Redolent historical fiction with a tinge of mystery.
A debut novel sees a young Scotsman caught up in a series of murders while apprenticed to a surveying team in Colonial America.
The year is 1763, and Angus MacKay has sailed from England to America to assist two eminent surveyors tasked with redefining the disputed border between Maryland and Pennsylvania. As the work proceeds, Angus befriends Susquehannock Natives Running Bear and Gray Wolf and their sister, Little Hawk, as well as several first- and second-generation settlers. Angus soaks up his new experiences. He particularly enjoys the acceptance from the people he meets, which is unlike the hostility he knew growing up. Yet all is not well in the Colonies. There is talk of settlements being attacked by the Natives, and Angus himself is being shadowed by a mysterious one-armed man. Worse, several murders occur in proximity to the surveying. Angus discovers the bodies; each one has been shot through the chest with arrows. Angus cannot believe his Susquehannock friends are involved, but the law rests in the hands of a drunk, incompetent sheriff who is quick to condemn the tribespeople—and possibly Angus as well. What is the truth behind the killings? In this series opener, Amorosi writes in the third person, past tense, primarily from Angus’ point of view but with an occasional narrative omniscience that leans more toward history than mystery. Angus is a well-drawn, likable character. He serves admirably to observe the world around him yet does little to influence it. (His development is mostly internal, and he doesn’t actively investigate the murders.) The author’s portrayal of 18th-century America is a delight. Through Angus’ eyes, readers feel the fresh wonder of early settlement—the hard work and boundless opportunities; the conflicts and injustices. Period-specific dialogue adds to the sense of time and place. Amorosi also provides food for thought through the comparisons that Angus makes between the vilification of Native Americans by settlers and the historical revilement of his own clan by the English. Events move at a gentle pace throughout, allowing readers to remain a step or two ahead of any tension or intrigue. The story contains few real surprises but will appeal nonetheless to those with a penchant for the past.
Redolent historical fiction with a tinge of mystery.Pub Date: Oct. 24, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-73683-722-1
Page Count: 257
Publisher: Gu LEor Publications
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2022
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
Lush, gorgeous, precise language and propulsive plotting sweep readers into a story as intelligent as it is atmospheric.
In 16th-century Madrid, a crypto-Jew with a talent for casting spells tries to steer clear of the Inquisition.
Luzia Cotado, a scullion and an orphan, has secrets to keep: “It was a game she and her mother had played, saying one thing and thinking another, the bits and pieces of Hebrew handed down like chipped plates.” Also handed down are “refranes”—proverbs—in “not quite Spanish, just as Luzia was not quite Spanish.” When Luzia sings the refranes, they take on power. “Aboltar cazal, aboltar mazal” (“A change of scene, a change of fortune”) can mend a torn gown or turn burnt bread into a perfect loaf; “Quien no risica, no rosica” (“Whoever doesn’t laugh, doesn’t bloom”) can summon a riot of foliage in the depths of winter. The Inquisition hangs over the story like Chekhov’s famous gun on the wall. When Luzia’s employer catches her using magic, the ambitions of both mistress and servant catapult her into fame and danger. A new, even more ambitious patron instructs his supernatural servant, Guillén Santángel, to train Luzia for a magical contest. Santángel, not Luzia, is the familiar of the title; he has been tricked into trading his freedom and luck to his master’s family in exchange for something he no longer craves but can’t give up. The novel comes up against an issue common in fantasy fiction: Why don’t the characters just use their magic to solve all their problems? Bardugo has clearly given it some thought, but her solutions aren’t quite convincing, especially toward the end of the book. These small faults would be harder to forgive if she weren’t such a beautiful writer. Part fairy tale, part political thriller, part romance, the novel unfolds like a winter tree bursting into unnatural bloom in response to one of Luzia’s refranes, as she and Santángel learn about power, trust, betrayal, and love.
Lush, gorgeous, precise language and propulsive plotting sweep readers into a story as intelligent as it is atmospheric.Pub Date: April 9, 2024
ISBN: 9781250884251
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 3, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2024
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