Finished April 14
A Partisan's Daughter by Louis de Bernieres
This is a wonderful little book about the relationship between two people who encounter each other on the street and begin meeting to talk. Over the period of time that they meet, Chris imagines that he falls in love with Roza, but is not completely sure. Roza, in turn, grows fond of Chris as well.
When Chris, bored and feeling estranged from his wife, spots Roza standing on the street, he thinks she is a hooker and propositions her. Roza corrects him on his impression, but gets in his car anyway and asks for a lift home.
As they meet repeatedly, sitting in the kitchen of Roza's dilapadated home, Roza tells Chris the stories that lead to her present life. The point of view goes back and forth between the two, but the reader is never sure whether Roza is telling the truth or not. Chris gullibly believes it all, and makes the stories part of his own memory. They come to depend on each other more than they realize and, as with so many relationships based on stories, create their own images of each other.
I found it an engrossing story with lots of human interest and two very interesting characters.
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