Author: Gabriella Burnham
Genre: Literary Fiction
Publisher: One World/Random House
Publication Date: July 28, 2020
Book Description: With sharp, gorgeous prose, It Is Wood, It Is Stone takes place over the course of a year in São Paulo, Brazil, in which two women’s lives intersect.
Linda, an anxious and restless American, has moved to São Paulo, with her husband, Dennis, who has accepted a yearlong professorship. As Dennis submerges himself in his work, Linda finds herself unmoored and adrift, feeling increasingly disassociated from her own body. Linda’s unwavering and skilled maid, Marta, has more claim to Linda’s home than Linda can fathom. Marta, who is struggling to make sense of complicated history and its racial tensions, is exasperated by Linda’s instability. One day, Linda leaves home with a charismatic and beguiling artist, whom she joins on a fervent adventure that causes reverberations felt by everyone, and ultimately binds Marta and Linda in a profoundly human, and tender, way.
An exquisite debut novel by young Brazilian American author Gabriella Burnham, It Is Wood, It Is Stone is about women whose romantic and subversive entanglements reflect on class and colorism, sexuality, and complex, divisive histories.
Rating: 3 1/2 Stars
Review: This is a beautiful story of female friendship and the ties that bind them.
Linda moves to Brazil with her husband, Dennis, for 1 year while he accepts a professorship at the University of San Paolo. Linda is up for this adventure but quickly finds you had really no sense of place there. Marta is their maid, and Linda would be happier if she did not come everyday. They soon learn to work together in an amiable way.
Dennis and Linda have a major fight and Linda takes off for a while with the one friend she has made during her time there. When she comes back, she walks into a much altered relationship with her husband. She also now has one singular alliance with Marta. The rest of their stay, Marta and Linda have an unbreakable bond.
This is actually a very simple story, but it is just lovely. The writing is gorgeous, and I think you will find that you cannot put this book down.
Thank you NetGalley and One World for an Advanced Reader’s Copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
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