Another historical romp from novelist/screenwriter Ephron (A Cup of Tea, 1997, etc.), who this time takes us south of the border and over the waves to Cuba on the eve of the Spanish-American War. By the end of the 19th century, the Spanish Empire had pretty much folded up its tent for good, at least in the Americas. Cuba was the only colony of any significance left, and even there the move for independence (under JosÇ Mart°) was growing stronger every day; soon a military government was established, and rebels were hunted down assiduously and either deported or killed outright. Among the rebellious was Augustin Cisneros, a plantation foreman who had become a staunch patriot. Arrested for activities on behalf of the independence movement, Cisneros was sentenced to death by firing squad. His teenaged daughter Evangelina was able to intervene on his behalf, however, and the sentence was commuted to imprisonment on the Isle of Pines, one of the infamous concentration camps set up by the Spaniards to contain the rebellion. Evangelina is allowed to accompany her father to the Isle of Pines, and there the camp commandant falls in love with her. To resist his advances, Evangelina stabs him and is arrested as a rebel in her own right. When she’s sent to the African penal colony of Ceuta, Evangelina’s case became a cause cÇläbre, inflaming world opinion against Spain. Enter Karl Decker. A reporter for Hearst’s New York Journal, Decker is sent to Cuba to rescue Evangelina from prison. Using his press credentials to gain access, he pretends to interview Evangelina while laying the plan for her escape. Along the way, the two fall in love, and once Evangelina is out of harm’s way in New York, Decker has to find a way to pull off his own escape—from his wife Katherine. But some prisons are more easily sprung than others. A vivid embellishment of a true account, Ephron’s story is quick and lively enough to outrun the tedium that’s the bane of historical romances.
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-688-16314-9
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Morrow/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1999
Anyone who believes in true love or is simply willing to accept it as the premise of a winding tale will find this debut an...
True love flares between two people, but they find that circumstances always impede it.
On a winter day in London, Laurie spots Jack from her bus home and he sparks a feeling in her so deep that she spends the next year searching for him. Her roommate and best friend, Sarah, is the perfect wing-woman but ultimately—and unknowingly—ends the search by finding Jack and falling for him herself. Laurie’s hasty decision not to tell Sarah is the second painful missed opportunity (after not getting off the bus), but Sarah’s happiness is so important to Laurie that she dedicates ample energy into retraining her heart not to love Jack. Laurie is misguided, but her effort and loyalty spring from a true heart, and she considers her project mostly successful. Perhaps she would have total success, but the fact of the matter is that Jack feels the same deep connection to Laurie. His reasons for not acting on them are less admirable: He likes Sarah and she’s the total package; why would he give that up just because every time he and Laurie have enough time together (and just enough alcohol) they nearly fall into each other’s arms? Laurie finally begins to move on, creating a mostly satisfying life for herself, whereas Jack’s inability to be genuine tortures him and turns him into an ever bigger jerk. Patriarchy—it hurts men, too! There’s no question where the book is going, but the pacing is just right, the tone warm, and the characters sympathetic, even when making dumb decisions.
Anyone who believes in true love or is simply willing to accept it as the premise of a winding tale will find this debut an emotional, satisfying read.Pub Date: Oct. 16, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-525-57468-2
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: July 30, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
To her usual mix of love, mystery, and passion, Roberts (Sanctuary, 1997, etc.)—author of 115 romancers in some 17 years—adds Renaissance art and a decidedly Medici-like family: the Joneses of Maine. Dr. Miranda Jones, nearly six feet with flaming red hair and a glacial reserve, is an archeometrist who specializes in the analyzing and dating of Renaissance bronze sculpture. Miranda hopes to secure a world-class reputation for herself by authenticating a 15th-century statue of the Dark Lady, one of the mistresses of Lorenzo the Magnificent, as the undiscovered work of a young Michelangelo. Miranda's mother, Dr. Elizabeth Standford-Jones, the emotionally remote director of the Standjo art lab in Florence, has summoned her daughter from the family's Victorian cliffside home in Jones Point, Maine, to test the statue. Meanwhile, Miranda's father, equally remote, is an archaeologist who spends more time at his digs than at home. In fact, no one in the Jones family has made a successful run at marriage, a failure that Miranda and her alcoholic brother Andrew call the Jones curse. As for the statue, when it's discovered to be a fake, Miranda sets out to prove that someone stole the original. In this she's helped by gorgeous art thief Ryan Boldari (half-Italian, half-Irish), who's come to Jones Point to steal yet another bronze, which also turns out to be a forgery. Ryan's plan had been to use Miranda as a pawn, but now, naturally, he finds himself falling hard for her. While the two search for bronzes, a standard-issue romance-novel psychotic is stalking them. Most readers will twig to the killer's identity: Here, as always, Roberts's sexual tension is more compelling than her suspense. Perhaps it's time to take a sabbatical from the pink sweatshop and turn her considerable wit and narrative skills to a more original piece of work.
Pub Date: March 23, 1998
ISBN: 0-399-14387-4
Page Count: 464
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 1998
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