Valencia and Valentine / Suzy Krause.
Valencia, a timid debt collector with crippling OCD, is most scared of flying and turning thirty-five. To confront those fears, Valencia's therapist suggests that she fly somewhere before her upcoming birthday. Mrs. Valentine is thrilled when anyone provides a listening ear for her life's story - a tale of storybook love and incredible adventures around the world with her husband before his mysterious and sudden disappearance. These two ladies may at first appear to have nothing in common - but then again, nothing in life is as straightforward as it seems.
Record details
- ISBN: 9781542092968
- Physical Description: 244 pages ; 23 cm
- Publisher: Seattle, Washington : Lake Union Publishing, 2019.
- Copyright: ©2019.
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Subject: | Fear > Fiction. Obsessive-compulsive disorder > Fiction. |
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- Booklist Reviews : Booklist Reviews 2019 April #2
Valencia and Mrs. Valentine lead insular lives. Valencia, who has worked as a debt collector at a call center for 17 years, is bad at people; her OCD makes her sad, anxious, and afraid of almost everything and everybody. Her grip on reality is as tenuous as that of 87-year-old Mrs. Valentine, who lives alone and is so desperate for companionship that she entertains imaginary guests. When she hires a young woman to come in once a week and clean house, Mrs. Valentine finds a willing listener for stories about her past, in particular, about Mr. Valentine, her long-deceased husband. As for Valencia, her world starts to expand thanks to two new call center employees and also her phone conversations with a particularly sympathetic debtor. As the novel unfolds in chapters alternating between Valencia and Mrs. Valentine, the reader is pulled along by hints about the ways in which the two of them might be connected. Despite themes of loneliness, loss, and mental illness, Krause manages to infuse her tale with charm and gentle humor. Copyright 2019 Booklist Reviews. - LJ Express Reviews : LJ Express Reviews
[DEBUT] This title is about two women whose lives at first appear unrelated, but there are a few twists before the novel ends. Debut author Krause explores the inner life of Valencia, a debt collector with OCD, and what it takes to cast off fear and begin to live our dreams. Valencia works for a collection agency, and she often receives death threats on the phone, but she's been successful at insulating herself from face-to-face human contact. Then two new employees build bridges to friendship. Valentine is an older widow living alone who is always preparing for friends and relatives of friends to visit. She's hungry for companionship of any kind, and she loves to spin stories from her past. The chapters alternate between the two voices. VERDICT Though this first novel is not a necessary purchase for most libraries, fans of Maria Semple's Today Will Be Different may enjoy this quirky tale.âCheryl Bryan, Orleans, MA (c) Copyright 2019. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.