The Sisters of Alameda Street
Ratings1
Average rating4
15
Ratings1
Average rating4
A generational saga that mixes historical fiction with the romance and intrigue of a Latin soap opera. When Malena Sevilla's tidy, carefully planned world collapses following her father’s mysterious suicide, she finds a letter—signed with an “A”—which reveals that her mother is very much alive and living in San Isidro, a quaint town tucked in the Andes Mountains. Intent on meeting her, Malena arrives at Alameda Street and meets four sisters who couldn’t be more different from one another, but who share one thing in common: all of their names begin with an A. To avoid a scandal, Malena assumes another woman’s identity and enters their home to discover the truth. Could her mother be Amanda, the iconoclastic widow who opens the first tango nightclub in a conservative town? Ana, the ideal housewife with a less-than-ideal past? Abigail, the sickly sister in love with a forbidden man? Or Alejandra, the artistic introvert scarred by her cousin’s murder? But living a lie will bring Malena additional problems, such as falling for the wrong man and loving a family she may lose when they learn of her deceit. Worse, her arrival threatens to expose long-buried secrets and a truth that may wreck her life forever. Set in 1960s Ecuador, The Sisters of Alameda Street is a sweeping story of how one woman’s search for the truth of her identity forces a family to confront their own past.
Reviews with the most likes.
Contrived and convoluted. Hughes clearly had this story all planned out in her head; and if obstacles arose, such as inverosimilitude, the story just plowed right through them. Because otherwise the story wouldn't work. Douglas Adams, creator of the Infinite Improbability Drive, might've raised an eyebrow over some of the liberties taken with the laws of serendipity.
Funny thing, though: it hooked me. Despite the drama and the increasingly improbable twists, despite not being able to keep half the characters straight, I kept reading. Enjoying, too. Is this what soap operas are like? Secrets and lies and intrigue, infatuation mistaken for love, suffering silently for the sake of appearances? Loss, misunderstandings, regret? Thank goodness there's none of that in real life.
Strong, interesting female characters. Shallow, toxic, and sadly too believable male ones. Tragedy. Drama and suspense. Stylistically on the simple side, but the writer shows promise.
