The Imposter Bride by Nancy Richler

When a young, enigmatic woman arrives in post-war Montreal, it is immediately clear that she is not who she claims to be. Her attempt to live out her life as Lily Azerov shatters as she disappears, leaving a new husband and baby daughter, and a host of unanswered questions. Who is she really and what happened to the young woman whose identity she has stolen? Why has she left and where did she go? It is left to the daughter she abandoned to find the answers to these questions as she searches for the mother she may never find or really know.

This is one of those books that makes me wonder what the publishing companies are really thinking. I’ve read many self-published titles that are much, much better than this book, so what’s the deal?

The main problem is that the book is so dull. I kept hoping for it to pick up, for some of the pieces to click together, but it just droned on, as if the writer had to reach a particular word count. None of the characters leave any kind of mark in the reader; they are all superficially written and completely interchangeable. Apart from that, the plot is a convoluted mess that is never cleared up. There is so much left unanswered, as if the author just ran out of time and said “screw it, they’ll get it”. Well, no, we don’t get it. What about the stones that Ruth keeps getting? What is the symbolism of those? Why did her mother leave her, really? There is just a lot that we’re supposed to take on faith and it just doesn’t work.

This book needed a major overhaul, a complete rewrite so that the readers don’t fall asleep halfway through a chapter. I can’t recommend this one. There’s so many more interesting books out there; try something else.