A slow-paced tale, but hopefully its sequel will pack in a little more action.
A king struggles to rule with authority in Oak’s (Anna’s Awakening, 2011, etc.) historical novel.
History remembers Charlemagne as an eighth-century Christian ruler who united Western Europe and carried the titles of King of the Franks and Holy Roman Emperor. According to Oak’s novel, he was also a man at the mercy of the women in his life. Charlemagne’s first marriage falls apart thanks in no small part to his strong-willed, meddling mother. As he battles his guilt over the situation, he realizes that he may be freed up to marry the lovely, intelligent, and kind Hildegard. Yet his mother, in a move of political expediency, has already arranged for him to marry Desiderata, the Princess of Lombardy. Neither Charlemagne nor his brother Carloman trust the proposed alliance, as the King of Lombardy is hungry for power. Yet Charlemagne allows the wedding to proceed, breaking Hildegard’s heart. Predictably, bad things soon happen. Carloman is poisoned and his widow flees to Lombardy, and the marriage between Charlemagne and Desiderata is indeed miserable. The pope is also unhappy about the new wedding, while poor Hildegard pines away for Charlemagne and bemoans his lack of true leadership. Oak’s novel hews to the historical facts of Charlemagne’s life but imagines the details of his personal relationships. She includes several intriguing plotlines; the opening scene involving murderous bandits is compelling, and moments depicting the complicated relationship between church and state (and particularly between Charlemagne and the pope) are promising. Unfortunately, they’re relegated to the background, as Oak dedicates far too much space to the king’s relationships with his mother and Hildegard. In the many scenes depicting Charlemagne’s struggles with the overbearing queen mother, she’s said to be a “master of deceit,” while he’s the “world’s biggest fool.” When he’s not consumed by his annoyance with his mother, Charlemagne moons over Hildegard, behaving more like an angst-filled teenager than a great ruler with a kingdom to worry about. When he laments, “Must I always be punished or in pain, lose the people I need,” before he wraps his arms around himself, he’s not exactly the picture of inspiration. A cliffhanger ending teases a second installment.
A slow-paced tale, but hopefully its sequel will pack in a little more action.Pub Date: Jan. 13, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-9842768-1-3
Page Count: 436
Publisher: At Last Communications
Review Posted Online: July 13, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.
A violent surfacing of adolescence (which has little in common with Tarkington's earlier, broadly comic, Seventeen) has a compulsive impact.
"Nobody big except me" is the dream world of Holden Caulfield and his first person story is down to the basic, drab English of the pre-collegiate. For Holden is now being bounced from fancy prep, and, after a vicious evening with hall- and roommates, heads for New York to try to keep his latest failure from his parents. He tries to have a wild evening (all he does is pay the check), is terrorized by the hotel elevator man and his on-call whore, has a date with a girl he likes—and hates, sees his 10 year old sister, Phoebe. He also visits a sympathetic English teacher after trying on a drunken session, and when he keeps his date with Phoebe, who turns up with her suitcase to join him on his flight, he heads home to a hospital siege. This is tender and true, and impossible, in its picture of the old hells of young boys, the lonesomeness and tentative attempts to be mature and secure, the awful block between youth and being grown-up, the fright and sickness that humans and their behavior cause the challenging, the dramatization of the big bang. It is a sorry little worm's view of the off-beat of adult pressure, of contemporary strictures and conformity, of sentiment….
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.Pub Date: June 15, 1951
ISBN: 0316769177
Page Count: -
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1951
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