Dreaming in English: A Novel

Fitzgerald, Laura

ISBN 10: 1441839577 ISBN 13: 9781441839572

Publisher: Brilliance Audio, 2011

Synopsis

Knowing she could never be happy in Iran, Tamila Soroush took her mother’s advice to “Go and wake up your luck” and joined her sister in the United States, where amazing freedoms awaited her. Now, after a spur-of-the-moment exchange of “I do’s” with her true love, Ike Hanson, Tami is eager to start her new life. But not everyone is pleased with their marriage, and Tami’s happily-ever-after is no sure thing. As tensions escalate, Tami’s sense of self-worth takes a beating, especially when her earlier attempts to find a husband on a visitor’s visa return to haunt her. And there are her parents, stuck behind in a country that betrayed them. How can she be happy when they are not? Tami is beginning to understand that freedom is not for the faint of heart. With so much stacked against her, and her immigration interview looming, she wonders whether she’s got the right stuff when it comes to love, American-style. Maybe her luck is running out...or maybe she’ll step up to the plate and claim her American dream.

About this title

About the Author

A native of Wisconsin, Laura Fitzgerald lives in Arizona with her husband, who is of Iranian descent, and their two children. Her favorite part of being an author is interacting with readers and attending book clubs by phone and in person.

From Publishers Weekly

In this sequel to the successful Veil of Roses, Fitzgerald uses her previous fairy tale ending as the jumping-off point for an easy, mildly dramatic continuation. Tamila Soroush, a 27-year-old Iranian woman whose last-minute Vegas wedding to American darling Ike Hanson saved her from a life in Iran, returns to Tucson, Ariz., to a mother-in-law villain who so disapproves of the union that she threatens deportation. As Tami struggles with the lingering effects of growing up in Iran, she learns to fight for her dreams in an immigrant's pleasantly idealized America (the U.S. government, another villain, being the exception). While the book is predictable, somewhat clichéd, and occasionally unfocused, Fitzgerald's immensely likable narrator deflects criticism. Her story is nice to the core, despite all the conflict, and the uneasy suspicion that something patronizing lies behind the cheerful naïveté eventually dissolves like cotton candy. While Ike is cast as an American ideal, he's too entitled to garner much sympathy; instead, Tami carries that torch, acting as a touching embodiment of hope and a timely reminder that the American dream is still relevant. (Feb.)
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About this edition

• Publisher: Brilliance Audio
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 1441839577
• ISBN 13: 9781441839572
• Binding: Audio CD