Ann Birch

The Secret Life of Roberta Greaves by Ann Birch tells a dramatic life of a female classic professor: her husband’s suicide, unexpected gambling debts, her risk-taking decision and action, and as well the collapse of the idol image of her late father. To deal with her financial trouble, the middle-aged Roberta manages to write and publish an exotic novel. The story of Roberta is a page-turner. The language is so vivid that I seem to feel the protagonist’s thoughts and emotions. Although the novel is written in the third person, it feels like the first-person narration allowing the reader for an intimate to the character. The imagery is so alive that I feel as if I knew these characters in person. The protagonist worries me at the beginning, but in the end, I admire her honesty, social consciousness, and brevity.… (altro)