Who makes a better mom? The mother or the nanny?

The novel's first sentence tells the story: "I'm kidnapping a child."

She is kidnapping a child, and the rest of the book is a working out of the consequences as told by Maju, Cora's nanny, and in alternate chapters by Mrs. Fernanda, Cora's mother.

The Tokyo Suite by Giovana Madalosso and convincingly translated from by Portuguese by Bruna Dantas Lobato (and shame on Europa Editions for not including Lovato's credit on the cover) is set in contemporary Sao Paolo and on the road to Paraguay.

Maju is kidnapping Cora, who seems around four years old, because she believes she will be a better mother—more loving, more attentive—than Mrs. Fernanda, who we first see in the second chapter having sex with her female lover. Fernanda is successful, powerful, affluent, stressed television executive whose husband is emotionally detached, just along for the ride.

The Tokyo Suite is the ironic name the Fernandas have given Maju's very modest room, perhaps because it is the most remote in the apartment. A revealing chapter is Mrs. Fernanda's inspection of the room.

The Tokyo Suite is an interesting and engaging story. I was not distracted—or lost—by the shift back and forth in first-person point of view. Madalosso gives us enough detail about contemporary Brazilian life that we understand why Maju and Mrs. Fernanda do (or don't do) what they do. Cora is believable as a very young child who loves her nanny and misses her mommy. Maju truly believes she is giving Cora a better life by taking her to Paraguay. Mrs. Fernanda has difficulty accepting that she has to deal with a kidnapped daughter in addition to her business and personal difficulties.

I had no idea where The Tokyo Suite was going and am delighted I found it.