A slow paced and ultimately depressing tale of a not-often-depicted place and time that will, though somewhat flawed,...
It is 18th-century Montreal, and 15-year-old Françoise Laurent has been sentenced to be hanged. How she came to that position is only gradually uncovered.
In a first-person narration that seems oddly inappropriate to Françoise’s humble background, she slowly reveals the hardships of her life: extreme poverty, brutally hard work, a total lack of education—until her father decides to teach her to read after her brother is stillborn—and a grim absence of any hope for a better future. Her character loosely based on a real person, the only living child of an often-drunk, failed soldier and his hard-drinking, prostitute-turned-washerwoman and wife, Françoise’s spirited guidance is the only thing that keeps them alive at all. When tragedy leads to the unexpected opportunity to become the personal maid to a wealthy, embittered lady, things seem to be looking up for her—at least until she makes a serious yet intentional blunder that results in her downfall. Françoise’s detailed descriptions of all that she sees provide a depth to the narrative but also slow it to a sometimes frustratingly languid pace. Her insights and language, while interesting, fail to ring completely true, given her uneducated, near-destitute upbringing.
A slow paced and ultimately depressing tale of a not-often-depicted place and time that will, though somewhat flawed, satisfy dedicated historical-fiction fans. (Historical fiction. 11 & up)Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-55451-357-4
Page Count: 232
Publisher: Annick Press
Review Posted Online: Sept. 13, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2011
Heartbreaking, historical, and a little bit hopeful.
January 1945: as Russians advance through East Prussia, four teens’ lives converge in hopes of escape.
Returning to the successful formula of her highly lauded debut, Between Shades of Gray (2011), Sepetys combines research (described in extensive backmatter) with well-crafted fiction to bring to life another little-known story: the sinking (from Soviet torpedoes) of the German ship Wilhelm Gustloff. Told in four alternating voices—Lithuanian nurse Joana, Polish Emilia, Prussian forger Florian, and German soldier Alfred—with often contemporary cadences, this stints on neither history nor fiction. The three sympathetic refugees and their motley companions (especially an orphaned boy and an elderly shoemaker) make it clear that while the Gustloff was a German ship full of German civilians and soldiers during World War II, its sinking was still a tragedy. Only Alfred, stationed on the Gustloff, lacks sympathy; almost a caricature, he is self-delusional, unlikable, a Hitler worshiper. As a vehicle for exposition, however, and a reminder of Germany’s role in the war, he serves an invaluable purpose that almost makes up for the mustache-twirling quality of his petty villainy. The inevitability of the ending (including the loss of several characters) doesn’t change its poignancy, and the short chapters and slowly revealed back stories for each character guarantee the pages keep turning.
Heartbreaking, historical, and a little bit hopeful. (author’s note, research and sources, maps) (Historical fiction. 12-16)Pub Date: Feb. 2, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-399-16030-1
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2015
PROFILES
An enticing, turbulent, and satisfying final voyage.
Adrian, the youngest of the Montague siblings, sails into tumultuous waters in search of answers about himself, the sudden death of his mother, and her mysterious, cracked spyglass.
On the summer solstice less than a year ago, Caroline Montague fell off a cliff in Aberdeen into the sea. When the Scottish hostel where she was staying sends a box of her left-behind belongings to London, Adrian—an anxious, White nobleman on the cusp of joining Parliament—discovers one of his mother’s most treasured possessions, an antique spyglass. She acquired it when she was the sole survivor of a shipwreck many years earlier. His mother always carried that spyglass with her, but on the day of her death, she had left it behind in her room. Although he never knew its full significance, Adrian is haunted by new questions and is certain the spyglass will lead him to the truth. Once again, Lee crafts an absorbing adventure with dangerous stakes, dynamic character growth, sharp social and political commentary, and a storm of emotion. Inseparable from his external search for answers about his mother, Adrian seeks a solution for himself, an end to his struggle with mental illness—a journey handled with hopeful, gentle honesty that validates the experiences of both good and bad days. Characters from the first two books play significant secondary roles, and the resolution ties up their loose ends. Humorous antics provide a well-measured balance with the heavier themes.
An enticing, turbulent, and satisfying final voyage. (Historical fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: Nov. 16, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-06-291601-3
Page Count: 464
Publisher: Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Aug. 31, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2021
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