A dark, detailed tale about the making of a fearless woman.
The spouse of Vlad the Impaler takes center stage in Bardot’s (Legends of Lust, 2019) novel.
There are abundant stories surrounding Vlad Dracula, the brutal, real-life prince of Wallachia who inspired Bram Stoker’s Dracula. In a unique take on this well-known figure, Bardot depicts Vlad’s story through the eyes of his wife, Ilona, a courageous, intelligent young woman whose cousin is the king of Hungary. The narrative chronicles Vlad and Ilona’s marriage, a love match that’s also politically expedient. Their relationship is full of emotional extremes and constant maneuvering as Ilona struggles to stay in the mercurial prince’s good graces and keep his attention, both as a confidante and as a lover. Bardot does an excellent job of portraying Ilona’s metamorphosis from a naïve young maiden to a wife who’s determined to hold on to her husband even as their evolving relationship chips away at her beliefs, morals, religion, and identity: “I did not tame the beast,” she reflects, “far from it. My husband released the beast within me.” As Ilona comes to grips with her dark side, Bardot offers the reader an unflinching account of Vlad’s brutal past. Overall, Bardot’s novel is a complex work of historical fiction that touches on politics, religion, battle strategy, and cultural mores. It also doesn’t shy away from scenes of explicit violence and passion. The author mainly details Ilona’s present-day life while leaving her background largely unrevealed. However, the narrative also jumps around in time, piecing together Vlad’s history in a series of flashbacks; it’s a journey that began with an unsettled child who was held captive and ends with a fierce, unforgiving warrior prince who’s obsessed with power and revenge. In the end, although Vlad’s story is indeed interesting, it’s Ilona’s that will truly capture readers’ imaginations. A more detailed author’s note that separates fact from fiction would have been a helpful addition, though.
A dark, detailed tale about the making of a fearless woman.Pub Date: March 27, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-9882092-4-4
Page Count: 456
Publisher: Flores Publishing
Review Posted Online: June 3, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 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
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with...
Talk-show queen takes tumble as millions jeer.
Nora Bridges is a wildly popular radio spokesperson for family-first virtues, but her loyal listeners don't know that she walked out on her husband and teenaged daughters years ago and didn't look back. Now that a former lover has sold racy pix of naked Nora and horny himself to a national tabloid, her estranged daughter Ruby, an unsuccessful stand-up comic in Los Angeles, has been approached to pen a tell-all. Greedy for the fat fee she's been promised, Ruby agrees and heads for the San Juan Islands, eager to get reacquainted with the mom she plans to betray. Once in the family homestead, nasty Ruby alternately sulks and glares at her mother, who is temporarily wheelchair-bound as a result of a post-scandal car crash. Uncaring, Ruby begins writing her side of the story when she's not strolling on the beach with former sweetheart Dean Sloan, the son of wealthy socialites who basically ignored him and his gay brother Eric. Eric, now dying of cancer and also in a wheelchair, has returned to the island. This dismal threesome catch up on old times, recalling their childhood idylls on the island. After Ruby's perfect big sister Caroline shows up, there's another round of heartfelt talk. Nora gradually reveals the truth about her unloving husband and her late father's alcoholism, which led her to seek the approval of others at the cost of her own peace of mind. And so on. Ruby is aghast to discover that she doesn't know everything after all, but Dean offers her subdued comfort. Happy endings await almost everyone—except for readers of this nobly preachy snifflefest.
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with syrupy platitudes about life and love.Pub Date: March 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-609-60737-5
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2001
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