JADE EAGLE

by Elizabeth Baldwin Hazelton ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 1970

Overwrought, yes -- the prose crafted with poetic deliberacy, the plot a grand schema of layered inventions, deceptions -- but classically romantic, withal, undeniably spellbinding. The storyteller is Victoria Velarde Morgan, sixteen, the compleat heroine in what might be the most recent installment of a genealogical trilogy begun with her grandmother, model, and mentor, the Dona Victoria Velarde Morgan -- untitled dowager-queen of Mexi-California gentry. Alter-egos, mirror-images, the two women enjoy uncommon intimacy: both are strong and proud, have overcome the loss of son and father and the separation of these seven years that Vicki's been at school in Switzerland; their trust and extra-sensitive communication hasn't flagged -- indeed it's just the instinct of some not-quite-rightness with that last long-distance call that brings Vicki home. . . to a masterfully conceived criminal operation. Dona Vic is not the patient of the unctuous and temperamental Dr. Ybarra, but his captive, and in fact she's not even the same Dona Vic regularly, but sometimes her cousin the bitter Vicenta incognito. All of which Vicki soon perceives, yet not until the puzzle of Ricardo, 21, is solved -- his odd resemblance to the ancestral Don Nario II whose portrait isn't in its place, his proclamation of affection for her, then his seeming complicity with the others. The jade eagle ring is symbol of the rancho itself, of Dona Vic's impending death according to tradition, of a childhood game that unlocks further clues in Vicki's restless memory. Of so much more, too much to tell, save that it brings about rescue as well, after Ricardo has sacrificed his life at his own moment of truth. . . . Outrageous and stunning at once, begging to be read with absolute involvement -- and total concession.

Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1970

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Scribners

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1970

Categories: FICTION