genre: adult fiction
By the time Madame Burova - Imelda - is ready to retire from her life of reading palms and telling her clients the stories she sees in her tarot cards, she feels the weight of the secrets she's kept. She knows it is time to let some of them go - fully aware of the ripples such a move will cause. As she's grown in the seaside town of Brighton, Imelda has watched people come and go from her booth on the pier and while most people flit in an out, those that stay will make a lasting impression, so much so that a few of them will change her stars.
Billie middle-aged and floundering in the wake of her father's death, gets the kind of news that upends everything and leads her from her London world to a pier in Brighton where, while unlikely, the answers she needs just might be waiting.
Told in two time periods, Imelda's and Billie's lives are intricately linked both both choice and providence. The 1970s storyline of Imelda's youth delves into some tricky issues with compassion and while the modern storyline requires just a LOT of suspending my disbelief with all the amazing coincidences, there is a coziness here that worked for me. It's a make-your-own-family kind of story, with the special kind of vibe that exists at a touristy seaside town, but with a backstage look as we spend our time with the locals and seasonal staff. It didn't require much of my brain and left me feeling good, even if I had a hard time believing it all. I liked it.
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