cover image The Missing Rose

The Missing Rose

Serdar Ozkan, trans. from the Turkish by Angela Roome. Penguin/Tarcher, $14.95 trade paper (242p) ISBN 978-0-399-16230-5

When 24-year-old Brazilian heiress Diana Oliveira learns from her dying mother that she has a twin, Mary, who was taken by their father when the girls were only one, a grieving Diana embarks on a quest to find Mary and, perhaps, meaning in her own life. But Mary, upon learning that the mother she’d long thought dead was alive, began writing her letters before disappearing under ominous circumstances only weeks before her mother’s death. Finding clues in the letters, Diana leaves behind her close friends to look for Mary, taking guidance from a beggar and an artist who impart koanlike advice on how to live and stoke Diana’s artistic dreams. Diana makes her way to Topkapi Palace in Istanbul, a magical rose garden where all her questions might be answered. Ozkan mentions The Little Prince early in the story, taking his title from the book and invoking its reputation as a modern-day parable. He intends his tale to be read in the same tradition, but his effort falls flat, saddled with a clunky translation and rife with clichés, a shopworn story line, and plot twists that will come as no mystery to perceptive readers. Likewise, the moral fails to inspire: value those you love and follow your dreams. Excellent advice, but we’ve read it before. (Jan.)