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Title details for A Question Mark Is Half a Heart by Sofia Lundberg - Wait list

A Question Mark Is Half a Heart

by Sofia Lundberg
Joan Walker
Audiobook
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How deeply can you love when your heart is full of secrets?

A sweeping, propulsive family story about a woman learning to love, from the bustle of New York's fashion scene to a remote, windswept Swedish island, by the acclaimed author of The Red Address Book—"a love letter to the human heart" (Alyson Richman).
By age 50, Elin Boals has created for herself a perfect life: her wildly successful business as Manhattan's preeminent fashion photographer is flourishing. Her handsome, patient husband is devoted to her; her teenaged daughter, Alice, has been accepted to the ballet academy of her dreams. But then Elin receives an innocuous looking envelope. Folded inside is a star-chart, with an address written by a familiar hand.
Shaken, Elin begins to have startling flashbacks, to a life very different from the childhood in a Paris bookstore that she has so lovingly recounted to Alice. In these images, a poverty-stricken little girl cares for her two ragged baby brothers, laughing with her family on the good days, sheltering them from her mother's sadness and her father's wrath on the bad days. Elin also remembers vivid walks with a young classmate, Fredrik, whose steadfast friendship and starlit confidences shaped her young life. As Elin becomes consumed by these memories, though, her New York life begins to crumble dramatically. Finally, her family's troubling questions drive her to face, at last, the brutal secret from her past.
At once a heartwarming family story and a page-turning mystery, A Question Mark Is Half a Heart traces a surprising journey across continents to reconciliation, and toward finding a true sense of home.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    March 23, 2021

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9780358450429
      • File size: 279328 KB
      • Duration: 09:41:55

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      January 18, 2021
      In this tense outing, Lundberg (The Red Address Book) follows photographer Elin as she attempts to come to grips with the course of her life. Elin, her husband Sam, and her teenage daughter, Alice, live in luxury in Manhattan, but Elin’s childhood in Sweden, where her family often didn’t have enough money for milk, was a different story. Now, Elin is unsatisfied in her career, faces trouble with her marriage because Sam feels shut out by her, and is disconnected from her daughter. After receiving a star chart and a mysterious note in Swedish reading “On this day, a star was named Elin,” Elin eventually determines the missive came from Fredrik, a friend from school. As the novel continues, Lundberg gradually reveals the complexity of Elin and Fredrik’s bond and the entwined relationship of their families, as they become stepsiblings, and Elin’s mysterious Google search for “Statute of limitations homicide Sweden” takes on startling connotation after a surprise plot twist. The author succeeds at painting a picture of Elin and Fredrik’s intersecting families, as Elin grapples with the decisions she made for self-preservation. Readers will soak up the suspense as they search for the truth alongside Elin up until the end.

    • AudioFile Magazine
      At age 50, Elin is a famed photographer with a seemingly idyllic life. Few people know she grew up painfully poor in Sweden. Narrator Joan Walker masterfully portrays Elin's struggles with her identity; listeners quickly become accustomed to Walker's delivery of busy Elin's hurried and strained tones. When a letter from a childhood friend arrives, it sends Elin into a downward spiral of dark memories and long-buried secrets, which are revealed in frequent flashbacks. In the current day, Elin's teenage daughter sets aside her own frustrations to show her mother love and patience, which are reflected in Walker's soft, encouraging tone. A mystery builds, and a family repairs itself. The result is a heartfelt story enhanced by Walker's compelling narration. A.L.C. © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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