Barbara Samuel, Madame Mirabou’s School of Love

Madame Mirabou's School of Love

Barbara Samuel

Ballantine, Apr 2006, $13.95, 433 pp.

ISBN: 0345469143

It came as a complete shock to Nikki Carrington when her husband of almost two decades left her for a younger woman of his own race. Their daughter Giselle moves to California with her dad and his new wife because the schools are better there for someone wanting to become a doctor than in Manitou, Colorado. Nikki lets her ex Daniel convince her that it would be better for her to be part of an African-American family.

Nikki's house, which she received as part of the divorce settlement, caught fire when the furnace blew up, so she takes an apartment in a complex with many residents divorced or separated. Roxanne stalks her ex-husband who she still loves, and his second wife, while also having indiscriminate one night stands. Wanda anxiously waits for her spouse to come home from his tour of duty in Iraq. Nikki obtains work as a waitress while hoping to open up a perfume shop selling her own creations. There is a man who wants to forge a future with Nikki, but she cannot commit as she still needs to make peace with her past, especially in light of observing her neighbors.

Hearts will go out to the bewildered heroine lost in a world she no longer understands, as all the rules of relationships have changed. She struggles to adapt to being single, which is made more difficult by the insurance company taking its time on her claim. She knows her prime priority is to discover just who she is, since she can no longer hide behind the comfort cloaks of wife and mother. This is a great character study, with a sizzling romantic subplot augmenting the deep look at a stunned woman trying to find herself.