely!) have read this and we both really liked it. It's probably not the ideal book to read in sunny weather as it's set in coldest, darkest Wisconsin in the depths of Winter but, as Siobhan quite cleverly points out to me, that makes the lust in the book seem much warmer, and boy is it lusty! It's beautifully written, very atmospheric, slowly and considerately developed, quite poetic at times even.

It is a make-up, in a way, of the seven deadly sins, exhibited by both the main characters, whom you may believe at first are quite clearly delineated in their 'goodness' or badness' but very soon you realise nothing or no one is as simple is that. Rather it's a tangled web of lust, vanity, greed and deceit and depicts how ambition, motivation and desire can lead a person astray.

It's a tale of lonlieness and love, but not traditional love as you expect in movies and literature, more a gothic, wicked and tense love affair that, in many ways, is more real, than what we're accustomed to.

This book deserves it's place on the shelf of American Literature.