![]() ![]() Through Henri and Louise, the text offers insights about gender and colonization that are as relevant now as they ever were. The world that Henri and Louise inhabit is, at times, heartbreaking, but it is never bleak thanks to the beauty of the language. Even minor characters are imbued with surprising depth, making for memorable, and often humorous, interactions throughout. The novel is a smart riff on a familiar genre, with complex protagonists and a cliché-defying love story. Mangan’s prose is evocative and specific-she brings midcentury Europe to life through sensory descriptions that conjure the sights, smells, and tastes of each iconic city. Although they try to resist it, an attraction emerges between Henri and Louise that is at once organic and bittersweet, informed by their shared pain and respective cultural baggage. ![]() The book is front-loaded with too much backstory, but a patient reader will quickly be rewarded by an unconventional heist narrative that is equal parts moving and thrilling. Alternating chapters weave together their final train ride (from Belgrade to Istanbul) with their individual histories and the two-week journey that has brought them to this critical point. As the narrative unfolds and an unlikely bond forms between the thief and the enforcer, the reader learns about both their pasts-including crimes, secrets, and private shames. When she steals the money that Henri is supposed to protect, the two end up in a cat-and-mouse chase across continental Europe-from Granada to Istanbul, with stops in Paris and Belgrade. Louise is running, too-from a shadowy past in London and the chains of gendered expectations. Henri is a former gendarme living in exile from his homeland of Algeria. Henri and Louise fatefully cross paths one morning at the Alhambra in Granada, Spain. A thrilling chase through 1960s Europe with an emotional core and gorgeous prose. ![]()
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