Gossip by Beth Gutcheon - A Review

 

Gossip
By Beth Gutcheon
Published by William Morrow
Hardcover: 288 pages

Description
The critically acclaimed author of Good-bye and Amen, Leeway Cottage, and More Than You Know returns with a sharply perceptive and emotionally resonant novel about the power of knowledge, the consequences of rumor, and the unexpected price of friendship.

Loviah "Lovie" French owns a small, high-end dress shop on Manhattan's Upper East Side. Renowned for her taste, charm, and discretion, Lovie is the one to whom certain women turn when they need "just the thing" for key life events: baptisms and balls, weddings and funerals. Among those who depend on Lovie's sage advice are her two best friends since boarding school days: Dinah Wainwright and Avis Metcalf. Despite the love they share for their mutual friend, there has always been a chilly gulf between Dinah and Avis, the result of a perceived slight from decades ago that has unimaginably tragic echoes many years later. 

An astute chronicler of all that makes us human, Beth Gutcheon delivers her most powerful and emotionally devastating novel to date. Gossip is a tale of intimacy and betrayal, trust and fidelity, friendship and motherhood that explores the way we use "information" -- be it true, false, or imagined -- to sustain, and occasionally destroy, one another.

The 411 by Sonia:
Let me introduce you to another one of my friends, meet Sonia who is a mother of three children and a friend of mine. Because Maria's Space book reviews has taken a back seat over the last few months due to my business, some good friends are helping me provide my readers with book reviews until I can jump back in.

Here is Sonia's very first book review:
 

When I first got this book I was a little weary usually not my kind of read but I am so glad I decided to read it. 

I don't want  to give too much of the book away with too many spoilers so here is my non-spoil review:

Loviah was my favorite character she's not as well off as the other girls but got in to a high society boarding school on a scholarship and befriends two girls from different walks of life Dinah and Avis. Dinah and Avis can't stand each other but remain friends for the sake of  Loviah who loves them both dearly. 

After graduation Loviah moves on to open her own dress shop and has an affair with a married man.Dinah becomes a gossip columnist/author, and Avis a high end art dealer. All are living on the upper east side of Manhattan. 

It was a good story told through the eyes of  Loviah although I kept finding myself a little confused at times because the book goes from past to present/present to past often, I had to keep skipping back and forth to get the stories of the characters straight but when I did, it was worth it.

The writer does a wonderful job of creating characters and lives that were very real.  At times I felt like I was a part of them and couldn't wait to find out what happens next.  As in reality, even those living the high society lifestyle get a dose of reality at times.

The ending of the book was such a shocker and a worthwhile surprise for the reader. .To me the book showed no matter where you come from, we all have our secrets and problems.  We all can relate to the characters in the story within our everyday lives with different people we come across and within our own personal relationships. This book is really good a must read not at all like I thought it would be.

Author Bio
Beth Gutcheon, author of Gossip, is the critically acclaimed author of eight previous novels: The New Girls, Still Missing, Domestic Pleasures, Saying Grace, Five Fortunes, More Than You Know, Leeway Cottage and Good-bye and Amen. She is the writer of several film scripts, including the Academy Award nominee The Children of Theatre Street. She lives in New York City.

For more information please visit http://www.bethgutcheon.com and follow the author on Facebook