Tree Of Pearls

Cover

Title Tree Of Pearls

Author Louisa Young

ISBN 0-00-226169-3

Publisher Flamingo

Category Fiction

Shira's Rating

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What It's About

This book is fiction, the third in a 3-part series. (The first two were Baby Love and Desiring Cairo, in that order.) The characters introduced in the first two books are back, moving forward with their intertwined fates. This one has the feel of being a finalé--it ties up many plot lines that the previous two books left open.

In the first book of the series, Baby Love, a former belly dancer named Angeline becomes entangled with a criminal named Eddie Bates when she enlists the help of a corrupt cop in avoiding a scandal that could threaten her ability to retain custody of her late sister's child. In Desiring Cairo, Angeline gets a new man in her life, runs off to Egypt to collect some money that was willed to her, and confronts the stresses that diverse cultural backgrounds can put on a relationship. In Tree Of Pearls, Angeline returns to Egypt. She finally puts to rest the ghosts of her past and reaches closure on the problems she was having with her love life.

Tree of Pearls does have quick explanations of what occurred in the first two books for the benefit of readers who missed them. However, I wouldn't recommend reading Tree Of Pearls until after you've finished Baby Love and Desiring Cairo, in that order--it would be much more satisfying to get to know the characters and discover the plot twists in the order the author intended.

I'd probably give this book only 3 stars on the merits of the story alone -- it was entertaining to read, but not the kind that will stay with me for a long time. However, I gave it a fourth star because its portrayal of Egypt offers some useful cultural insights for people who are just getting acquainted with the Middle East. If you already know a lot about Egypt, this book probably won't offer you anything new. But if you're just discovering it, this book provides a lot of good background information.

Its Good Points

The book was definitely entertaining. It had many of the elements of appealing fiction: an exotic locale (Egypt), a sassy style of narrative, a dash of danger, and some romance. The characters were developed well enough to make me care what happened to them. I had fun reading it.

The book makes many references to Middle Eastern culture which may appeal to readers who enjoy learning about that part of the world. For example, it takes place in Egypt during Ramadan (the sacred month of fasting for Muslims), and makes many accurate references to how Ramadan is observed.

The book ended with a comfortable sense of feeling like the story had reached its natural conclusion. The various plot lines opened by the earlier books were reasonably well resolved by the end of Tree Of Pearls.

On The Negative Side....

As with the earlier two books, the references to Middle Eastern culture didn't always fit seamlessly into the story. However, in Tree Of Pearls the author was definitely more skillful than she had been in the earlier two. They didn't jar me out of the flow of the plot as abruptly as the ones in the first two books did.

In Conclusion

Read Baby Love and Desiring Cairo first. If you enjoy both of those, then you'll want to read Tree Of Pearls to find out what happens to all the characters.

If you didn't care for Baby Love or Desiring Cairo, I expect you won't enjoy Tree Of Pearls either. It's written in the same style, and explores the further adventures of the same characters.