Historically compelling, with ominous relevance to today’s social and political chaos.
Murphy’s historical novel (featuring historically verifiable characters) examines the scandalous 1692 Salem Witch Trials.
Twelve-year-old Ann Putnam and her best friend, 11-year-old Abigail (Abby) Williams, meet in a hidden clearing in the woods of Salem, Massachusetts, where they often share their deepest secrets; they’re joined by Abby’s young cousin, Betty. Abby has a plan: She’s preparing to launch a grand hoax, one that will balloon into a massive, out-of-control tragedy. Unhappy with her living situation—she resides with her uncle, Reverend Parris, who treats her like a maid—Abby, assisted by Betty, details for Ann her pretense of being bewitched. After several weeks of throwing fits, staring blankly, and speaking gibberish, things go as Abby predicted—her uncle becomes convinced that the girls are under a spell. Ann, who suffers beatings from her menacing father, decides to similarly delude her family. Emboldened by their success, the girls enjoy a newfound power and freedom. Soon, word gets around Salem Village that there are witches in their midst, plying their diabolical trade. Families are divided and neighbors turn against neighbors. Mass hysteria, amplified by long-standing feuds and avaricious power grabs, envelops the village, ushering in months of spurious trials and horrific executions. Not until the 1698 arrival of young pastor Joseph Green will Salem Village embark upon a path toward healing. Although the narrative is a bit heavy on Biblical quotes and sermons, Murphy brings readers into the time and place using period-accurate language (“My aunt and uncle are much bewildered”) and the inclusion of the minutiae of everyday rituals and customs. The novel’s greatest strength lies in its portrayal of the pivotal roles rumors and falsehoods play in fomenting mob violence to satisfy personal agendas.
Historically compelling, with ominous relevance to today’s social and political chaos.Pub Date: June 15, 2023
ISBN: 9780997366990
Page Count: 294
Publisher: Bricktop Hill Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 11, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A dramatic, vividly detailed reconstruction of a little-known aspect of the Vietnam War.
A young woman’s experience as a nurse in Vietnam casts a deep shadow over her life.
When we learn that the farewell party in the opening scene is for Frances “Frankie” McGrath’s older brother—“a golden boy, a wild child who could make the hardest heart soften”—who is leaving to serve in Vietnam in 1966, we feel pretty certain that poor Finley McGrath is marked for death. Still, it’s a surprise when the fateful doorbell rings less than 20 pages later. His death inspires his sister to enlist as an Army nurse, and this turn of events is just the beginning of a roller coaster of a plot that’s impressive and engrossing if at times a bit formulaic. Hannah renders the experiences of the young women who served in Vietnam in all-encompassing detail. The first half of the book, set in gore-drenched hospital wards, mildewed dorm rooms, and boozy officers’ clubs, is an exciting read, tracking the transformation of virginal, uptight Frankie into a crack surgical nurse and woman of the world. Her tensely platonic romance with a married surgeon ends when his broken, unbreathing body is airlifted out by helicopter; she throws her pent-up passion into a wild affair with a soldier who happens to be her dead brother’s best friend. In the second part of the book, after the war, Frankie seems to experience every possible bad break. A drawback of the story is that none of the secondary characters in her life are fully three-dimensional: Her dismissive, chauvinistic father and tight-lipped, pill-popping mother, her fellow nurses, and her various love interests are more plot devices than people. You’ll wish you could have gone to Vegas and placed a bet on the ending—while it’s against all the odds, you’ll see it coming from a mile away.
A dramatic, vividly detailed reconstruction of a little-known aspect of the Vietnam War.Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024
ISBN: 9781250178633
Page Count: 480
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: Nov. 4, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2023
PERSPECTIVES
BOOK TO SCREEN
SEEN & HEARD
A vibrant tale of a remarkable woman.
Who was Shakespeare?
Move over, Earl of Oxford and Francis Bacon: There’s another contender for the true author of plays attributed to the bard of Stratford—Emilia Bassano, a clever, outspoken, educated woman who takes center stage in Picoult’s spirited novel. Of Italian heritage, from a family of court musicians, Emilia was a hidden Jew and the courtesan of a much older nobleman who vetted plays to be performed for Queen Elizabeth. She was well traveled—unlike Shakespeare, she visited Italy and Denmark, where, Picoult imagines, she may have met Rosencrantz and Guildenstern—and was familiar with court intrigue and English law. “Every gap in Shakespeare’s life or knowledge that has had to be explained away by scholars, she somehow fills,” Picoult writes. Encouraged by her lover, Emilia wrote plays and poetry, but 16th-century England was not ready for a female writer. Picoult interweaves Emilia’s story with that of her descendant Melina Green, an aspiring playwright, who encounters the same sexist barriers to making herself heard that Emilia faced. In alternating chapters, Picoult follows Melina’s frustrated efforts to get a play produced—a play about Emilia, who Melina is certain sold her work to Shakespeare. Melina’s play, By Any Other Name, “wasn’t meant to be a fiction; it was meant to be the resurrection of an erasure.” Picoult creates a richly detailed portrait of daily life in Elizabethan England, from sumptuous castles to seedy hovels. Melina’s story is less vivid: Where Emilia found support from the witty Christopher Marlowe, Melina has a fashion-loving gay roommate; where Emilia faces the ravages of repeated outbreaks of plague, for Melina, Covid-19 occurs largely offstage; where Emilia has a passionate affair with the adoring Earl of Southampton, Melina’s lover is an awkward New York Times theater critic. It’s Emilia’s story, and Picoult lovingly brings her to life.
A vibrant tale of a remarkable woman.Pub Date: Aug. 20, 2024
ISBN: 9780593497210
Page Count: 544
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 15, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2024
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