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FAREWELL, MY ONLY ONE

The story is much better told in Helen Waddell’s deservedly popular 1933 classic Peter Abelard.

One of history’s great loves is reexamined by a former French publishing executive.

Here, the tale of Heloise and Abelard is narrated by the fictional William of Oxford, an itinerant young copyist whose wanderings take him, in 1116, to the abbey of Fontrevault and two life-altering encounters. The first is with eminent scholar-teacher-theologian Peter Abelard, who has by his 40th year become both revered and reviled for the matchless rational powers that take the forms of “his audacity and his blasphemous comparisons.” The second is with the beautiful Heloise, niece and ward of powerful Canon Fulbert—with whom William falls instantly and unrequitedly in love. Over the succeeding years, repressing his yearnings, William becomes Abelard’s devoted disciple and a pained witness to the great teacher’s passionate appropriation of the willing Heloise, herself possessed of an intellect as powerful and hungry as is the romantic desire Abelard stirs in her. As William moves in and out of Abelard’s orbit, the famous story is told: of the lovers’ “secret marriage” and the birth of their son; Canon Fulbert’s violent revenge (the castration of his niece’s seducer); Abelard’s distracted transformation from argumentative rebel into “a man of God who has been punished but purified”; and the years of separation, ending with Abelard’s death and Heloise’s renunciation of the world as she becomes a respected abbess. Audouard has researched his materials impeccably and constructed a sometimes affecting but otherwise middling narrative. The problem is William. Audouard’s emphasis on his emotions distracts attention from his lovers—and William’s arbitrary journeys and meetings never become anything but storytelling strategies. Only at end, when the celebrated exchange of letters from which the world knows of Heloise and Abelard is finally acknowledged, do we understand why Audouard created this really unnecessary character.

The story is much better told in Helen Waddell’s deservedly popular 1933 classic Peter Abelard.

Pub Date: Aug. 6, 2004

ISBN: 0-618-15286-5

Page Count: 336

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2004

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WE WERE THE LUCKY ONES

Too beholden to sentimentality and cliché, this novel fails to establish a uniquely realized perspective.

Hunter’s debut novel tracks the experiences of her family members during the Holocaust.

Sol and Nechuma Kurc, wealthy, cultured Jews in Radom, Poland, are successful shop owners; they and their grown children live a comfortable lifestyle. But that lifestyle is no protection against the onslaught of the Holocaust, which eventually scatters the members of the Kurc family among several continents. Genek, the oldest son, is exiled with his wife to a Siberian gulag. Halina, youngest of all the children, works to protect her family alongside her resistance-fighter husband. Addy, middle child, a composer and engineer before the war breaks out, leaves Europe on one of the last passenger ships, ending up thousands of miles away. Then, too, there are Mila and Felicia, Jakob and Bella, each with their own share of struggles—pain endured, horrors witnessed. Hunter conducted extensive research after learning that her grandfather (Addy in the book) survived the Holocaust. The research shows: her novel is thorough and precise in its details. It’s less precise in its language, however, which frequently relies on cliché. “You’ll get only one shot at this,” Halina thinks, enacting a plan to save her husband. “Don’t botch it.” Later, Genek, confronting a routine bit of paperwork, must decide whether or not to hide his Jewishness. “That form is a deal breaker,” he tells himself. “It’s life and death.” And: “They are low, it seems, on good fortune. And something tells him they’ll need it.” Worse than these stale phrases, though, are the moments when Hunter’s writing is entirely inadequate for the subject matter at hand. Genek, describing the gulag, calls the nearest town “a total shitscape.” This is a low point for Hunter’s writing; elsewhere in the novel, it’s stronger. Still, the characters remain flat and unknowable, while the novel itself is predictable. At this point, more than half a century’s worth of fiction and film has been inspired by the Holocaust—a weighty and imposing tradition. Hunter, it seems, hasn’t been able to break free from her dependence on it.

Too beholden to sentimentality and cliché, this novel fails to establish a uniquely realized perspective.

Pub Date: Feb. 14, 2017

ISBN: 978-0-399-56308-9

Page Count: 416

Publisher: Viking

Review Posted Online: Nov. 21, 2016

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2016

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MAGIC HOUR

Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.

Sisters work together to solve a child-abandonment case.

Ellie and Julia Cates have never been close. Julia is shy and brainy; Ellie gets by on charm and looks. Their differences must be tossed aside when a traumatized young girl wanders in from the forest into their hometown in Washington. The sisters’ professional skills are put to the test. Julia is a world-renowned child psychologist who has lost her edge. She is reeling from a case that went publicly sour. Though she was cleared of all wrongdoing, Julia’s name was tarnished, forcing her to shutter her Beverly Hills practice. Ellie Barton is the local police chief in Rain Valley, who’s never faced a tougher case. This is her chance to prove she is more than just a fading homecoming queen, but a scarcity of clues and a reluctant victim make locating the girl’s parents nearly impossible. Ellie places an SOS call to her sister; she needs an expert to rehabilitate this wild-child who has been living outside of civilization for years. Confronted with her professional demons, Julia once again has the opportunity to display her talents and salvage her reputation. Hannah (The Things We Do for Love, 2004, etc.) is at her best when writing from the girl’s perspective. The feral wolf-child keeps the reader interested long after the other, transparent characters have grown tiresome. Hannah’s torturously over-written romance passages are stale, but there are surprises in store as the sisters set about unearthing Alice’s past and creating a home for her.

Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.

Pub Date: March 1, 2006

ISBN: 0-345-46752-3

Page Count: 400

Publisher: Ballantine

Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2005

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