A well-researched, honest, and grim portrayal of the effects of the Great War.
Tweeddale’s historical novel follows the real-life Drewe and Lutyens families of England from the famed Castle Drogo’s commission to the throes of World War I.
In the fall of 1910, renowned architect Edwin Lutyens receives a letter from Sir Julius Drewe commissioning him to design a castle for him on Dartmoor. Between his vocational travels to India, Lutyens works with his daughter Celia and apprentice engineer Peter Hall to design a castle that blends classical and modern styles. As the castle plans commence, however, both families are politically, emotionally, and financially embroiled in the movements of the time, with members offering myriad opinions, religious views, and political perspectives about the war and enlistment. The families work together through Castle Drogo’s stone-laying ceremony; before long, however, circumstances lead to Christian “Kit” Drewe, one of Julius’ three sons, moving to Vienna and becoming estranged from his father. Meanwhile, the Lutyens family becomes divided as the matriarch, Emily Lutyens, becomes devoted to Jiddu Krishnamurti and the theosophy movement, aiming to persuade her daughter Celia of theosophy’s merits, and eventually, the hawkish Order of the White Feather. Sir Julius gets involved with a scheme to transport war goods with his ships in the hope of continued wealth. Kit returns to England and faces pressure to enlist, while the eldest son, Adrian Drewe, balances his own desires with his father’s demands. Divided into 10 parts, attorney Tweeddale’s well-researched debut novel expertly balances complex personal and political dynamics before and during the Great War. The author effectively integrates artistry, ancient stories, legends, war journals, and letters that add historical accuracy and emotional honesty to the work. The setting descriptions mirror both the characters’ emotional states and the darkness of the times, which give the novel a sense of dimension. However, the abrupt ending feels anticlimactic and unsatisfying—even if it does emphasize the horrors of World War I—and that such devastation has the potential to repeat itself.
A well-researched, honest, and grim portrayal of the effects of the Great War.Pub Date: Sept. 15, 2022
ISBN: 9781739612207
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: Nov. 11, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
An engaging, imaginative narrative hampered by its lack of subtlety.
The Medusa myth, reimagined as an Afrocentric, feminist tale with the Gorgon recast as avenging hero.
In mythological Greece, where gods still have a hand in the lives of humans, 17-year-old Medusa lives on an island with her parents, old sea gods who were overthrown at the rise of the Olympians, and her sisters, Euryale and Stheno. The elder sisters dote on Medusa and bond over the care of her “locs...my dearest physical possession.” Their idyll is broken when Euryale is engaged to be married to a cruel demi-god. Medusa intervenes, and a chain of events leads her to a meeting with the goddess Athena, who sees in her intelligence, curiosity, and a useful bit of rage. Athena chooses Medusa for training in Athens to become a priestess at the Parthenon. She joins the other acolytes, a group of teenage girls who bond, bicker, and compete in various challenges for their place at the temple. As an outsider, Medusa is bullied (even in ancient Athens white girls rudely grab a Black girl’s hair) and finds a best friend in Apollonia. She also meets a nameless boy who always seems to be there whenever she is in need; this turns out to be Poseidon, who is grooming the inexplicably naïve Medusa. When he rapes her, Athena finds out and punishes Medusa and her sisters by transforming their locs into snakes. The sisters become Gorgons, and when colonizing men try to claim their island, the killing begins. Telling a story of Black female power through the lens of ancient myth is conceptually appealing, but this novel published as adult fiction reads as though intended for a younger audience.
An engaging, imaginative narrative hampered by its lack of subtlety.Pub Date: Nov. 18, 2025
ISBN: 9780593733769
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Aug. 16, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2025
With captivating dialogue, angst-y characters, and a couple of steamy sex scenes, Hoover has done it again.
After being released from prison, a young woman tries to reconnect with her 5-year-old daughter despite having killed the girl’s father.
Kenna didn’t even know she was pregnant until after she was sent to prison for murdering her boyfriend, Scotty. When her baby girl, Diem, was born, she was forced to give custody to Scotty’s parents. Now that she’s been released, Kenna is intent on getting to know her daughter, but Scotty’s parents won’t give her a chance to tell them what really happened the night their son died. Instead, they file a restraining order preventing Kenna from so much as introducing herself to Diem. Handsome, self-assured Ledger, who was Scotty’s best friend, is another key adult in Diem’s life. He’s helping her grandparents raise her, and he too blames Kenna for Scotty’s death. Even so, there’s something about her that haunts him. Kenna feels the pull, too, and seems to be seeking Ledger out despite his judgmental behavior. As Ledger gets to know Kenna and acknowledges his attraction to her, he begins to wonder if maybe he and Scotty’s parents have judged her unfairly. Even so, Ledger is afraid that if he surrenders to his feelings, Scotty’s parents will kick him out of Diem’s life. As Kenna and Ledger continue to mourn for Scotty, they also grieve the future they cannot have with each other. Told alternatively from Kenna’s and Ledger’s perspectives, the story explores the myriad ways in which snap judgments based on partial information can derail people’s lives. Built on a foundation of death and grief, this story has an undercurrent of sadness. As usual, however, the author has created compelling characters who are magnetic and sympathetic enough to pull readers in. In addition to grief, the novel also deftly explores complex issues such as guilt, self-doubt, redemption, and forgiveness.
With captivating dialogue, angst-y characters, and a couple of steamy sex scenes, Hoover has done it again.Pub Date: Jan. 18, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-5420-2560-7
Page Count: 335
Publisher: Montlake Romance
Review Posted Online: Oct. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2021
SEEN & HEARD
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
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