Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
McIvor (Where There Are Monsters) shines in this pitch-perfect narrative of power imbalances. After Bianca Bridge completes her university studies in England, she returns to Trinidad and begins an affair with Eric Hugo, a married government minister who has a long track record of cheating on his wife with younger women. After a photo of Eric and Bianca is published, Bianca loses her magazine job, her freelance writing gigs, and her dignity. Reluctant to ask her wealthy father for help, she turns to topless modeling, until Obadiah Cortland offers her a job revamping his magazine, Extempo. Obadiah, who came from humble beginnings, adopts an arrogant persona and tries to keep everyone at arm's length, but as the story alternates between Bianca and Obadiah's points of view, the initially unpleasant Obadiah turns out to have greater depth. McIvor combines tight plotting and strong character development as Bianca--empowered by her late mother's lessons of strength--gets the last word with those who've wronged her. This makes for a winning story of comeuppance. Agent: Meredith Kaffel Simonoff, Gernert Company. (May)
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Review by Library Journal Review
DEBUT Award-winning short-story author Mc Ivor's (Where There Are Monsters) first novel is an entertaining story with vivid depictions of the history, culture, and current social challenges of Trinidad and Tobago. Trinidadian Bianca Bridge's life fell apart after a scandalous photo of her with a married politician appeared on the front page of the local newspaper. She was fired from her position at a lifestyle magazine and turned to modeling to survive. When the arrogant owner of a professional makeup school, Obadiah Cortland, offers Bianca a chance to work on his fashion magazine, she reluctantly accepts. Obadiah has worked hard to escape poverty and to turn his passion into reality but needs Bianca's expert editorial skills to launch his business further into the fashion world. He soon learns to see past her beauty to value the true Bianca. Then Bianca's past relationship begins to threaten any future success, and Bianca and Obadiah must work together to save their dreams. VERDICT For readers who enjoy allusions to Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, blended with Lauren Weisberger's The Devil Wears Prada.--Joy Gunn
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
A young Trinidadian writer strikes back at the patriarchy with the help of a famous beauty entrepreneur. Though it's set in the world of the Caribbean beauty industry and its fascination with makeup might seem frivolous at first glance, Mc Ivor's entertaining first novel is anything but skin deep. Under the glossy surface of this story about two skittish, driven people finding each other in complicated circumstances, this novel has bigger ambitions. Mc Ivor uses the beauty industry to explore the rifts created by poverty, sexism, and class in modern-day Trinidad, revealing how ingrained misogyny can be in a patriarchal society and how hard it can be to overcome. At the heart of the story is Bianca Bridge, a promising young writer who's the daughter of a wealthy businessman. When her affair with a powerful married man becomes public, her reputation and hopes for success are crushed. She refuses to ask her father for help and works as a model to make ends meet though she hates the work. (She is, of course, conveniently beautiful.) Then makeup guru Obadiah Cortland hires her to work at his magazine. Obadiah is cold and supercilious, but his carefully cultivated public persona is a mask. Growing up in poverty, Obadiah has fought for everything he has, and to him, his success seems precarious. Still, he and Bianca and the magazine staff decide to make a powerful statement on crime and corruption in spite of the risk. The novel sputters on occasion--Bianca's attempts to write fiction about her late mother are an unnecessary distraction, for example--but the irony of her needing her father's support to carve a path for herself is not lost on the author. Mc Ivor's ultimate message is clear: We all hide behind something, whether it's makeup or privilege, and only by being true to ourselves can we triumph. An entertaining novel that uses the beauty industry to examine issues of poverty, class, and sexism. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
