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|title=The Gallery of Vanished Husbands
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Juliet Montague is a brilliant creation. I understood this woman who scrimped to buy a fridge - it's ''so'' what I would have done - but I felt a stab of pain when she ''wasted'' the money on a portrait of herself by an unknown artist. Ten pages into a book - and Solomons had created a character who was capable of causing me pain, who had engaged my sympathies and then squandered them. Then came that subtle change - the knowledge that self-sacrifice for the general benefit isn't always the right course and that what matters most is being true to yourself.
But Juliet is just one of many brilliant creations. I loved her younger child, Leonard, almost squeezed into a mould by his mother - despite the fact that she refused to suffer the same treatment herself - but who struck out to make his own way. Or there's Juliet's mother, Mrs Greene, loving her daughter but distraught at the treatment meted out to ''her'' because of her daughter's actions - and her father, frequently caught between mother and daughter. On the art scene, Juliet is drawn to Max Langford, reclusive former war artist whose war is still continuing in his mind. It's an elegant picture of a relationship, where the balance waivers and is difficult to define, but is still so right.
I sighed when I finished the book, not because I wanted more - it was perfect as it was - but I would have loved the ''reading'' to have gone on for much longer. I'd like to thank the publishers for sending a copy to the Bookbag.
As I thought about the story my mind occasionally drifted to another book - [[The Friday Gospels by Jenn Ashworth]]. Both are written with the background of a religion and with the knowledge that the religion might not be perfect, but there's affection and respect. If I had to pick two books to take on a trip from those published this year these are the two that I'd choose - even having read them both. Why would I risk taking something which wouldn't give me as much pleasure? Solomons also writes as N E Solomons - we enjoyed [[The Bone Road by N E Solomons|The Bone Road]].
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