The Enlightenment of Nina Findlay: A Novel

by Andrea Gillies

What happens when you can’t see that the man you married is actually the one you love?

For her whole life Nina Findlay has been in a love triangle with two Italian brothers, Paolo, whom she married, and Luca, with whom she was always in love and who remained her best friend throughout her marriage. Now Nina faces the future alone—estranged from Luca and separated from Paolo, she escapes to the tiny Greek island where she honeymooned twenty-five years earlier. After an accident she finds herself in the hospital telling her life story to an eagerly attentive doctor. As their conversations unfold she comes to understand the twists and turns of her romantic life and the unconscious influence of her parents’ marriage on her own.

Genres: Fiction, Literary Fiction, Relationships, Romance, Contemporary

416 pages, Paperback

First published March 27, 2014

About the author

I was born in York and went to school there, went to St Andrews University,then worked in theatre publicity and as a journalist and editor. Married another freelance, had three children,and lived in Somerset, Orkney, France. Now separated and living in Edinburgh. Spent 2 years looking after my mother-in-law, who has Alzheimer's, and wrote a diary which became a book: KEEPER, which won the Wellcome and the Orwell. THE WHITE LIE, a first novel, was published in February 2012. Currently writing a second novel, a love triangle of sorts.

A website, andreagillies.com, will be up and running in summer 2012. Meanwhile, there's a facebook page.

You can read newspaper reviews of THE WHITE LIE here: http://shortbooks.co.uk/book/the-whit...

Reviews

[Barbara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nina Findlay is a 40 something Scottish woman who has traveled to a Greek island after separating from her husband. The novel describes her lifelong close friendship with Luca, her husband's brother. After Luca's wife dies, things fall apart. In Greece, at the opening of the novel Nina is hit by a bus, and hospitalized. Her life gets more complicated with a third man pursuing her. Although this sounds like a romance novel or chick lit, the construction of the novel kept me turning pages, and finding it hard to put down. Nina is an emotionally fragile soul, and rather than a train wreck, I found her a compelling character. The New York Times had an excellent review, but I was glad I hadn't read it because it revealed far too much of the story. I vastly prefer coming to a book without preconceptions or knowing too much of the story before I dive in.

My computer shut down (it's never done that before) while I was writing this review earlier.

[Victoria · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think that this is a difficult novel to categorize. On its surface description, it sounds no different from many chick-lit novels, but its execution is not as frivolous. It is a novel that is constructed upon love triangles, some that take a while to be fully developed. And yet, it is a very engaging read. The tale is mostly from the titular Nina's perspective, but other characters also have their moments to share their thoughts. While on holiday, Nina breaks her leg and starts a relationship with her doctor as she tells him all while her broken leg heals. Nina very carefully examines her life and her motivations in relations with others and the narrative covers decades worth of time - more even than her twenty-five years of marriage. And though the book does move slowly, it is surprisingly easy to keep the pages turning.

All of the characters here feel very genuine - and Gillies does a wonderful job with the patterns of choices and the sort of rippling effects of their repercussions which only make the characters feel all the more real. She nicely covers the long time frame of the book and it is a very thoughtful read and certainly one that I think will work well in book discussion groups. The ending, though, is not completely satisfying, as I had hoped for something far more definitive. Ultimately, though, I am not sure that any other ending would have felt as genuine.

[Cleopatra Pullen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nina is hit by a bus in Greece and after surgery is taken to a small island hospital where she begins telling the story of her life to her under-worked doctor, Christos. She talks at length about her marriage to Paulo, her neighbour and friend since early childhood. Paulo has a younger brother Luca and all of their lives have been entangled throughout adulthood. Now twenty-five years after their honeymoon, on the same Greek island, Nina’s support structure has crumbled and she needs to learn the lessons from the past to start afresh.

Although the roots were in childhood Nina only married Paulo when Luca marries Francesca and the two couples spend time together although in the telling it appears that poor Francesca’s position is slightly outside the early shared experience of the other three.

The characters are well described and although I felt some sympathy with the young Nina her actions later on had me shaking my head at the fool-hardy way she behaved and made me feel that the endless adoration she had received from both brothers meant that only now, all these years later does she reflect and begin to learn from her actions. Does she succeed? Well you'll have to read the book to find out.

This book is rich with fluctuating feelings as the book travels backwards and forwards through time, detailing in particular the shared bond between Nina and Luca and by default the impact that this has on Nina’s marriage to his brother Paulo.

For anyone who read Andrea Gillie’s superb debut The White Lie, this is a very different type of book so comparisons are hard to make. What I can say is the writing is just as evocative, although the description of the Greek Island more muted due to the fact that Nina spent most of her time in the hospital, but the range of feelings, often contradictory were exceptionally well described.

Underlying themes of loss, guilt and the transient nature of even the most powerful feelings means this book would lend itself well to a book club read but the intensity of the subject matter and the style of writing means that this could not be categorised as ‘chick-lit’

[Carolyn · Rating 1 out of 5]

Do you have one of those female friends who thinks that every man is attracted to her, and walks around oozing sexuality, but in fact, really looks ridiculous. This is usually the friend that people tolerate when she discusses all the "boys" she is with. (We're in our 40's, if we are dating "boys" we have a BIG problem). I have a friend like this, who shall remain nameless, but I refer to her an my `insufferable friend`. I love the word `insufferable`. it brings to mind Victorian era women, for whom being courted by eligible bachelors are their `raison d`ètre`, and can not speak about ANYTHING but all the eligible bachelors courting them. There is a ridiculousness and foolishness to all this feigned evasive distress over the opposite sex these women spend their time considering.

Well...this book is exactly that; INSUFFERABLE. I got to about 70 pages in, and lord help us if not every man this woman comes across is attracted to her and falling all over themselves wanting to be with her. Enough. I can`t continue. It is foolish and unrealistic. This is my silly friend, but in book form. UGH.

[Nene La Beet · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book a lot, probably better than I liked the previous one. Several reasons for that, I think, one being that I'm not much for thrillers, generally, another that Nina Findlay and I have a lot in common - not least our gender and age.

This book takes issue with two important things, closely related. It looks at how women past menopause become invisible to the world in many respects. And it looks at how this affects the women's perception of themselves. These are important issues and I think about them and struggle with them every day.

About the book and the story: It has some unlikely plot twists, but I really don't mind. Some of the very best novels and films have completely inconceivable plot twists, but they are there to let the author tell us something important, and I value that far above plausibility.

Nina Findlay is a woman on the brink of a divorce - a divorce from her husband and his family (quite important in this case) and a divorce from her former self. To come to terms with all this, she goes to Greece, to a small island, where she went with her husband many years ago for their honeymoon. Not a damn clever choice if you ask me!

She has many profound discussions with herself and with the local doctor when she is hospitalised after an accident. These conversations and flashbacks give us the various bits of the puzzle that constitute the story of Nina. It's cleverly done.

I enjoyed this book very much, but not so much due to the clever plot as to the acute description of the trials and tribulations of being a middle aged women.

Disclaimer: I've known Andrea through Twitter and Facebook for quite some years and have even had the pleasure of meeting her IRL once, here in Copenhagen.

[Bonnie Hawker · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting read and just about a 'couldn't' put down. The ending was a little weak and disappointing

[Pam Watmore · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is about a woman who thinks highly of herself and thinks she is God's Gift. She grew up with two Italian boys and they share a friendship. she marries one brother and flirts and share secrets with the other and does not respect his very tolerant wife. She walks out on her husband Pablo and flees to a Greek Island where she had an accident with a bus and suffers a broken leg and a head injury. She almost forms a relationship with her underworked Doctor who listens to her life's problems (of her own making) and finally works through her problems and it highlights what a shallow person she is.

I found this book very annoying and thought what a selfish person Nina was and was glad to finish the book but I expect a lot of people will like the way she mulls over her problems and her expectations of the future.

[Jackie Trimble · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received this from a Goodreads giveaway (a long time ago - shame on me, yes!) The only thing I didn't really like about this book was the cover - I kept flipping to the cover and wondering why that photo!? But, I loved the book and the story line. I loved the doctor and his issues. I loved the brothers and the history all 3 characters had -- but I did need to almost make myself a cheat-sheet of which brother was which, just based on how they acted with each other. This is a great book that will make you think for a long time after you've read it.

[Dellaneira · Rating 4 out of 5]

I Love how Gillies set the pace of the story. Each portions make me crave for more, Something bigger than before. Complicated plot often felt annoying, but not this book. Nina character is quiet something. At first we saw her as an wronged women and then we don't want to underestimate that kind. Each secrets revealed, more facts the more it make my head spin.
Each characters surprisingly interesting, i don't regret to spend my whole day off on this book.

[Jordan Poda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved the way the author slowly revealed more and more about the characters and their past. Deep, somewhat dark, and highly relatable.

[Rivkasilver · Rating 5 out of 5]

Poetic and romantic.
Won’t be everyone’s cup of tea but it was certainly mine.

[Tom Buxton]

DNF

[Mindy Gough · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.8
Good story if you can overlook the gross unprofessionalism of the doctor. Nina wasn't a particularly relatable character but Gillies rolled out the story in an interesting and engaging way.

[Betsy Ross · Rating 3 out of 5]

Since her childhood, Nina Findlay has been the center of a love triangle with two brothers, Paolo and Luca. They were inseparable growing up, even as their relationships evolved over the years. While a series of definitive events led Nina to marry Paolo, it was Luca who always seemed to be her soulmate and the only person who truly understood her, the focus of her life it seemed at times.

The story actually begins years later when Nina finds herself at an all-time low point in her life, estranged from Luca and separated from Paolo, alone for the first time. She retreats to a remote Greek island where she honeymooned with Paolo 25 years before. On her vacation, Nina is struck by a bus and ends up spending several weeks in the hospital, where she develops a meaningful attachment to her doctor. During this time Nina reflects on the events of her life that have led her to her current state, coming to terms with the reality of her struggles with her family and loved ones. Nina wonders whether she's ever been truly happy. It turns out that being hit by the bus saved Nina's life.

In addition to the love triangle she's always been a part of with Paolo and Luca, Nina was always a trio with her parents as well. She was always close with her mother while her father was distant and aloof, but only later, through reading her mother's journals after she passed away, did Nina learn just how much her mother truly loved her, and how this became a barrier for the love with her husband.

Nina has been deceived by everyone she ever truly loved. Her mother had secrets, which Nina later discovered through the journals, and Luca betrayed her. She never really allowed herself to love Paolo, at the time believing that he was really in love with her mother all along, but finally allowed herself to open up and welcome a new view of him after detaching herself from Luca.

"The point is that you think you'll only love once, or one person at a time. Isn't always so."

"I find myself in the past and in the future, going from one to the other and back. I use the past to speculate forward. I'm barely in the present at all."

"There were other people I pushed away who stayed away, people who proved to be easily deterred. Close friends, people I'd always thought were close friends. I told myself I was happier not having to deal with people, but I wasn't happier."

This is a story about perceptions. The events in relationships and friendships can often be interpreted vastly differently between the parties involved, leading to hurt and misunderstanding. It's also a story about the heart, and love, and whether or not we can choose to love someone.

Nina lives with deep and painful regret about what her life could have been, but after her accident she is able to forgive, discover hope, and embrace her future.

[Roger Brunyate · Rating 1 out of 5]

More Like Endarklement

It starts well, you can say that for it. "When the minibus came round the sharpest bend of the descent, trundling along in poor light on the stony dirt road, its driver failed, at first, to see the woman standing taking photographs. He didn't see her until just before he ran into her." The woman, Nina Findlay, a forty-something Scottish visitor to this small Greek island, is absent-mindedly humming a song. "It was a song that was meaningful to her and her situation. It wasn't about her husband, who'd reacted stoically to the news that she wanted a divorce, but about her husband's brother, a man who had loved her and whom she had loved."

Well, there you have it. There is a spectacular crash, but miraculously nobody is really hurt except for Nina, who breaks a leg. As a result, she has to stay an implausibly long time in an implausibly pretty hospital under the care of the implausibly attractive Doctor Christos, who seems to have nothing better to do than to listen to Nina telling him the mess she has made of her life. As she develops a crush on the doctor, who of course studied in America and thus speaks perfect English, I could see we were descending rapidly into mid-life chick-lit. Good for a beach read, perhaps, but really too emotionally incestuous even for that.

Most of the book is back-story. Nina grew up near Edinburgh next door to an Italian family with two sons: Paolo and Luca. Luca was her best friend, but she married Paolo. It is immediately clear there have been some indiscretions, though the author is an infuriating tease about revealing just what they are. At one point, Nina tells Christos that she has a big confession to make; a dozen pages later, he asks her if she has made it yet, because nothing she has said seems all that earth-shaking. All right, she loved two brothers at the same time in different ways, so what? So Andrea Gillies complicates the back-story still further, throwing in Nina's parents, Luca's wife, and a couple of deaths that will make everybody feel guilty. But it is just too darned incestuous, as I say, too willfully engineered. There are a few surprises towards the end, a kind of self-deluding-narrator thing that will please some readers. But to reach Enlightenment do you really have to go through Endarklement first?

[Malinda Lawrence · Rating 2 out of 5]

"In some ways, hope is the worst thing; whenever there's fresh hope there's also something new to lose." (p. 44).

"Passion, on the other hand...there are feelings best kept in our heads, out of harm's way. There are feelings that could prove damaging, that make us vulnerable. Best to park those with the possible, with potential, and keep them there. The things that can never be lost; they're confined to your head, and remain there throughout, and are untouchable." (p. 151).

"Other things, other disappointments were cited, as if he'd compiled a list of long-ago infractions, as if the list had silently accrued, ready for the possibility of this moment's coming to pass." (p. 157).

"It's vital to live in the present. Live now. Not in everything that's gone wrong; not in tomorrow and what that might be like. Neither of those days really exists. ...If you don't liv in the present, right now, then it doesn't exist either. You end up with three nonexistent ideas of time, all three of them." (p. 163).

"People are revisionist about their feelings. They lose sight of how they felt, when they no longer feel whatever it is. Feelings are the hardest thing of all to remember, to put yourself back inside of." (p. 207).

"There was nothing for it but to treat the momentous as trivial and vice versa. Wasn't that how catastrophe was put in its place? The one-liners had always been reserved for the big things, the non-births, the deaths and betrayals." (p. 237).

"The past was gone and over and she had to be forward-looking now. People said you should trust your feelings, but sometimes that was bad advice. Feelings are conservative things, and reactionary, and bogged down in the past." (p. 256).

[Bookread2day · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another expertly written story. I read The White Lie that I enjoyed so much that try to keep a watch out for Andrea Gillies novels. I personally found it so very hard to close this new novel from Andrea Gillies. It seems that in The Enlightenment of Nina Findlay that Andrea has been even more dedicated to all the characters you can really relate to them all. All the scenery is so well described you can see the vision of all the places which is an added bonus to the story. Andrea has adapted a very good opening page that puts tears in your eyes. Nina is in on holiday in a tiny Greek Island where she had gone to 25 years earlier on her honeymoon. While Nina is taking in the views and taking photographs she is involved in a disastrous accident. A driver Andros is peering through his windscreen driving his minibus round the sharpest bend on the stony dirt road. The minibus was coming right at Nina. Questions were being asked Why he driving without lights? and was he driving too fast?.Nina is taken to hospital with her leg was snapped jagged between her ankle and her knee. Nina is glad that she has an English-speaking doctor to explain what has happened to her and what the doctor has had to do to her leg..Nina wanted a divorced, but her ex husbands brother who had loved her and whom she had loved. The Enlightenment of Nina Findlay is action packed with sharing Nina Findlay experiences. Andrea Gilllies is an author to keep a watch out for her next novel.

[Arja Salafranca · Rating 3 out of 5]

The fortysomething Nina Findlay is holidaying in Greece when an accident knocks her off her feet, literally and she is forced to recuperate in hospital on the island while her broken bones mend. While there she meets the kindly, simpatico doctor Dr Christos. As the story unfolds, a friendly intimacy develops between them and she finds herself telling her story to him, with he in turn revealing his own history. A time spent abroad, he’s now back on the island, apart from his own wife of many years.

Nina talks about the love triangle of sorts she’s been involved in her whole life with two Italian brothers, Poalo, whom she married and the dashing Luca, whose magnetism drew her from the beginning, but through life’s twists, he ended marrying someone else. But the pulse between them has never dimmed – although something has now happened, and she’s estranged from him, and also now separated from her husband.

This is an engaging read, seeped in the romance of a beguiling Greece. It raises issues of paths not taken in our lives, what could have been, what was and what eventually comes to pass. We must all make our decisions – whatever the outcome. And sometimes only in looking back can you see the patterns of what was, and perhaps even why. An assured, entertaining novel.

[Mary · Rating 2 out of 5]

Okay....this book was all over the place. I get that it was so back and forth because it was a story telling / full of flashbacks but the way it was done was kind of confusing. And there are so many details and parts of the story left out that you feel one way about certain characters the majority of the book and then in like the last 100 pages there's all this new unexpected information that's thrown at you and it makes you question everything you've just read / everything gets all jumbled. I get there are supposed to be plot twists and turns but this was just ridiculous. Also, the ending annoyed me. This thing that is so huge and important to the plot is revealed in the last 30ish pages and leaves you with so many unanswered questions and you have to go back and reconnect all the different points and things you just consumed. And then a lot of it doesn't really add up.
It kept my attention as a beach read, but honestly, I didn't enjoy most of it.

[Kristen Abell · Rating 2 out of 5]

I won this book in an ARC giveaway and I thought that I would really enjoy it but that was not the case. I found that this book was hard to finish because the main character Nina was nerve-wracking in her inability to make decisions. The book centered on a woman(Nina) recently separated from her husband after she had an affair with his brother. She took a trip to Greece to get away and ended up being hit by a bus and recuperating in the hospital. While there she met a doctor who developed feelings for her and she spent the remainder of the book trying to decide whether moving to Greece was right for her or whether she should return to her husband. I sensed a lack of dimension with the characters and I barely finished this book. I tried the entire book to feel sympathy for Nina's character but ending up disliking her and every other character in the end.

[J.Bayze · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the first two-thirds of this book, but felt that the last third was really tedious. It seemed like the author didn't know how she wanted to end it, so she threw in a whole bunch of twists and what-if's to cover all her bases and called it a day.

The story was interesting, as were the characters, but the BIG secret that Nina hinted at continuously was incredibly anticlimactic and, I felt, had little bearing on the book as a whole. In fact, I felt like this book left a whole lot of unanswered/ half-answered questions.

Overall, disappointing.

[Jennie Diplock-Storer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a luxurious read from a new author for me. I was spoilt by the literary style of this book. It was just divine. The author's attention to detail & description of scenery was vivid. She took me to Greece!

Nina is confused & traumatised. The last few years of her life have thrown her massively destructive curve balls. She goes to Greece to escape, only to be involved in an accident.

During her recuperation she reflects on her life, sharing her story with her doctor. We travel through her story in the telling.

Another highly recommend book. Incredibly readable!

[Merry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Andrea Gillies excels I think at painting her characters into a situation and then, slowly, slowly explaining and revealing.

At first I thought - oh. Right, surprising but OK - this is a Shirley Valentine kind of a thing. (It is not.) But I continued happily from there because she engages you immediately and the next thing you know you're a 100 pages in and it's half-past midnight...

Thoroughly enjoyed it. I will probably read it again - chiefly because of the feminine wisdom.

[Gail · Rating 1 out of 5]

So annoying to throw in some zinger at the end that makes no sense, that the reader could not anticipate, that ostensibly changes up the novel. Like having the murder committed by someone who doesn't appear until the last page. And, tedious to get to the ending with characters almost uniformly unappealing. Why did I finish this? Holiday, library closed, last of the new books. Did make me want to go to a Greek island though.

[Nicholas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Goodreads win. Will read and review once received.

This was a well written story. This was a good story that held my attention. It was a first book for me from this author. I could see myself being able to easily relate to most of the characters. I can definitely see myself reading more from this author. An author to keep an eye on.

[Γιώτα Παπαδημακοπούλου · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eίναι ένα εξαιρετικά καλογραμμένο βιβλίο, με ουσία, το οποίο έχει κάτι να πει και δεν σκιαγραφεί απλά τους χαρακτήρες και τη ζωή τους, αλλά μας κάνει να τη ζήσουμε μέσα από αυτούς. Τρυφερό, αληθινό, ανθρώπινο και πολύ ρεαλιστικό.

(Αναλυτικό review αν τελικά κυκλοφορήσει...)

[Patricia Geller · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this book. Interesting take on how we are influenced by our parent's marriage and how deeds in past reverate in the present. Gillies ddoes a good job taking you on a tour of the main characters internal world.

[Delight · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really didn't like this book about a woman who marries a man but is in love (or something) with his brother. None of the characters are sympathetic at all. I kept reading thinking there had to be more to it and that it was going to get better. Nope.

[Julie · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 An ultimately unsatisfying and tedious novel about Nina Findlay, her husband, his brother, and their relationships. I don't know why I stuck with this novel, but I felt compelled to find out how it ended.

[Andrea InCoorparoo · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is about one woman's memories of incidents, memories of feelings and perceptions of relationships. All her close relationships have been complex and entangled. The revelations of tangled secrets kept me interested enough to keep reading, but it was a slow read at times.