The Enlightenment of Nina Findlay

March 30, 2015
Gillies’s (The White Lie) assured novel uses fragmented storytelling and flashbacks to generate tension and suspense in what might otherwise be a static narrative. Nina Findlay, hospitalized after a bus accident while on holiday in Greece, dissects her broken marriage and other fractured relationships in conversation with the attentive, attractive Dr. Christos. Gillies skillfully builds a sense of mystery around the secrets that destroyed the lifelong bond between Nina and the Romano brothers who grew up next door: Luca, her favorite, and Paolo, her husband of 25 years. Through her budding trust in the doctor, Nina explores the pivotal losses that haunt her: her parents’ separation, the deaths of her mother and sister-in-law, her miscarriage. Gillies’s brisk, confident style deftly manages convoluted jumps in time, and small gems of insight glitter among her clean, precise prose: “There was no doubt that Paolo was the nicer brother. Always kind. Even-tempered. Reliable. Loyal. But it hadn’t been any use.” This sure-handed, lovely exploration of the human heart is certain to build Gillies’s audience.

March 1, 2015
Through the lens of a failed marriage and a lost love, a flawed but appealing woman recovers her health while dissecting her complicated relationships. In her second novel, Gillies explores the same subject she did in Keeper (2010), her raw nonfiction account of caring for a close family member with Alzheimer's: the fallibility of memory and the often heartbreaking half-truths we tell ourselves by way of compensation. Forty-something editor Nina Findlay grew up next door to two brothers, the one she married and the one she loved. Having finally left her husband, Paolo, Nina returns to the Greek island where they honeymooned and promptly gets hit by a bus. We spend the rest of the book recouping with her in the hospital, where she meets a charming doctor whose intentions are murky at best-but so, as it turns out, might be Nina's. Wandering between her childhood, her coming of age, and her uncertain present, she tries to tell the story of her marriage without really understanding how it started; or, more critically, how it's likely to end. Nina's dead mother, Anna, the eccentric alpha female to her daughter's apprehensive beta, haunts the narrative like a specter who doesn't realize she's overstayed her welcome. Both women are attractive but sometimes-frustrating, and there are moments when what Nina seems to need most is a good shake. Fortunately, she manages to give herself one in time to weave together enough of her history's free-floating threads to leave us covered. In this middle-aged love triangle, the points take a while to connect.

April 1, 2015

This new novel from Gillies (The White Lie) concerns a love triangle among the eponymous Nina Findlay and the Romano brothers, Paolo and Luca. Nina married Paolo, the boring, responsible one, but had long been in love with bad boy Luca. After Luca's wife dies, decades-long tensions erupt, and Paolo and Nina separate. Nina flees to a small Greek island to escape the stress of her divorce, but when she is hit by a minibus she must remain on the island while her broken leg heals. Depressed, bored, and unsure of what she wants, she spends her time with Dr. Christos, the attractive, English-speaking, and recently separated local physician. There's a lot going on here, and the pacing is uneven, with the narrative switching between moody introspection and extreme emotional strain that disrupts the flow. The sections about Nina's mother and the complicated relationship among the brothers are riveting; however, Nina's endless study of herself can be tedious. Gillies also overuses foreshadowing and telegraphs twists. VERDICT Narrative flaws notwithstanding, the overall writing is sound. Recommended for readers of women's fiction and fans of exotic locales.--Pamela Mann, St. Mary's Coll. Lib., MD

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 15, 2015
Nina Findlay is on holiday on a small Greek Island when she is hit by a bus. She sustains a concussion and a severely broken leg, and she recuperates at the extraordinarily well-funded, small local hospital. There she is tended to by the handsome and attentive Dr. Christos, to whom she opens up about her failed marriage to Paolo. Although Paolo and Nina grew up next door to each other, the real childhood sweethearts were Nina and Luca, Paolo's charming brother. Although Luca married someone else, the two remained close, often to the exclusion of Paolo. Still, the two had a relatively happy 25-year marriage before the death of Luca's wife drove a wedge between them. As Nina talks it out with Dr. Christos, his attraction to her becomes clear at the same time that Paolo comes to visit. In the end, much truth is revealed about Luca, Nina's parents, and her accident. Nina's mental state makes her narration feel bleak, but Gillies offers a lot of food for thought about love, memory, and the lies we tell ourselves.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)