The Imposter Bride
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3.8 • 191 Ratings
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
A NATIONAL BESTSELLER
SHORTLISTED FOR THE SCOTIABANK GILLER PRIZE
A young, enigmatic woman Lily Azerov arrives in post-war Montreal expecting to meet her betrothed, Sol Kramer.
When Sol sees Lily at the train station, however, he turns her
down. His brother, Nathan, sees Lily and instantly decides to
marry her.
But Lily is not who she claims to be, and her attempt to live a quiet life as Nathan Kramer’s wife shatters when she disappears, leaving her baby daughter with only a diary, an uncut diamond and a need to discover the truth.
Who is Lily and what happened to the young woman whose identity she stole? Why did she leave and where did she go? It is up to the daughter Lily abandoned to find the answers to these questions as she searches for the mother she may never find or truly know.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Richler's third novel explores emotional devastation that lasts generations, delivering a powerful punch. In post-WWII Montreal, Canada, Lily Kramer, a young refugee, marries Nathan, the brother of the man with whom she had corresponded and who, after catching his first glimpse of his bride-to-be, refused to marry her. But Lily is no saint herself, and not who she portrays herself to be. Told in alternating chapters, Lily's life after marrying Nathan is juxtaposed with the life of her daughter, Ruth, abandoned soon after she was born. Two notebooks and a mysterious diamond are all that remain for Ruth of her mother, along with a need to know the truth ("Could a person really lose her very sense of self because the world that formed and reflected that self back to her was destroyed?"). Richler whose previous novel, Your Mouth Is Lovely, won the 2003 Canadian Jewish Book Award perfectly captures Lily's heartbreak and the secrets that she keeps. Chapter by chapter the wrenching secrets of the Kramer family peel away, until finally what Lily has hidden is revealed. Once the truth comes, it is heartbreaking.
Customer Reviews
The Imposter Bride
Read it for Book club and found it lacking in character development and depth.