A rousing story of love and sacrifice.
Kibbie’s (Rustle, 2017) novel follows a British gay couple who explore their pasts to make peace with their present.
In London, small-business accountant James Wilde and his partner, Arthur Pensinger, a construction worker, are in love but fear for their safety daily. They tell no one of their union; they’re simply “two lads sharing the rent” to the outside world, because “if anyone knew the truth, they would go to jail.” The men acquire their first television, truly a luxury item, in order to witness British history in motion as Queen Elizabeth II is crowned. The men soon learn of the heartbreaking death of their close friend Harold Marlin, the butler to wealthy Baroness Lady Barlow who’d cared for them as children, many years prior. James and Arthur evacuated London to avoid the Nazi bombings during World War II, and they were taken in at the baroness’s Willowind House. Harold’s dying wish spurs James and Arthur to travel to Scotland to investigate whether the now-deceased baroness’s suicidal son Matthew is still alive. With eccentric, hard-drinking landlady Viola Wylit and Harold’s grandson, Lance, along for the ride, the men begin digging into Matthew’s past. Over the course of this historical novel, Kibbie displays a talent for characterization, and he also exhibits a firm grasp of British conversational style as well as common colloquialisms, which add an air of authenticity to an already engrossing story. Even more enticing are the flashbacks that reveal details of James’ and Arthur’s childhoods. A sense of suspense and mystery propel the narrative forward, which eventually results in surprising confessions and an emotional reunion. Overall, it’s an ambitious, dynamic debut.
A rousing story of love and sacrifice.Pub Date: Nov. 15, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-947041-32-5
Page Count: 276
Publisher: Running Wild Press
Review Posted Online: Oct. 9, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A first novel, this is also a first person account of Scout's (Jean Louise) recall of the years that led to the ending of a mystery, the breaking of her brother Jem's elbow, the death of her father's enemy — and the close of childhood years. A widower, Atticus raises his children with legal dispassion and paternal intelligence, and is ably abetted by Calpurnia, the colored cook, while the Alabama town of Maycomb, in the 1930's, remains aloof to their divergence from its tribal patterns. Scout and Jem, with their summer-time companion, Dill, find their paths free from interference — but not from dangers; their curiosity about the imprisoned Boo, whose miserable past is incorporated in their play, results in a tentative friendliness; their fears of Atticus' lack of distinction is dissipated when he shoots a mad dog; his defense of a Negro accused of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell, is followed with avid interest and turns the rabble whites against him. Scout is the means of averting an attack on Atticus but when he loses the case it is Boo who saves Jem and Scout by killing Mayella's father when he attempts to murder them. The shadows of a beginning for black-white understanding, the persistent fight that Scout carries on against school, Jem's emergence into adulthood, Calpurnia's quiet power, and all the incidents touching on the children's "growing outward" have an attractive starchiness that keeps this southern picture pert and provocative. There is much advance interest in this book; it has been selected by the Literary Guild and Reader's Digest; it should win many friends.
Pub Date: July 11, 1960
ISBN: 0060935464
Page Count: 323
Publisher: Lippincott
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1960
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles...
Sisters in and out of love.
Meghann Dontess is a high-powered matrimonial lawyer in Seattle who prefers sex with strangers to emotional intimacy: a strategy bound to backfire sooner or later, warns her tough-talking shrink. It’s advice Meghann decides to ignore, along with the memories of her difficult childhood, neglectful mother, and younger sister. Though she managed to reunite Claire with Sam Cavenaugh (her father but not Meghann’s) when her mother abandoned both girls long ago, Meghann still feels guilty that her sister’s life doesn’t measure up, at least on her terms. Never married, Claire ekes out a living running a country campground with her dad and is raising her six-year-old daughter on her own. When she falls in love for the first time with an up-and-coming country musician, Meghann is appalled: Bobby Austin is a three-time loser at marriage—how on earth can Claire be so blind? Bobby’s blunt explanation doesn’t exactly satisfy the concerned big sister, who busies herself planning Claire’s dream wedding anyway. And, to relieve the stress, she beds various guys she picks up in bars, including Dr. Joe Wyatt, a neurosurgeon turned homeless drifter after the demise of his beloved wife Diane (whom he euthanized). When Claire’s awful headache turns out to be a kind of brain tumor known among neurologists as a “terminator,” Joe rallies. Turns out that Claire had befriended his wife on her deathbed, and now in turn he must try to save her. Is it too late? Will Meghann find true love at last?
Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles (Distant Shores, 2002, etc.). Kudos for skipping the snifflefest this time around.Pub Date: May 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-345-45073-6
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2003
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