A novel with articulate, well-paced, and thoughtful social commentary—and a few surprises along the way.
In this debut legal drama, a Vermont attorney defends the First Amendment in two cases, one of which involves the heartbreaking death of a high schooler.
The body of 17-year-old Kerry Pearson is discovered in Montpelier’s Mahady Park at the base of a sheer granite outcrop. The cause of death was a fall from the top of the cliff. There’s no sign of foul play, and after a note is found in her purse (“I can’t go on anymore. I’m sorry”), the tragedy is ruled a suicide. But Kerry’s mother finds a private Facebook message from Kerry’s friend Ricky Stillwell, a born-again Christian, telling her that being gay is a sin and that perhaps it would be best if she were outed at school. The school board decides that Ricky should be expelled even though his missive never appeared publicly and was written from his home computer. First Amendment advocate Sam Jacobson takes Ricky on as a client in his lawsuit against the school despite his horror at Ricky’s behavior. Sam is also representing Lucy Cross, who’s suing the town of Jefferson over its inclusion of an opening prayer at its annual town meeting; the case is scheduled to be heard by the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals in New York City. Lambek has been a lawyer in Vermont for the past quarter-century, which allows him to bring a fine sense of authenticity to this tale. It’s a deftly nuanced, multilayered narrative that’s as much about the complex relationships among its many supporting characters as it is about courtroom maneuvers. For example, Sam’s law partner, Alicia Santana, is married to Barb Laval, who, in turn, is the assistant to high school principal Gayle Peters, who asks the firm to represent her in a lawsuit against the school board. He depicts Sam as someone who usually sees the glass as half-empty, and his mix of self-doubt and relentless devotion to family, friends, and principles is endearing. The courtroom preparations and arguments, laced with references to real-life cases, are satisfying and engaging, as well.
A novel with articulate, well-paced, and thoughtful social commentary—and a few surprises along the way.Pub Date: May 25, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-57869-006-0
Page Count: 228
Publisher: Rootstock Publishing
Review Posted Online: Aug. 8, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
Soft-focus story moves right along with few surprises. This time around, Hannah avoids the soap-opera complications of her...
Another middle-aged mom in a muddle.
After years of false starts and big hopes, Elizabeth’s ruggedly handsome husband Jack, a former football star, just landed a spot as a sportscaster on national news. He still loves her, even though much younger women are giving him come-hither looks. Heck, he doesn’t want to betray the love of his life after she helped him kick drugs and stuck by him even when he was a struggling has-been. And won’t it seem hypocritical if he fools around with his sexy assistant while he does in-depth reporting on a rape case involving a famous basketball center? Well, he fools around anyway. Elizabeth, nicknamed Birdie, knows nothing of this, but she withdraws from Jack when her hard-drinking, salt-of-the-earth father has a stroke and dies. Now no one will call her “sugar beet” ever again. Time to return home to Tennessee and contend with Anita, the sort-of-evil stepmother so trashy she wears pink puffy slippers all day long. Naturally, it turns out that Anita actually has a heart of gold and knows a few things about Birdie’s dead mother that were hushed up for years. Mom was an artist, just like Birdie, and an old scandal comes to light as Anita unrolls a vibrant canvas that portrays her secret lover. Perhaps, Birdie muses, her mother died of heartbreak, never having followed her true love or developed her talent. Has she, too, compromised everything she holds dear? Hoping to find out, Birdie joins a support group that promises to reconnect confused women with their passion. She and Jack separate, prompting a how-dare-you fit from their grown daughters. Will Birdie fly her empty nest? Will she go back to college for a degree in art? Will her brooding watercolors ever sell?
Soft-focus story moves right along with few surprises. This time around, Hannah avoids the soap-opera complications of her previous tales (Summer Island, 2001, etc.).Pub Date: July 1, 2002
ISBN: 0-345-45071-X
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2002
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
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