Delilah Blue moved with her father Victor from Toronto to Los Angeles when she was eight. She has always believed that her mother abandoned her. Victor has always been overprotective, sheltering 'Lila' from anything or anyone he perceives as a possible danger or threat. As a result Lila has become a bit insular. She has always loved art, as did her mother. For financial reasons, she is unable to attend college. She boldly decides to step out of her comfort zone and do nude figure modeling so she can 'attend' the classes.
Victor is not behaving like himself lately though - he seems to be forgetting things, though he struggles valiantly to hang on to his normal routines. He is only 53. In the midst of this....Delilah's mother appears - along with her young daughter Kieran. She tells a very different story than Victor's. Delilah doesn't know who or what to believe.
Wow. Cohen's forté is character development. Victor's struggle to adhere to his regular routine, picking just the right tie, remembering that a special client likes a certain type of donut, but forgetting salient details was heartbreaking. He knows that something is wrong, but doesn't acknowledge the elephant. Flashbacks to the past are part of the memories Victor hangs on to and slowly but surely we learn how father and daughter came to be in L.A. Lila's struggle to step outside of the invisible fences that surround her will have you silently urging her forward. Lila's mother Elisabeth evoked strong feelings in this reader the more we got to know her. Kieran is a moving character as well - having lived with the loss and her mother's memories of Delilah her entire life.
Cohen explores every character's expectation of what is right and what shoud be done. Not all were what I expected, which I appreciated. A great page turner that I truly enjoyed.
Fans of Lori Lansens and Jodi Picoult would enjoy this book. Read an excerpt of The Truth About Delilah Blue.
Wow, that sounds like a book I would love! I love great characters like that.
ReplyDeleteI just heard about this the other day but I think it had a different cover.
ReplyDeleteKathy - truly a really good reAD.
ReplyDeleteJen - This is the Canadian cover, The Americian cover shows her full face with longer hair. ( I'm partial to the Can. one)
I have this book, but haven't read it yet. It sounds great! (I love the Canadian cover too!)
ReplyDeleteSounds like a good book. I haven't read anything by this author before. I'll have to check it out.
ReplyDeleteI haven't read any of her books but is sounds like I should. I love character studies and the stry sound really good.
ReplyDeleteThe premise interests me!
ReplyDeleteI read The Tricking of Freya by Christina Sunley for CBC4!
It sounds like "Lila" from this book and "Lilia" from my latest Canadian read, have a few things in common!
ReplyDeleteI have two of Tish Cohen's Zoe Lama books tucked away for my youngest daughter's birthday and I gave Inside Out Girl to my teenage daughter for her birthday a couple years ago. I guess it's about time I read her myself! :)