Lulu, an acclaimed and talented opera singer, is a new mother with a secret: the father of her baby daughter is not her dependable husband, John, but a rich and mysterious opera lover who hired her to perform at his birthday party in the desert. Lulu senses that she is carrying on a family curse begun in the Polish countryside by her great-grandmother Greta, who, according to the tales of Lulu's beloved grandmother Ada, made a Faustian pact with the devil after delivering five stillborn girls. Lulu is pulled between the magic and mystery of Ada's family histories and her mother, Sara's, dismissal of the tales, in favor of cold facts. Ada's mythical stories make Lulu feel special and chosen for greatness and form the backdrop of her childhood in Chicago, especially after Sara, an alcoholic jazz singer, abandons the family. It was Greta's magic that "set our family line in motion: women who came from women, women who came with music."
VERDICT A lyrical and poetic debut about the strength of storytelling and mother-daughter love that will appeal to fans of magic realism. [See Prepub Alert, 2/9/15.]
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