Banishing Verona

Having just finished "The House on Fortune Street" I wanted to provide a brief review of Margot Livesey's "Banishing Verona," which absorbed me during the winter of 2004. At the time, my son was living in London on a semester abroad, and we live in the Boston area, so the dual locales of the story were an immediate draw. As she did so skillfully in "Criminials" and "The Missing World", Ms. Livesey deftly draws us into the inner thoughts and often peculiar motives of her characters, and creates pitch-perfect sense of place no matter where her story takes us - Scotland, London, Boston. Her narratives are filled with suspense because they are so remarkably plausible - bizarre situations and often disastrous decisions which would border on show more the absurd were her characters not so accessible to us. She leads us through a complex and fascinating labrynth with Zeke, Verona, their friends and family, and to a thoroughly satisfying conclusion which ties all threads together. The publication of Ms. Livesey's newest work will undoubtedly create a bump of interest in her backlist - I'm sure those who are just discovering her through House on Fortune Street will be delighted to follow up with Banishing Verona, where she's at the top of her game. show less

Had I not enjoyed this author's previous books I doubt I'd have bothered with this one as the description makes it out to be a light, romantic piece of chick-lit. It does have romantic themes but romance is only a small part of the story.

While I enjoyed the book I was a bit distracted by several points in the narrative:

- A character who has gone through chemotherapy refers to a tattoo as part of their treatment. To the best of my knowledge, it's radiotherapy that requires the addition of a tattoo to the treatment site.

- By 2004 I'm fairly sure it was not permitted to bring bottles of water through airport security.

- The female character, who is pregnant, has left her home in a hurry in fear for her life yet she for some reason thinks to show more find and pack condoms.

- This female character then ends up in bed with the male character and manages to find the condoms she has packed, yet on two later pages we are given a description of the sheets' appearance which shouldn't be possible under the circumstances.

Those points aside, it's a good read. show less

My friend Kristi gave me this book, pointing out that it is about two of our favorite cities, London and Boston. Indeed, the book takes place in both locations and I enjoyed traveling through the geography of both, and spotting familiar places along the way.

The story is interesting enough, but the constant distance between the two main characters (which I think is meant to be the hook for this book) became tiresome to me as the chapters wore on.

Verona, a 7-months pregnant radio talkshow host has a one-night tryst with Zeke, a handsome house painter, who struggles with social situations due to Asperger's syndrome (a mild form of autism). They meet under highly unlikely circumstances and fall in love. Then Verona disappears. The rest of show more the novel involves the two lovers trying to get back together.

In fact, Zeke and Verona only appear together in 3 or four scenes. This is an interesting concept, but, in the end not as compelling as I would have hoped. I never felt enthralled by the story or the characters.

An okay book, but not a great one. (Sorry, Geekface. Didn't love it.) show less

Lovely and twisty tale of a man who can't remember faces goes looking for a woman who doesn't want to be found, because though he can't remember what she looks like and he did get her name, he loves her. Very sweet.

Liked this story a lot. I had real empathy for the male main character, Zeke. Verona was also a very interesting character. Their finding each other, seemed very poignant.

Scary, funny plots, some of the creepiest villains in recent memory, and language both gorgeous and tart.
—Erin McGraw, Raleigh News & Observer