Flores and Miss Paula
A Novel
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4.0 • 6 Ratings
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
A Recommended Book From:
The Washington Post * Today * Sunset Magazine * Country Living * Good Housekeeping
A wry, tender work of Hispanic American fiction about a Peruvian immigrant mother and a millennial daughter who have one final chance to find common ground.
Thirtysomething Flores and her mother, Paula, still live in the same Brooklyn apartment in this touching mother-daughter novel, but that may be the only thing they have in common. It’s been nearly three years since they lost beloved husband and father Martín, who had always been the bridge between them. One day, cleaning beneath his urn, Flores discovers a note written in her mother’s handwriting: Perdóname si te falle. Recuerda que siempre te quise. (“Forgive me if I failed you. Remember that I always loved you.”) But what would Paula need forgiveness for?
Now newfound doubts and old memories come flooding in, complicating each woman’s efforts to carve out a good life for herself—and to support the other in the same. Paula thinks Flores should spend her evenings meeting a future husband, not crunching numbers for a floundering aquarium startup. Flores wishes Paula would ask for a raise at her DollaBills retail job, or at least find a best friend who isn’t a married man.
When Flores and Paula learn they will be forced to move, they must finally confront the family secrets in their complicated past—and decide whether they share the same dreams for the future. Spirited and warm-hearted, Melissa Rivero’s new novel showcases the complexities of the mother-daughter bond with fresh insight and empathy.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
A Peruvian immigrant and her 30-something daughter struggle to get along while sharing a Brooklyn apartment in Rivero's heart-rending latest (after The Affairs of the Falcóns). At the outset, Flores discovers a cryptic note from her beloved late father Martin ("Forgive me, if I failed you") tucked beneath the wooden urn holding his ashes. She'd love to uncover the meaning of the note, but is preoccupied by her finance job at the Bowl, an app startup with revenue problems founded by a college friend. Meanwhile, Flores's mother, Paula, has just marked her two-year anniversary at the dollar store where she's worked since the death of her husband from cancer, and pines for Vicente, a married man and fellow Peruvian. Flores questions her mother's friendship with Vicente as much as Paula bemoans her daughter's long hours spent in the office, wishing Flores would devote herself to finding a husband. Before Paula works up to sharing the truth about Martin, Rivero mixes up a stew of drama. First, office politics draw Flores into unexpected predicaments at the Bowl, where she's caught between the managers' competing visions. Later, Paula falls and hurts her arm after unexpectedly encountering Vicente with his wife. It all hangs together nicely, setting the stage for a surprisingly moving conclusion. This is a treat.
Customer Reviews
Good writing
Beautiful language, family, love, death and resilience.
Instant favorite book
Flores and Miss Paula is an incredibly beautifully written novel that resonated with me more than I could ever imagine. As someone who similarly lost my father, this book explores the relationship that remains between a daughter and mother who were once bridged by the patriarch of the family that echoed within me on every page.
What I loved most about this book was how realistic and compelling the characters were. They stayed true to who they were yet allowed for growth as they both fought and navigated their own battles, similar yet so opposite. Flores and Paula are two strong women trying to rediscover who they, and I love the way that we are brought along for the messy, complicated, and often heartbreaking journey.