An intriguing but uneven tale about two significant historical figures.
A Texas homestead inspires a debut historical romance about the interracial couple who originally settled there in the 1800s.
Sylvia Hector is born in Africa, the daughter of a queen and king, marked with an auspicious symbol of a blessing on her head. Shortly afterward, her parents are kidnapped by Portuguese “stealers” who transport them to America on a slave ship. Neither parent survives the voyage, but Koko, a mother onboard, adopts Sylvia and raises her as her own. Sylvia leads a relatively stable life since Koko is purchased for domestic work in Albany, New York. Sylvia is even educated alongside the family’s son. Meanwhile, John F. Webber of Vermont is working as a sales representative for “Debtor Furniture,” which is manufactured at the state’s debtor prison, when he travels to Albany to purchase lumber. He is taken with Sylvia’s beauty and intelligence, and they quickly begin courting. When he seeks to return to Vermont with her, the community brands their interracial relationship as an “immoral dalliance” involving a woman whose social status is that of a slave. Once Sylvia becomes pregnant, the couple decide to move somewhere they can be together without judgment, which means relocating outside the borders of the United States to the Texas Territory and building a home and settlement on what will become known as Webber’s Prairie. They will have 11 children and eventually wed in a ceremony, marking the first 19th-century mixed marriage. As the Texas Territory changes hands and wars are fought, the family survives and prospers. Kemp is the pen name of a husband-and-wife writing team. The authors drew inspiration from their Texas property’s notable history to create the novel’s promising premise. The opening passages recounting Sylvia’s birth and her parents’ deaths are emotionally powerful. And the book delivers rich details about the Webber family’s involvement in key historical events. But the tale sometimes reads more like a history lesson than a sweeping literary drama. The Webbers’ movements would be easier to follow with the inclusion of maps. In addition, the dialogue is often wooden and frequently utilizes distracting dialects. At one point, Koko tells Sylvia: “Oh, chil’, your mama was like da queen a’ Sheba. She loved ev’erbody an’ ev’erbody love her. But mos’ of all, she loved you more than anythin’ or anybody in the whole world.”
An intriguing but uneven tale about two significant historical figures.Pub Date: Oct. 27, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-63363-349-0
Page Count: 264
Publisher: White Bird Publications
Review Posted Online: Nov. 28, 2018
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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