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Safe Conduct
En route to Istanbul to finish a film, filmmaker Kate Lurie and her new husband, Eli MacKenzie, find their journey hampered by the appearance of Lida, a stunning Russian with whom Eli had an affair fifteen years earlier.
230 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1993
29 people want to read
About the author
Elizabeth Benedict
15 books100 followersMe: Lots of books, zillions of essays and articles. This season: REWRITING ILLNESS: A VIEW OF MY OWN. A very serious and kinda funny take on how my lifelong fear of illness collided with actual illness in 2017. I survived. I had time to think about doctor-speak, patient-speak, death, health insurance, CANCER, my husband, my friends, did I mention CANCER? I love this blurb: "As though Nora Ephron had written a book called 'I Feel Bad About My Tumor.'" --Thomas Beller.
I'm the author of the novels ALMOST and SLOW DANCING, and of THE JOY OF WRITING SEX: A GUIDE FOR FICTION WRITERS, and editor of three anthologies: ME, MY HAIR AND I: 27 WOMEN UNTANGLE AN OBSESSION, the NYTIMES bestseller, WHAT MY MOTHER GAVE ME: 31 WOMEN ON THE GIFTS THAT MATTERED MOST and MENTORS, MUSES & MONSTERS: 30 WRITERS ON THE PEOPLE WHO CHANGED THEIR LIVES.
I coach kids applying to college and grad school with their application essays at www.DontSweatTheEssay.com. Maureen Corrigan, on "Fresh Air" raved about ALMOST days after 9/11, and Anne Tyler reviewed THE BEGINNER'S BOOK OF DREAMS, saying, "The marvel is that such a sad book could be such a joy to read."
I'm the author of the novels ALMOST and SLOW DANCING, and of THE JOY OF WRITING SEX: A GUIDE FOR FICTION WRITERS, and editor of three anthologies: ME, MY HAIR AND I: 27 WOMEN UNTANGLE AN OBSESSION, the NYTIMES bestseller, WHAT MY MOTHER GAVE ME: 31 WOMEN ON THE GIFTS THAT MATTERED MOST and MENTORS, MUSES & MONSTERS: 30 WRITERS ON THE PEOPLE WHO CHANGED THEIR LIVES.
I coach kids applying to college and grad school with their application essays at www.DontSweatTheEssay.com. Maureen Corrigan, on "Fresh Air" raved about ALMOST days after 9/11, and Anne Tyler reviewed THE BEGINNER'S BOOK OF DREAMS, saying, "The marvel is that such a sad book could be such a joy to read."
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
June 15, 2023
I’m happy I didn’t write this review as soon as I finished this book. Quite frankly, I was getting a little bored towards the end and I was relieved to finish it.
I was surprised that I was still thinking about the book later that day after I put it down and I now have a new appreciation for it. The book takes place in one moment in time with many flashbacks. The writing style reinforced the message - designed to show how people can get too caught up in the past and how this can impact their present - either in a good way or, most likely, in a bad way if they let it. Interesting lesson… you’ll need to read the book to find out how the characters respond to this pressure.
I was surprised that I was still thinking about the book later that day after I put it down and I now have a new appreciation for it. The book takes place in one moment in time with many flashbacks. The writing style reinforced the message - designed to show how people can get too caught up in the past and how this can impact their present - either in a good way or, most likely, in a bad way if they let it. Interesting lesson… you’ll need to read the book to find out how the characters respond to this pressure.
March 5, 2017
I feel like I might have missed something, but I just could. not. get. into this book!
July 22, 2016
Elizabeth Benedict has a ridiculous knack for writing books that you can't book down. I don't mean that you carry the book around with you for a few days and keep wanting to come back to it; I mean that you start in at 11 p.m. and the next thing you know it's 3 in the morning and you've finished the thing (her books are short enough that you can do this--they somehow have the feel of a movie). The stuff she writes about is thoughtful and provocative--this one mixes the Cold War with fidelity and documentary film-making. I'm not sure how she manages to pull off literary fiction that feels so suspenseful, but I'm a fan.
February 20, 2014
One of my Goodreads friends added one of Benedict's novels as to-read, which reminded me that I hadn't reviewed this one, which I read a couple of years after it was published, because I was going to meet the author.
This novel grabbed me from start to finish. It's one of those watching-a-train-wreck novels, powerful and upsetting. It may not be what one expects from Benedict, but it is excellent writing and deserves a much bigger audience than it appears to have received.
This novel grabbed me from start to finish. It's one of those watching-a-train-wreck novels, powerful and upsetting. It may not be what one expects from Benedict, but it is excellent writing and deserves a much bigger audience than it appears to have received.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews