Latest Holeman Novel Unlikely to Match Her Earlier Successes

Summary

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We begin to forgive the good doctor for turning tail. Going for coffee with Sidonie O'[Shea] would be a dour and tedious affair, so why have we followed her to Marrakech?

There are moments, once the narrative has moved to Marrakech, when the story becomes more colourful and entertaining. But still, the adversities are too easily overcome, the twists too overtly set up and [Sidonie]'s understanding of herself and others far too superficial.

Also, it takes much too long to get to Marrakech. By Page 167, still stuck in the dreary gray of Albany, New York, Sidonie confesses to feeling "as if I were a character in a novel, a book I had put aside, half read, because that character held little interest for me."

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Extract

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Latest Holeman Novel Unlikely to Match Her Earlier Successes

The Saffron Gate

By Linda Holeman

Headline Publishing Group, 433 pages, $25

SIDONIE O'Shea is a shy recluse with a tragic past. Stuck in a boring Albany, N.Y....

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