From Publishers Weekly
The power of friendship and love prevail against unlikely odds in Lokko's overstuffed, globe-trotting family epic. The saga, which begins in 1972 London, primarily focuses on lonely Amber Sall and her friends, artistically gifted Becky Aldridge and poor, intelligent Madeline Szabo. Amber yearns for the approval of her illustrious father, Max, but he's too occupied with his work and second family in Rome to notice. Amber's half-sister, the gorgeous Paola, grows into a vixen, and the two compete over everything, including, eventually, Tendé Ndiaye, a West African business associate of their father. Years blur together as Amber and friends embark on their own lives, rarely making contact with one another aside from infrequent visits; Madeline becomes a doctor, Becky finds work in a gallery and Amber becomes a journalist before marrying Tendé. Paola never outgrows her licentiousness, and it proves, predictably, to be her undoing. Political strife in Mali, meanwhile, portends possible disaster for Tendé, but help from an unexpected source saves the day. Stilted pacing slows an already meandering plot, though the few surprise turns should keep readers going.
(Nov.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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Product Description
Max Sall, powerful, wealthy and utterly ruthless, a man without a past. His wife, Angela, a society debutante who fell in love with the dark, handsome chauffeur, and broke her parents' hearts when she married him. His mistress: Francesca, the glamorous Alitalia air stewardess, who saw in Max her ticket out of the Italian provinces and grabbed it - and him - with both hands. And his daughters: Amber, more like her father than she'll ever know - smart, shrewd and determined to achieve, whatever the cost; and Paola, groomed by her mother to succeed where she failed, in getting a man to marry her. Max's women are very different, but they all demand his attention. While Amber and Paola are growing up in the 1970s, their mothers somehow find a way to share Max between them. But when Amber and Paola fall in love with the same man two decades later, they're determined that this time there will be no sharing...Moving effortlessly across five decades, SAFFRON SKIES is a magnificent story of sisters, friends, families and love from Lesley Lokko, one of the most outstanding new voices in commercial fiction.
