Tangerine, the debut novel written by British author Christine Mangan, won’t be published until the end of March, but reserve it at your library right now and get a jump on the other people who haven’t heard about it yet. Considerable industry buzz is building including the fact that the book has been optioned by George Clooney’s Smokehouse Pictures. There is a little bit of Casablanca, a touch of Alfred Hitchcock and a dash of Patricia Highsmith all rolled up into an engaging, page turning story. The cover evokes the time period and location perfectly-who wouldn’t want to pick it up and read it?
Two women, both loners, met at Bennington College in the early 1950s, and, for a large part of their college days, they were inseparable best friends until a terrible incident destroyed their friendship. They come together again in Tangiers in 1956, where, Alice, a British citizen, has moved with her ne’er do well husband and seems quite unhappy spending every day hidden away inside their apartment. Lucy unexpectedly shows up at her door ready to repair her relationship with her former college roommate. In Tangiers, this strangely exotic city filled with medinas, souks, hidden cafes, alleyways and meandering streets, not only is the heat humid and oppressive but so is the tension between the two women.
Amidst the changing political climate and coming danger from potential rioting mobs, this hypnotic book will keep you turning the pages as the former friends’ tangled and tragic relationship unfolds. Just as Tangiers evokes words such as mesmerizing, enticing, and captivating, these same words can be used to describe the plot, the book and the women in it. The story unfolds with deceit, betrayals and lies in one of the most mysterious cities in the world, a city that has been reborn again and again throughout history. Will the women’s relationship be reborn as well?
For another glimpse at a dysfunctional female friendship, read this blog post about The Other Typist by Suzanne Rindell, a book set in New York in the Roaring 20’s. /a-well-told-story-with-an-unexpected-ending/
