52 Weeks 52 Books / Week Ending June 2, 2013

THE ENGAGEMENTS by J. Courtney Sullivan

"A Diamond is Forever" was coined by Frances Gerety, an advertising copywriter, and she also was part of the team that marketed the four "C's" of diamonds--color, cut, clarity and carat--that brides hold as their standard for the value of their diamond engagement ring.  Frances Gerety, who spent much of her life working on the De Beers account, never married, and she's just one character in THE ENGAGEMENTS, a novel that studies marriage and weddings and how they've both changed and stayed the same in the past one hundred years.  There are traditional couples, poor couples and wealthy couples, faithful couples, and not so faithful couples, and one character, Kate, who like Frances Gerety, had no intention or interest in marriage.  

J. Courtney Sullivan writes brilliant characters--ones that you admire and others that are very unlikeable, and she weaves their stories together, alternating between the different characters and time periods, ending the book in a surprising twist. Add in the tidbits about diamonds, and the diamond industry, and how advertising entices us to purchase--and you've got a great story.

~ Katherine