An often gripping, if unevenly executed, portrait of a woman caught in a destructive marriage.
A whirlwind relationship turns into a nightmare for a young Irish artist in Devaux’s debut novel.
Ráichéal, an artist living in Dublin, is a firm believer that “everything happens for a reason and not by accident, chance or design.” So when she sees a newspaper advertisement from a man named Daniel San Laurant seeking a pen pal, she feels compelled to respond to him. Ráichéal is looking for adventure and Daniel’s letters make her eager to learn more about him. So she travels to his home on the island of San Sebastian in the West Indies, where she’s seduced by his charm and his glamourous lifestyle. They eventually marry and live in luxury on his family’s estate; however, tensions lurk beneath the surface as Ráichéal starts to notice that everything she does revolves around Daniel and his needs. His controlling behavior (“what Daniel wanted to do, is what Daniel always did, regardless of anyone else”) continues after they adopt a son, Antonio. Ráichéal briefly leaves Daniel, but they soon reconcile. But after they go on to adopt three daughters—Ella, Grace, and Amelia—it becomes clear that Daniel will stop at nothing to control Ráichéal, and she finds herself in a battle to save her family. Devaux offers a suspenseful, affecting thriller. Ráichéal is a dynamic protagonist whose transformation from a naive bride to a protective mother fighting for her independence is dramatically effective. The supporting characters are equally well-developed, including Margaux, Daniel’s calculating, narcissistic mother. The sprawling narrative includes detailed descriptions of Ráichéal’s travels throughout the world, including extended visits to Mexico, Panama, and Ireland. Still, the novel would have benefited from a sharper copy edit; for example, billionaire Howard Hughes is referred to as “Howard Hues,” and the British television show Fawlty Towers is called “Faulty Towers.”
An often gripping, if unevenly executed, portrait of a woman caught in a destructive marriage.Pub Date: July 15, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5462-9214-2
Page Count: 448
Publisher: AuthorHouseUK
Review Posted Online: Oct. 19, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Still, a respectful and absorbing page-turner.
Hannah’s new novel is an homage to the extraordinary courage and endurance of Frenchwomen during World War II.
In 1995, an elderly unnamed widow is moving into an Oregon nursing home on the urging of her controlling son, Julien, a surgeon. This trajectory is interrupted when she receives an invitation to return to France to attend a ceremony honoring passeurs: people who aided the escape of others during the war. Cut to spring, 1940: Viann has said goodbye to husband Antoine, who's off to hold the Maginot line against invading Germans. She returns to tending her small farm, Le Jardin, in the Loire Valley, teaching at the local school and coping with daughter Sophie’s adolescent rebellion. Soon, that world is upended: The Germans march into Paris and refugees flee south, overrunning Viann’s land. Her long-estranged younger sister, Isabelle, who has been kicked out of multiple convent schools, is sent to Le Jardin by Julien, their father in Paris, a drunken, decidedly unpaternal Great War veteran. As the depredations increase in the occupied zone—food rationing, systematic looting, and the billeting of a German officer, Capt. Beck, at Le Jardin—Isabelle’s outspokenness is a liability. She joins the Resistance, volunteering for dangerous duty: shepherding downed Allied airmen across the Pyrenees to Spain. Code-named the Nightingale, Isabelle will rescue many before she's captured. Meanwhile, Viann’s journey from passive to active resistance is less dramatic but no less wrenching. Hannah vividly demonstrates how the Nazis, through starvation, intimidation and barbarity both casual and calculated, demoralized the French, engineering a community collapse that enabled the deportations and deaths of more than 70,000 Jews. Hannah’s proven storytelling skills are ideally suited to depicting such cataclysmic events, but her tendency to sentimentalize undermines the gravitas of this tale.
Still, a respectful and absorbing page-turner.Pub Date: Feb. 3, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-312-57722-3
Page Count: 448
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: Nov. 19, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2014
BOOK TO SCREEN
SEEN & HEARD
BOOK TO SCREEN
The emotions run high, the conversations run deep, and the relationships ebb and flow with grace.
When tragedy strikes, a mother and daughter forge a new life.
Morgan felt obligated to marry her high school sweetheart, Chris, when she got pregnant with their daughter, Clara. But she secretly got along much better with Chris’ thoughtful best friend, Jonah, who was dating her sister, Jenny. Now her life as a stay-at-home parent has left her feeling empty but not ungrateful for what she has. Jonah and Jenny eventually broke up, but years later they had a one-night stand and Jenny got pregnant with their son, Elijah. Now Jonah is back in town, engaged to Jenny, and working at the local high school as Clara’s teacher. Clara dreams of being an actress and has a crush on Miller, who plans to go to film school, but her father doesn't approve. It doesn’t help that Miller already has a jealous girlfriend who stalks him via text from college. But Clara and Morgan’s home life changes radically when Chris and Jenny are killed in an accident, revealing long-buried secrets and forcing Morgan to reevaluate the life she chose when early motherhood forced her hand. Feeling betrayed by the adults in her life, Clara marches forward, acting both responsible and rebellious as she navigates her teenage years without her father and her aunt, while Jonah and Morgan's relationship evolves in the wake of the accident. Front-loaded with drama, the story leaves plenty of room for the mother and daughter to unpack their feelings and decide what’s next.
The emotions run high, the conversations run deep, and the relationships ebb and flow with grace.Pub Date: Dec. 10, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5420-1642-1
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Montlake Romance
Review Posted Online: Oct. 13, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2019
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
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