Tree of Pearls [Paperback]

Tree of Pearls is the final instalment in the Evangeline Gower trilogy. Louisa Young's heroine is as slangy and stroppy but she has a gloriously romantic heart, something often missing from the other literary modern misses. Evangeline's tender passion embraces her daughter Lily, the five-year-old "octopus of love"; the two men in her life, mysterious tempting Sa'id and long, tall Harry, all cheekbones and louche cockiness. Evangeline, ex- belly dancer and single mother, has attitude and intelligence, and a glorious understanding of what makes life worth the living. Once again Evangeline has Eddie Bates on her case. This psychopathic villain caused strife in Desiring Cairo, and his sinister shadow once again draws her to Cairo and Luxor to sort him out once and for all. She' s accompanied by his ex-wife Chrissie, and her own romantic dilemmas: Harry or Sa'id, Sa'id or Harry. The story unfolds slowly and gracefully, with a gorgeous sound track for the heartache and dangerous events: "and then, oh glorious joy, Umm Khalthoum singing Enat Omri--You Are My Life. Whenever I hear it my backbone grows longer and my foot arches, I begin to sway and to feel a mild but definite yearning for the weight of a heavily sequinned band around my hips."

Louisa Young doesn't stick to a plain old story but allows Evangeline digression and musings that shimmer and sparkle. She contemplates mythology, the colours of the landscape and the sky, the rapture in Egyptian love songs. Tree of Pearls is seductive, romantic and realistic. Evangeline Gower is redeemed by love but remains strong and independent, and in control of her own life: "I close no doors, I send love. I am not wasting away for you." --Eithne Farry

on Louisa Young’s trilogy:

‘Spectacularly worth reading’
The Times

‘Tough, tender, sexy, funny’
Esther Freud

‘Hits an all too rare note of intelligent escapism’
She

‘Streetwise and literate’
Options

‘Wry, perky, entertaining’
The Observer

‘Engaging, wise-cracking, likeable, brilliantly sustained… funny, humane and utterly readable’
Good Housekeeping

Scintillating comic-romantic thriller, a finale to Louisa’s fab Egyptian trilogy: what life – and which man – will Angeline choose?

The final volume in the Angeline Gower trilogy, following Baby Love and Desiring Cairo.

Our angel is back. Angeline Gower is back home in Britain, back safe, back in her own bath. Right on cue, that’s when trouble arrives, back for another bout with her. But this time she’s going to see it off for good…

There’s trouble in the form of her nemesis, her Russian roulette – wiseguy wideboy Eddie: he’s on the loose again, and who would the police send out to Egypt to trace him if not Evangeline. Then there’s trouble of another more painful, more joyful sort altogether: the trouble she has choosing between safe, solid, sensitive Harry, the father of her child, and hot, haughty, harmonious Sa’id, the father of her child. So, out among the sensuous wonders of Luxor, on the mobile and on the hoof, our angel shimmies and swerves with all her ex-belly dancer’s supple style through a series of emotional chicanes. Now and again, in a particularly tight corner, she spins off, but always regains control and surges forward to seize the life and future she deserves for those she loves and, triumphantly, for herself.

More reviews for Tree of Pearls
"Given the tedious inevitability of most London thrillers, with their hardboiled heroes and dense black humour, Louisa Young's take on urban noir in her Evangeline Gower trilogy is exceptional.

Using the thriller framework, her books become a profound examination of the nature of love and intimacy. Uniquely, Young has grasped, and writes exquisitely about, the fact that contemporary families are complex; that they may not involve blood relationships; that this does not make the ties any less tight, and that the dictates of the human heart are strong enough to override whatever opposition life throws at them. ...In this final Evangeline novel, Angeline has to chose between two striking lovers: Sa'id, the passionate romantic hero, and Harry, the comfortable old gumshoe who hasn't lost whatever it was that made her first melt. Unusually in these days of ChickLit, where girls stay girly and have boyfriends as mere decoration, Young manages to convey what it is about men that makes women both need and desire them.

As far as Young's books are concerned, choosing a man - a mate - is an unconventional act. But for Angeline, so is everything else. She chooses who to love, and how to love them, no matter what the cost. There is a new baby, and a new family, and a happy ending. None are predictable; all are the better for it. Again, Louisa Young has written about love - mother-love, tender love, passionate love, as many kinds of love as the heart can feel - better than anyone else." THE BIG ISSUE

"Evangeline Gower, single mother and ex-belly dancer, has quite a following: this is the third book about her, the slippery gangster who is her enemy, and Sa'id, her Egyptian lover. Packaged as popular fiction, this is a literate, intelligent, well-written example of the genre. " THE SCOTSMAN

"The third part in the Evangeline Gower trilogy is Young's fantastical, raunchy tale about belly-dancing, bike-loving Evangeline, who is now custodian of her dead sister's child, Lily, and trying to come to terms with the idea of ex-boyfriend Harry being Lily's biological father. First class on relationship psychology and excellently plotted, this is a treat to read by itself, but, better still, buy all three books and settle in for the duration." MARIE CLAIRE

Scintillating comic-romantic thriller, a finale to Louisa's fab Egyptian trilogy; what life – and which man – will Angeline choose?

The final volume in the Angeline Gower trilogy, following 'Baby Love' and 'Desiring Cairo' Our Angel is back. Angeline Gower is back home in Britain, back safe, back in her own bath. Right on cue, that's when trouble arrives, back for another bout with her. But this time she's going to see it off for good…

There's trouble in the form of her nemesis, her Russian roulette – wiseguy wideboy Eddie: he's on the loose again, and who would the police send out to Egypt to trace him if not Evangeline. Then there's trouble of another more painful, more joyful sort altogether: the trouble she has choosing between safe, solid, sensitive Harry, and hot, haughty, harmonious Sa'id. Now and again, in a particular tight corner, she spins off, but always regains control and surges forward to seize the life and future she deserves for those she loves and, triumphantly, for herself.

Louisa Young contributes regularly to the Guardian and is also the author of A Great Task of Happiness: The Life of Kathleen Scott (an acclaimed biography of her grandmother, the charismatic widow of Scott of the Antarctic). She lives in London with her daughter.