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Product Description
Product Description
Avery James didn't have the easiest start in life. Abandoned by her mother, and brought up in foster homes, she developed a hard shell to protect her from caring for people who always seem to disappear. Now twenty-five, Avery is working for a smart caterer. And at a party in the home of a wealthy art dealer, she stumbles upon the portrait of a woman who is the mirror image of herself, right down to her most distinctive feature: her two different-coloured eyes. Avery has found her mother, Isabel Colinas, an artist who died eight years earlier in a tragic accident. Searching for Isabel - in her work, in the stories of friends, rivals and lovers, in Isabel's own journal - Avery is drawn into complex relationships with the people who knew her mother, and she soon realises that her discoveries about Isabel reveal not only the secrets of the past, but the shape of her own future.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
About the Author
Judi Hendricks has been a journalist, a baker, and has worked in PR. She now writes full time. She lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico,with her husband.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Once in his history class I made a time line. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
Once in his history class I made a time line. Read the first page
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I loved this book. Someone leant it to me so I had no expectations or preconceived ideas of what it would be like, but it ended up making it into my All Time Top 5. Who'd have thought?
Avery James is an incredibly likeable character and I love that she shouldn't be. If you passed her on the street you may not even notice her but the journey she is and has been on, is far more interesting than you can imagine. The descriptive language and the theme of strong, independant and sometimes bonkers women, throughout the story, make it an absolute pleasure to read. There's no doubt that this is probably a book for women, but not your average woman that's for sure. Only free-spirited but stuck in their ways and frankly couldn't give a crap's need apply.
Avery James is an incredibly likeable character and I love that she shouldn't be. If you passed her on the street you may not even notice her but the journey she is and has been on, is far more interesting than you can imagine. The descriptive language and the theme of strong, independant and sometimes bonkers women, throughout the story, make it an absolute pleasure to read. There's no doubt that this is probably a book for women, but not your average woman that's for sure. Only free-spirited but stuck in their ways and frankly couldn't give a crap's need apply.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I really enjoyed Kendrick's other novel `The Baker's Apprentice' and am pleased to report that `Isabel's Daughter' is also a satisfying read, though it didn't quite grab my attention in the same way. This is the sort of novel you can keep dipping in and out of- in fact I found I had to whilst reading as the novel became quite flat in places.
Told in flashbacks in parts, the novel concentrates on Avery James, a `foundling' who was abandoned by her mother in the basement of an orphanage when she was just a baby. Being abandoned has a huge impact on the rest of her life, and growing up Avery chooses not to get close to anybody, for fear they'll also abandon her. She has no choice when she meets Cassie; the stubborn old woman is determined to take care of her. Similarly with Will, the only boy she'll ever love... she's heartbroken when he leaves her, though not surprised.
It's only when she's twenty five and working as a caterer that she stumbles across the portrait of a woman so obviously her mother and is shocked to find out that she'd died eight years previously, that she decides to unravel the mystery of her life, by speaking with those who knew her.
I really liked many aspects of this novel- in particular Avery recapping her childhood and growing up with Cassie. Seeing her gradually let in Will was also heart-warming, though I grew frustrated at times- Avery is a hard character to like. I also learned a bit about New Mexico in this story- the descriptions of the yummy food made me hungry!
What didn't I like so much? Well, I felt like the re-emergence of Will towards the end of the book was very rushed and forced into the last few chapters. As a girl who likes a good romance I would have liked to see more of that relationship developing into the arc of the story. I also felt like some of the chapters where those who knew Isabel and were retelling their encounters were a bit mundane and repetitive.
I think this story is sort of `comfort reading' in the sense that The Baker's Apprentice is, aided by the descriptions of the food flowing through it. Read this with some Tortillas and a bowl of salsa close to hand and really get a feel for the story.
Told in flashbacks in parts, the novel concentrates on Avery James, a `foundling' who was abandoned by her mother in the basement of an orphanage when she was just a baby. Being abandoned has a huge impact on the rest of her life, and growing up Avery chooses not to get close to anybody, for fear they'll also abandon her. She has no choice when she meets Cassie; the stubborn old woman is determined to take care of her. Similarly with Will, the only boy she'll ever love... she's heartbroken when he leaves her, though not surprised.
It's only when she's twenty five and working as a caterer that she stumbles across the portrait of a woman so obviously her mother and is shocked to find out that she'd died eight years previously, that she decides to unravel the mystery of her life, by speaking with those who knew her.
I really liked many aspects of this novel- in particular Avery recapping her childhood and growing up with Cassie. Seeing her gradually let in Will was also heart-warming, though I grew frustrated at times- Avery is a hard character to like. I also learned a bit about New Mexico in this story- the descriptions of the yummy food made me hungry!
What didn't I like so much? Well, I felt like the re-emergence of Will towards the end of the book was very rushed and forced into the last few chapters. As a girl who likes a good romance I would have liked to see more of that relationship developing into the arc of the story. I also felt like some of the chapters where those who knew Isabel and were retelling their encounters were a bit mundane and repetitive.
I think this story is sort of `comfort reading' in the sense that The Baker's Apprentice is, aided by the descriptions of the food flowing through it. Read this with some Tortillas and a bowl of salsa close to hand and really get a feel for the story.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
28 reviews
17 of 19 people found the following review helpful
Enchanting
3 Nov 2003
Format:Hardcover
Judith Ryan Hendricks has scored high marks once again with ISABEL'S DAUGHTER. I loved BREAD ALONE and finished it, coincidentally, the day ISABEL'S DAUGHTER was released. While wandering through the bookstore with my son on his birthday I was delighted to find her second novel. Yes, it took me four months to get to it because of all the other unread books on my shelves, but it was worth the wait. The story is interesting and beautifully written. Ms. Hendricks' enchanting style pulls you into the story and, in this case, into New Mexico, a state that is already magical to me. Avery James, the discarded orphan, is far from perfect, but she has good reason to live a life that is disconcerting. There are many mysteries in her life which she works to unravel, leaving the orphanage and traveling south into the art world of New Mexico. For those of you who already love the Southwest, this will bring it home to you in a nostalgic and romantic way. For those of you who have never visited or lived there, you'll want to change that as soon as possible!
Judith Ryan Hendricks is on my list to watch out for all future novels. She has a gift and here's one reader who hopes she uses it often and well.
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Moving Tale
6 Sep 2005
Format:Hardcover
Avery James was raised in a foundling home in southeast Colorado where her only real friend was the school's cook, Esperanza. After a disastrous placement in foster care and the death of Esperanza, Avery runs away and ends up with Cassie, an old curandera (herb-woman, healer, witch) in New Mexico. Because of her lonely childhood, Avery has built a wall around her heart and pushes back anyone who tries to care about her. After Cassie's death, Avery is once again set adrift and runs away from Will Cameron, the young man who is in love with her.
Avery hitchhikes to Albuquerque, where she works in a diner and attends night classes at the university. On a whim, she and her roommate move to Santa Fe, where Avery finds work with a catering company. This is how she meets Paul deGraf, her mother's former lover, and begins to unravel the mystery of who her mother was, and who Avery is, was, and wants to be.
I used to live in Santa Fe and found the descriptions of the town and its inhabitants spot-on. Hendricks' fluid and detailed descriptions of the food often made my mouth water. (Yum, chile rellenos)
Avery hitchhikes to Albuquerque, where she works in a diner and attends night classes at the university. On a whim, she and her roommate move to Santa Fe, where Avery finds work with a catering company. This is how she meets Paul deGraf, her mother's former lover, and begins to unravel the mystery of who her mother was, and who Avery is, was, and wants to be.
I used to live in Santa Fe and found the descriptions of the town and its inhabitants spot-on. Hendricks' fluid and detailed descriptions of the food often made my mouth water. (Yum, chile rellenos)
11 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Beautifully emotional, detailed and expressive
13 April 2006
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
Not many writers can weave so much emotion into their passages. But Judith Hendricks does this very well. She has combined real, likeable characters, a story packed with emotion, complicated relationships, and incredibly strong, inspiring female characters. The thing that makes this book, and this author, stand out even more is that Judith Hendricks knows the power and magic of female relationships. And she is a genius at portraying these things in words. I really felt like I understood Avery James in ISABEL'S DAUGHTER, I cried for her. But even better, I loved this story of healing and perseverence and the strength that a woman gathers from within herself and from the women in her life.
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