Dana Sachs - The Secret of the Nightingale Palace

Struggling to move on after her husband's death, thirty-five-year-old Anna receives an unexpected phone call from her estranged grandmother, Goldie, summoning her to New York. A demanding woman with a sharp tongue and a devotion to fashion and etiquette, Goldie has not softened in the five years since she and her granddaughter last spoke. Now she wants Anna to drive her to San Francisco to return a collection of exquisite Japanese art to a long-lost friend.
Hours of sitting behind the wheel of Goldie's Rolls-Royce soften Anna's attitude toward her grandmother, and as the miles pass, old hurts begin to heal. Yet no matter how close they become, Goldie harbors painful secrets about her youthful days in 1940s San Francisco that she cannot share. But if she truly wants to help her granddaughter find happiness again, she must eventually confront the truths of her life.
Moving back and forth across time and told in the voices of both Anna and Goldie, The Secret of the Nightingale Palace is a searing portrait of family, betrayal, sacrifice, and forgiveness—and a testament to the enduring power of love.

Comment: The blurb of this book intrigued me and since I have read other books with similar premises and with dual timed plots, I figured this would be something I'd like. Well, I liked some things in the story but not as much as I hoped for.

Anna hasn't gotten along with her grandmother Goldie for some years, but she suddenly receives a phone call for help, and convinced by her sister Sadie, Anna decides to accept. Her grandmother has some art she wants to return to their rightful owner and she wants to use her old Rolls Royce car, which Anna can sell after their journey, if she wants. Thus, Anna and Goldie will drive from New York to San Francisco, where they will return the art and then Goldie is going on a cruise for Dubai. The issue is that Anna is still going through the loss of her husband and she is still dealing with several things related to that,mainly that the very end wasn't a good goodbye for them. At the same time, Goldie reminiscences on her youth and shares some things with Anna, but is a road trip enough time to heal past wounds? 

This book is divided into five sections, the first one happens in the present time, focused on Anna, then we have a second part set in the past focused on Goldie, the third goes back to Anna, the forth is Goldie and the final one Anna again. This way we get to follow the two of them in their journey and the middle sections are setting to explain Goldie and some of her attitude and personality.

This is the first book I try by the author but I can safely say mrs Sachs is very competent in her writing style, she writes well, in a fluid way and it was very easy to go through the story because I assume from only this example that the author's style isn't one for unnecessary elements, such as heavy descriptions or flowery wording. However, I ended up thinking this story was simply competent and average anyway because despite the certain talent and unique style, the writing is also bland and lacks emotion.

Of course, this is only my opinion and since finishing the book, as I often like to do, I've checked several reviews where readers had other POVs, but I still didn't change my mind. It felt as if things were being told in a very formal and detached manner, which is fine, and I saw the author also writes non-fiction, so perhaps this is more a mix of her style in different genres, but to me something was missing and I didn't really connect emotionally with the character nor with the supposed heavy issues they went through.

Anna is an interesting character, she lost her husband to leukemia and she is still mourning. However, her mourning is more for the person and the loss of what could have been rather than the memories or the emotions lost. The fact is that by the end of his disease, they weren't getting along and Anna had realized they fell out of love at some point. Her grandmother had also been displeased she had married a man from Memphis instead of choosing someone from a more cosmopolitan place, and along with other situations, everything now makes Anna feel rather guilty she isn't sadder.

While on the road trip, she and Goldie seem to go the usual stages of dealing with their problems and sharing such a close space forces them to talk, perhaps more than if they weren't together. To be fair, the road trip is clearly a metaphor for the development of their healing relationship but I would still say I failed to see this. I certainly didn't connect with their bonding, so the end result is one where I feel this wasn't as strongly presented as it could.

Goldie is actually a much more fascinating character and I surprised myself by enjoying her sections more (usually, in these dual timed plots I tend to prefer the present times better). The author chose an interesting setting, the end of WWII when Japan attacks Pear Harbor and how this affects Japanese American citizens, such as friends Goldie had. There is a lot about this and Goldie's youth and experiences she goes through but, again, things aren't told in an emotional way, which I think could have reinforced some ideas, and the author wouldn't have do exaggerate drama anyway.

Well, the story was entertaining, at least, but I got distracted by other tasks more than once which means this wasn't as engaging as I would have liked. Then, when some things are revealed and Anna and Goldie reach San Francisco, Goldie tells Anna to deliver the art where she meets a old friend of Goldie. At this point the "message" was clearly that time heals, time gives other perspectives, it's never late to do what one desires in one's heart and so on, which is fine. 

However, the final scenes are of Anna trying to give her grandmother's forgotten phone to her and then she sees something that, I assume, was meant for the reader to be surprised and amazed at the whole story after all! Well, personally... no. Nor really...in fact, it was a little hard to believe, for it came out of nowhere. Not in terms of plot, that is acceptable, but in terms of pacing and structure. I guess this was meant for the reader to add the clues and have an heartfelt aha moment, but to me it was just odd it happened that way. Oh well.

All in all, average and not as compelling as it could have been.

Grade: 5/10