The Ladies of Managua: A Novel

by Eleni N. Gage

Overview

When Maria returns to Nicaragua for her beloved grandfather's funeral, she brings with her a mysterious package from her grandmother's past. She also carries the burden of her tense relationship with her mother, Ninexin, once a storied revolutionary, now a dedicated official in the Sandinista government. Between Maria and Ninexin lies a chasm created by the death of Maria's father, which left Maria to be raised by her grandmother Isabela while Ninexin worked to build the new Nicaragua. As Ninexin tries to reach her daughter and Maria wrestles with her turbulent relationship with an older man, Isabela becomes lost in the memories of boarding school in 1950's New Orleans, where she loved and lost almost sixty years ago. When the three women come together to bid farewell to the man who had anchored their family, they are forced to confront their complicated relationships - with one another and with their country - and to reveal the secrets that each of them has tried so hard to conceal.

Lushly evocative of Nicaragua, with its tumultuous history and its vibrant present, Eleni N. Gage 's The Ladies of Managua brings you into the lives of three strong and magnetic women as they face their past choices and discover how love can shape their futures.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250093844
Publisher:	St. Martin's Publishing Group
Publication date:	07/05/2016
Pages:	400
Sales rank:	131,067
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.20(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

ELENI N. GAGE is a journalist who writes regularly for publications including Real Simple, Parade, Travel+Leisure,The New York Times, T: The New York Times Travel Magazine, Dwell, Elle and The American Scholar. Currently Executive Editor at Martha Stewart Weddings and formerly beauty editor at People, Eleni graduated with an AB in Folklore and Mythology from Harvard University and an MFA from Columbia University. Her books include the novels Other Waters and The Ladies of Managua and the memoir North of Ithaka. She lives in New York City with her husband and their young daughter.

Editorial Reviews

03/30/2015
In Gage’s (Other Waters) sweet, stately story, three generations of women reunite in Managua, Nicaragua, for a family funeral, where they reflect on their loves, losses, and what the future holds for each of them. Isabela, burying her husband of over 50 years, slips into memories of her first love while her daughter, Ninexin, who left her husband and child to fight for her country, longs to reconnect with her own daughter, Maria, who returns to Nicaragua from New York as an adult with secrets of her own. Unfolding in an unhurried fashion through these three alternating viewpoints, the first half of the book revolves around each woman’s interior reflections: Maria’s anxiety over her noncommittal boyfriend and her long-held resentment toward her mother, Ninexin’s guilt at leaving her daughter behind, and Isabela’s absorption in reliving a long-ago love affair. The story comes to life, however, as mysteries are revealed, such as just what Maria is running away from and the true circumstances of Maria’s father’s death as a young, idealistic revolutionary. Along the way, glimpses of the beautiful landscape and the history of Nicaragua provide a backdrop to a universal narrative of hurt and forgiveness. (May)

Publishers Weekly

“This novel fairly begs to be filmed [...]Gage carefully explores the social demands placed on women and the repercussions of submitting to or defying them.” —Kirkus

“In Gage's (Other Waters) sweet, stately story, three generations of women reunite in Managua, Nicaragua, for a family funeral, where they reflect on their loves, losses, and what the future holds for each of them . . . a universal narrative of hurt and forgiveness.” —Publishers Weekly

“Readers will find themselves completely absorbed in this rich, multigenerational tale of love lost and reclaimed.” —Booklist

“This smart page-turner about love, family, and passion comes with a bonus: lush evocations of fascinating Nicaragua” —In Style

“Eleni N. Gage, in her spellbinding The Ladies of Managua, looks at three generations of Nicaraguan women, reunited in their homeland.” —Travel + Leisure

“Get away with the three women in The Ladies of Managua . . . which transports you to Nicaragua and New Orleans.” —Martha Stewart Living

“Three generations . . . confront the tumultuous history of their country and their family in this vibrant story about radical acts of womanhood.” —O Magazine

“Eleni N. Gage has again combined a strong heroine and captivating setting in a winning novel.” —Shelf Awareness

“In this richly imagined, heartfelt book, a Nicaraguan man's funeral brings together three generations of women at turning points in their lives...This is a complex, satisfying tale with wonderful characters, especially the lovable Isabela, who admonishes her girls to behave properly and cross their legs at the ankles, but in the end, follows her heart.” —Julie Wu, author of THE THIRD SON

“The three women at the center of Eleni Gage's new novel will stir readers with their fierce voices and independent spirits. Multigenerational and international in scope, this tale of love, betrayal, and nation-building is both intimate and confiding, soaring and passionate. A luscious read.” —Diana Abu-Jaber is the author of Crescent and Birds of Paradise

“A work of fiction that is, at its core, very real, full of vivid descriptions of a country I know intimately. I recommend it highly.” —Ernesto Cardenal, nominee for the Nobel Prize in Literature

“Eleni Gage vividly conveys the complexities of mother-daughter relationships, all the while exploring the tensions that emerge when national struggles disrupt the bonds of family. THE LADIES OF MANAGUA brings Nicaragua beautifully alive through the eyes of fierce and loyal women. Readers are going to fall hard for this book.” —Chantel Acevedo, author of The Distant Marvels

“Full of heart and wisdom, this entertaining novel examines a troubled history through the lens of a complex family, and illuminates the lives of women in three distinct and memorable voices. Gage writes with great authority, refreshing humor and rich insight.” —Christopher Castellani, Author of ALL THIS TALK OF LOVE

From the Publisher

2015-03-04
An up-and-coming painter faces the collapse of her romantic life while repairing her neglected relationship with her mother. "Revolutionaries make bad husbands." So says Isabela, mother of Ninexin (a former Sandinista-turned-politician shaping the new Nicaragua) and grandmother of Mariana (an aspiring artist). She should know. Although her own husband, Ignacio, contented himself with running a law practice and hiding his mistresses, her son-in-law, Manuel, lost his life to the revolution. But this is a story about the revolutionary lives women make for themselves out of necessity, out of commitment, out of passion. After Manuel's death (in a shootout shrouded in mystery), living in Nicaragua becomes increasingly dangerous for Ninexin, so she sends their 7-year-old daughter, Mariana, to live in Miami with her parents. The cost: Mariana and Ninexin become estranged—Ninexin convinced that Mariana will judge her, Mariana convinced that Ninexin always loved Nicaragua more than her own daughter. But when Ignacio dies and his body is flown to Nicaragua to be buried, Mariana returns to Managua not only for the funeral, but also for a little time away from her boyfriend, Allen. Divorced, a successful painter, and quite a bit older than Mariana, Allen follows her to Managua, hoping to repair their fragile relationship. This novel fairly begs to be filmed. Chapter by chapter, Gage (Other Waters, 2012, etc.) shifts from Isabela's to Ninexin's to Mariana's perspective, often retelling the same scene through another character's eyes. These shifts reveal the emotional ties binding the women together as well as the secrets that have forced them to make painful choices. From the closely chaperoned lives of schoolgirls in 1950s New Orleans, where Isabela was a student, to the explosive insurrection of 1970s and '80s Nicaragua to the sniping artistic world of 2010s New York, Gage carefully and thoughtfully explores the social demands placed on women and the repercussions of submitting to or defying them.

Kirkus Reviews