Review of "Midnight At Spanish Gardens"
2012: Midnight at Spanish Gardens by Alma Alexander
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
When I first started this novel I thought it might not be for me. It has a literary bent which I am not used to reading, but I am glad I persisted. Thankfully the world didn't end on Dec 20th 2012 but the premise opens with that idea and takes a group of friends who haven't met for years. One by one these friends are taken through a door, and through this door they are given the opportunity to live their lives over, to some degree.
I very much like the idea of what if we could go back, what would we change? But it also shows how wrong we can be about people and the presumptions we make, even when we think we know them. Years later, sitting around a table drinking Irish coffees, you discover who these people really are and what drove them to be who they are.
That fascination with others' lives is very compelling and I was hooked by the first candidate, Simon. But the added mystery of Ariel, who is the usher-through-the-door only completes the cycle. He gives each person the opportunity to change and the fascination is with whether or not they will.
Written in seamless style, Alma Alexander is definitely an author I would read more of.
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