Despite the fact that Healey tries to deliver an entertaining romance, some readers may feel uncomfortable with the...
Healey takes poetic license in his debut novel about a “forgotten” manuscript—supposedly found among his deceased grandfather’s belongings—that tells the story of a romantic relationship between two of American’s most well-known early writers.
Autobiographies and historical documents about the lives of long-dead prominent figures sometimes pique the imagination of novelists who then seize the opportunity to flesh out the subjects’ lives. Healey’s narrative, about a journey undertaken by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, and siblings Austin and Emily Dickinson, endeavors to humanize the three authors along with a young Walt Whitman. It’s the summer of 1851, and Melville’s wife, Elizabeth, is heavy with their second child when Hawthorne convinces Melville to travel with him. The two men show up at the Dickinson home in Amherst and invite Emily, barely 20, and her older brother to join them as they travel to Boston and New York. The foursome sets sail to New York from Fall River, and Emily is thrilled with the excitement of this new experience. She’s also drawn to Melville, who’s more than a decade her senior. The two end up on deck during the late hours of the night and share a kiss. Hawthorne, the staunchly conservative eldest of the group, is angry when he learns of Melville’s attraction to Emily, and he parts ways with them. Reduced to a threesome, the travelers meet Whitman, attend a dinner party and go to an oyster restaurant. Melville and Emily decide to take a different route home via the Long Island Railroad, but Austin decides to travel home via Boston because he has to attend to some personal business. Whitman (who’s involved in the Underground Railroad) accompanies the couple on the train as he helps a runaway slave to escape to the North and to freedom. Throughout the narrative, key characters expound upon religion, slavery, the fears that drive men, love, sexual orientation and societal institutions. Readers who know a bit about these authors’ lives will not be shocked by Whitman’s dalliances or Melville’s exploits.
Despite the fact that Healey tries to deliver an entertaining romance, some readers may feel uncomfortable with the liberties he takes with these literary icons.Pub Date: May 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-61145-830-5
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Arcade
Review Posted Online: March 30, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2013
A thoughtful and pensive tale with intelligent characters and a satisfying romance.
A promise to his best friend leads an Army serviceman to a family in need and a chance at true love in this novel.
Beckett Gentry is surprised when his Army buddy Ryan MacKenzie gives him a letter from Ryan’s sister, Ella. Abandoned by his mother, Beckett grew up in a series of foster homes. He is wary of attachments until he reads Ella’s letter. A single mother, Ella lives with her twins, Maisie and Colt, at Solitude, the resort she operates in Telluride, Colorado. They begin a correspondence, although Beckett can only identify himself by his call sign, Chaos. After Ryan’s death during a mission, Beckett travels to Telluride as his friend had requested. He bonds with the twins while falling deeply in love with Ella. Reluctant to reveal details of Ryan’s death and risk causing her pain, Beckett declines to disclose to Ella that he is Chaos. Maisie needs treatment for neuroblastoma, and Beckett formally adopts the twins as a sign of his commitment to support Ella and her children. He and Ella pursue a romance, but when an insurance investigator questions the adoption, Beckett is faced with revealing the truth about the letters and Ryan’s death, risking losing the family he loves. Yarros’ (Wilder, 2016, etc.) novel is a deeply felt and emotionally nuanced contemporary romance bolstered by well-drawn characters and strong, confident storytelling. Beckett and Ella are sympathetic protagonists whose past experiences leave them cautious when it comes to love. Beckett never knew the security of a stable home life. Ella impulsively married her high school boyfriend, but the marriage ended when he discovered she was pregnant. The author is especially adept at developing the characters through subtle but significant details, like Beckett’s aversion to swearing. Beckett and Ella’s romance unfolds slowly in chapters that alternate between their first-person viewpoints. The letters they exchanged are pivotal to their connection, and almost every chapter opens with one. Yarros’ writing is crisp and sharp, with passages that are poetic without being florid. For example, in a letter to Beckett, Ella writes of motherhood: “But I’m not the center of their universe. I’m more like their gravity.” While the love story is the book’s focus, the subplot involving Maisie’s illness is equally well-developed, and the link between Beckett and the twins is heartfelt and sincere.
A thoughtful and pensive tale with intelligent characters and a satisfying romance.Pub Date: Feb. 26, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-64063-533-3
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Entangled: Amara
Review Posted Online: Jan. 2, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Hannah, after eight paperbacks, abandons her successful time-travelers for a hardcover life of kitchen-sink romance. Everyone must have got the Olympic Peninsula memo for this spring because, as of this reading, authors Hannah, Nora Roberts, and JoAnn Ross have all placed their newest romances in or near the Quinault rain forest. Here, 40ish Annie Colwater, returns to Washington State after her husband, high-powered Los Angeles lawyer Blake, tells her he’s found another (younger) woman and wants a divorce. Although a Stanford graduate, Annie has known only a life of perfect wifedom: matching Blake’s ties to his suits and cooking meals from Gourmet magazine. What is she to do with her shattered life? Well, she returns to dad’s house in the small town of Mystic, cuts off all her hair (for a different look), and goes to work as a nanny for lawman Nick Delacroix, whose wife has committed suicide, whose young daughter Izzy refuses to speak, and who himself has descended into despair and alcoholism. Annie spruces up Nick’s home on Mystic Lake and sends “Izzy-bear” back into speech mode. And, after Nick begins attending AA meetings, she and he become lovers. Still, when Annie learns that she’s pregnant not with Nick’s but with Blake’s child, she heads back to her empty life in the Malibu Colony. The baby arrives prematurely, and mean-spirited Blake doesn’t even stick around to support his wife. At this point, it’s perfectly clear to Annie—and the reader—that she’s justified in taking her newborn daughter and driving back north. Hannah’s characters indulge in so many stages of the weeps, from glassy eyes to flat-out sobs, that tear ducts are almost bound to stay dry. (First printing of 100,000; first serial to Good Housekeeping; Literary Guild/Doubleday book club selections)
Pub Date: March 31, 1999
ISBN: 0-609-60249-7
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1999
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
