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After a devastating stillbirth and longing for a second child, English professor Joy explores Granada, Spain, hoping to ease her heartbreak and rekindle her relationship with her husband, Richard. Instead, their trip leads to an erotic interlude between Joy and a handsome stranger—and Richard, filled with disappointment at his disintegrating marriage, embarks on an affair with vivacious Belinda, their tryst unfolding in a series of cheap hotel rooms.
After learning of Richard’s affair, Joy divorces him and moves to Virginia. Despite her lingering bitterness over his infidelity, Joy is inspired by the centuries-old love story between Sultan Suleyman and his Russian concubine, Roxelana, and in traveling to Istanbul with Richard finds herself attracted to him anew. However, Richard has a confession: Belinda, although out of his life for several years, has had his daughter—a now-three-year-old named Karma—and, critically ill, has asked that Richard and Joy take Karma. Joy agrees to travel to Tunisia with Richard—and when they arrive, Belinda divulges the shocking truth about her daughter to Joy.
“Abdul-Baki’s novel explores the highs and lows of a marriage rocked by tragedy and infidelity…an often beautifully written work that lays its characters low with grief and lifts them high with the bliss of travel.” —Kirkus Reviews
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Praise for A Marriage of Four Seasons
Within Joy and Richard’s mysterious and dangerous encounters, Kathryn Abdul-Baki explores the private places people don’t tell even their best friends about—the secrets in their marriages, the secrets of their hotel rooms, the secrets inside themselves—their longings, fears, hopes, and dreams. It’s outstanding news to have another work of fiction from award-winning writer Kathryn Abdul-Baki.
Mourning their stillborn son, Richard and Joy Amis set off on separate, crooked paths in their attempt to reconcile this sorrow in their marriage. Against the exotic backdrops of Spain, Turkey, and Tunisia, their love story explores all the many complications and detours a couple can face when working to reunite. They will touch your heart.