When I started The Search Angel, I knew this was going
to be a book I could not put down. The prologue is an emotional tsunami, and
chapter one hits the ground running.
The central character is
named Eleanor Sweet. She owns Boston’s best baby shop, but is unable to have a
baby of her own. Although we enter the story after the Sweets have been
approved for an adoption, it quickly becomes clear that this situation has put a
strain on her marriage. The tone quickly turns from joy to frayed nerves and
remains that way until the heart-warming end.
After her husband walks
out, Eleanor makes the decision to adopt by herself. If that wasn’t enough
stress, she must also deal with her new and very loud neighbour, a nearly useless
shop assistant, and a depressed dog (he misses Eleanor’s feckless husband). This
is a story with multiple layers and that is what makes it artful and enjoyable.
Eleanor, adopted
herself, finally decides to search out her birth mother. In doing so, she meets
Isabelle, a search angel.
As we follow Eleanor
through this major upheaval in her life, she learns things she never wanted to
know about herself. Her personality, quirks and emotions are all on display. She’s
mercurial and disheveled, almost a child herself.
Tish Cohen’s greatest
success here is in creating Eleanor. You will want to laugh with her, cry with
her and rage with her. This is no perfectly put-together heroine. She’s flawed
and you’ll love her for it.
*
Tish Cohen is also the author of two young adult books: Switch and The One and Only Zoe Lama, and of
Town House. A finalist for the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize Best First
Book Award (Canada and Caribbean region) in 2008, Town House is currently in development as a feature film
with Fox 2000.
Quick Brown Fox welcomes book
reviews and other book related pieces. Quick Brown Fox also welcomes reviews of
plays, movies, restaurants or anything else you get up to. Right now, I’d
especially love a review of The Purchase by Linda Spalding. If you have questions or a review to submit,
email me at brianhenry@sympatico.ca
Michelle Warner lives and works in Toronto.
She spends a lot of her time with her nose buried in a book. She has always
liked a good story and is working on improving her creative writing skills. In
the past, she has contributed food reviews to an online magazine and continues
to blog irregularly about everything and anything here.
See Brian Henry's schedule here, including
writing workshops and creative writing courses in Kingston, Peterborough,
Toronto, Mississauga, Brampton, Bolton, Caledon, Georgetown, Milton,
Oakville, Burlington, St. Catharines, Hamilton, Dundas, Kitchener, Guelph,
London, Woodstock, Orangeville, Newmarket, Barrie, Orillia, Sudbury,
Muskoka, Peel, Halton, the GTA, Ontario and beyond.
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