I'll Be Right Here
A Novel
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3.7 • 16 Ratings
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A sweeping, intimate novel about an unconventional and irresistible family, in prose “so finely wrought it shimmers” (Los Angeles Times)—from the New York Times bestselling author of In Love, White Houses, and Away
“Amy Bloom is at the height of her powers in this epic tale.”—J. Courtney Sullivan, author of The Cliffs
“Bloom approaches each of her characters with empathy, insight, and sensitivity. She remains acutely aware of the absurdities of life, its harrowing hardships, and its fragile, fleeting joys.”—The Boston Globe
Immigrating alone from Paris to New York after the crucible of World War II, young Gazala becomes friends with two spirited sisters, Anne and Alma. When Gazala’s lost, beloved brother, Samir, joins her in Manhattan, this contentious, inseparable foursome makes their way into the twenty-first century, becoming the beating heart of a multigenerational found family.
The passing years are marked by the business of everyday existence and the inevitable surprises of erupting passions, of great and small waves of joy and despair, from the beginning of life to its end. Gazala and Samir make a home together, Anne leaves her husband for his sister, and Anne’s restless daughter grows up to raise a child on her own and to join a throuple, becoming who she wants to be. Through it all, amid the tumult of these decades, the four friends and their best beloveds stand by one another, protecting, annoying, and celebrating themselves, steadfastly unapologetic about their desires and the unorthodox family they have created. As the next generation falls in and out of love, experiencing triumphs, mistakes and disappointments, the central pillars of their lives are the four indomitable elders they call the “Greats.”
In I’ll Be Right Here, Amy Bloom embraces the complexity and richness of humanity and the lawlessness of love, bringing her trademark voice, wry humor, and compassionate eye to the many, often mysterious ways we live as we love, and hope to be loved in return.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Bloom (White Houses) continues her exploration of what it means to be a family with this stimulating story of a Frenchwoman who builds a new life in the U.S. after WWII. In 1942, 17-year-old Gazala goes to work as a masseuse for the writer Colette. After the war, Colette helps Gazala immigrate to New York City, where she takes up her deceased father's trade as a baker and befriends two customers, sisters Anne and Alma Cohen, and regularly joins them for family dinners. Shortly thereafter, her adopted older brother, Samir, shows up out of the blue and the two become life partners and secret lovers. The Cohen sisters along with Anne's partner, Honey, form such a tight bond with Gazala and Samir that they think of each other as family and make plans to leave the city for Poughkeepsie, where Gazala and Samir eventually run a department store. Their makeshift family extends to include Anne's daughter and grandson and the granddaughter of their real estate agent, who comes to live with Gazala and Samir as a surrogate daughter. Though the story loses some steam after the siblings first arrive in America, Bloom rights the ship with her thoughtful and complex character development. It's a memorable portrait of a found family's fulfillment.
