GSMC Book Review Podcast Blog: The Sisters of Alameda Street by Lorena Hughes

On today's episode of the podcast I chat with Lorena Hughes, author of The Sisters of Alameda Street. Lorena grew up in Ecuador before moving to the US for college, and this book, which is her debut novel, is set in Ecuador in the 1960s, with flashbacks to the 1930s and 1940s.

Source

When Malena’s tidy, carefully planned world collapses with her father’s mysterious suicide, she finds a letter, signed with an “A,” which reveals that her mother is very much alive in San Isidro—a quaint town tucked in the Andes Mountains. Intent on meeting her, Malena arrives at Alameda Street and meets four unconventional women who couldn’t be more different from one another, but who share one thing in common: all of their names begin with an A.

To avoid a scandal, Malena assumes another woman’s identity and enters their home to discover the truth. Could her mother be Amanda, the iconoclastic widow who opens the first tango nightclub in a conservative town? Ana, the ideal housewife with a less-than-ideal past? Abigail, the sickly sister in love with a forbidden man? Or Alejandra, the artistic introvert scarred by her cousin’s murder? But living a lie will bring Malena additional problems, such as falling for the wrong man and loving a family she may lose when they learn of her deceit. Worse, her arrival threatens to expose long-buried secrets and a truth that may wreck her life forever.

Set in 1960s Ecuador, The Sisters of Alameda Street is a sweeping story of how one woman’s search for the truth of her identity forces a family to confront their own past. (Source)

The relationships in this book are complex and human. This is a family that houses a lot of secrets and as the outsider Malena is in a unique position to view them as individuals and a unit. As she begins to understand them she begins to learn why her mother might have given her up and why her father and grandmother lied to her about it for her whole life.

The one thing Malena does know: Mama Bianca is her grandmother, and she embraces her as such from the moment of meeting her. She also has cousins in Claudia and Javier, but could they actually be her siblings? The mystery might be simpler if Malena just asks the sisters outright, but she quickly realizes that this could very easily cause more problems that it would solve.

Genres:

• Historical Fiction

• Women's Literature

What I loved:

• The evolution of Malena as she finds out more and more about her birth family and begins to uncover truths about herself.

• The way the lives of the sisters slowly unfold as the book goes on, revealing more about what has shaped their decisions and where they are now.

• The fashion is amazing (just look at that beautiful cover! (plus, I have a not-so-secret love of crinolines)).

• Reading about a country I'm not terribly familiar with.

Who should read The Sisters of Alameda Street:

• Fans of historical fiction.

• Fans of family sagas with complex characters and relationships.

• Fans women's literature

Memorable quotes:

• "What in the name of everything holy was this? Her mother had died in childbirth! At least that was what both her father and her grandmother has said. And as far as she knew, dead people didn't go around writing letters!"

• "Malena couldn't pinpoint what it was that she loved about dancing. All she knew was that for a moment, she had forgotten all her worries, she'd felt more alive than ever, and she didn't want it to end--even if her feet felt the opposite way."

Where you can find Lorena online:

Website: http://www.lorena-hughes.com/

Twitter: @SisterLorena
Facebook: @LorenaHughesAuthor