So along comes Verity Trueman. Though she goes by the Asian-sounding nickname of Veetie, she is of British ancestry and gullibility. Ricky-Rashid falls so madly into middle-aged love with her that he directs "an extraordinary charm offensive" at "Gerry and Babs, Verity's horsey parents," and wins them over. Now sometimes Ricky and sometimes Rashid, he decides to maintain two marriages and two households on different continents, with Henna apparently none the wiser.
Meanwhile Parvez and Shona experience their own form of disillusionment, but not before they have become the parents of handsome twins. The boys are so good-looking, the parents decide, that they should have movie-star middle names; from then on they are known as Omar and Sharif. Parvez fades from the book after this point, but as to how Shona's and the twins' destinies play out, it may be helpful to know the following: Farooki's college studies were like Omar's, she fell in love cross-culturally as Shona does and she worked in advertising. Although she is an obviously talented writer, her past professional life may contribute to this novel's excessive overlaps and coincidences. It also has a tendency to let no loose end go untied.
By the end of this enjoyably breezy book it becomes clear that Farooki has been maneuvering her characters toward a major showdown. She contrives a twist of fate that will drag their hidden lives into the light. To her credit, she does not make Bitter Sweets descend into either screwball revelations or angry ones. Despite its emphasis on deception, dislocation and the loss of love, her book retains a cheery consistency: It has managed to be sunnily devious from the start. And it delivers a refreshing message. Only by means of all their elaborate deceptions do these characters figure out who they really are.
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