Isabel Adler, once a phenomenon in the world of music and winner of thirty-six (or thirty-seven) Grammys, loses her singing voice because of a surgery. The loss of her ability to sing is beyond debilitating for Izzy. She feels anchorless, adrift and almost like she’s lost herself and her identity. Almost a decade after the disaster of the operations, at almost sixty, Izzy has decided that she doesn’t want to continue this was any more. She decides to stop being.
As her final acts, she is in the process of getting her autobiography written and she is secretly composing a farewell letter to her loved ones. A letter explaining herself and her decision.
Six months before the date she has set for herself, her biographer has an accident and is replaced by another journalist, a Pulitzer-award winner, Leila Zedah. Leila turns out to be unexpected, to say the least. Her personality and presence create upheavals in Izzy’s controlled life. Their chemistry is completely disarming. Izzy finds herself captivated by Leila and drawn into a relationship which surpasses the initial no-strings-attached expectation.
First off, a trigger warning. This basis of this book is suicide ideation. So, if that is in any way a trigger for you, you may want to think before you dive into it.
Having got the trigger warning out of the way: this is a fabulous read Izzy and Leila are both beautiful women who have been written with love and care. Both have been fleshed out wonderfully. The chemistry between them is awesome.
Izzy’s struggle to hold on to her decision, which has been five years in the making, warring against the undertow caused by her growing feelings and relationship with Leila is excellently understood and written. We love the fact that when Izzy ends up showing Leila her in-progress goodbye letter, Leia points out that this is an act of someone wanting to be dissuaded. The scene is well-thought out, extremely well-written and there is maturity, kindness and love in Leila’s conversation with Izzy.
The premise of the book is very vaguely similar to The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo (ex-megastar deciding to end their life because of irreparable medial reasons and having their biography written) but the trajectory of the book is completely different.
This is rather an intense read but is rewarding in every way. We definitely recommend it.
