 The Desert Lake
AUTHOR: Linda Leith ISBN 1-897109-21-0 Barbara Crossie, a 31-year-old relationships columnist, has been invited by her friend Harry to join a Canadian delegation to China. Also in the delegation is the formidable Elizabeth Pearl Murray, head of the Writers' Guild, who used to live in China. Barbara's not sure what she has to contribute, as she's only just published her first book— Mad About Men —-but Harry, a publisher of worthy political books, assures her she will be great, the trip will be great. Barbara agrees on the condition that they meet up with her agent, Josh, who also happens to be her long-distance lover. Barbara and Josh are at a crossroads, and she needs to find out if they are going to take the next step in their relationship. Although Harry is a little in love with Barbara himself, he reluctantly agrees to include Josh. But things go awry
from the moment of their arrival, when Josh simply doesn't appear. When
Barbara manages to reach his office and finds out he has not only not
taken the flight to China, but is at his mountain cabin and unreachable,
she is at a loss what to do, and so she carries on with her companions,
traveling the Silk Road to the ends of the earth, and eventually finding
herself in the deadliest desert on earth. And that is where she learns
how to fit the keys words in her personal lexicon together and tell her
story. Other
Signature titles by Linda Leith: REVIEWS: "Leith's new
book, The Desert Lake, is about a Montreal journalist on a trip
to China. Though it's a serious novel about a 30-something woman struggling
with her personal life, it's leavened with humour. The endearing heroine
seems at times like a second cousin of Bridget Jones, dressing inappropriately
and making faux pas in a foreign country." |
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