A charming work that may appeal to fans of Jane Austen and the Brontë sisters.
A young girl discovers a new side of her family after she’s taken in by her aunt in Kennedy’s (Winthrope: Tragedy to Triumph, 2017, etc.) historical novel.
In December 1861, England is in mourning after the death of Queen Victoria’s husband, Prince Albert. For Anne Holt of Holybourne, his death marks the second tragedy to occur on her birthday. Eleven years before, her father, James, died in an accident shortly after her birth. Anne grew up impoverished, as her mother, Catherine, struggled to support them as a laundress and with money sent to them by her father’s sister, Alice. Desperate, Catherine turns to Mr. O’Leary, a wealthy pawnbroker and a man of questionable character. In an effort to secure Anne’s future, Catherine arranges for her to stay with Alice at Lesington Hall. Through the love of Aunt Alice and cousin Eleanor, Anne thrives over the next several years while learning about her father and his side of the family. On a trip to France, she meets Dr. Anthony Hathaway, a man who once planned to marry Alice. As Anne plans to reunite him with her aunt, she also meets Hathaway’s son John, with whom she falls in love. However, when a man from her past returns, Anne faces new decisions. The latest from Kennedy is an enchanting work of historical fiction bolstered by an appealing heroine and well-developed supporting characters. Anne is a sympathetic, likable heroine who always puts the needs of others above her own. The narrative unfolds briskly over a period of several years, charting her development from an 11-year-old orphan to a mature young woman of 18. She’s complemented by strong supporting players, including Alice, Hathaway, and Charlotte Phillipps, a vicar’s sister whose haughty demeanor masks a hidden talent and a fun-loving side. Kennedy’s narrative is further enhanced by period details that bring Anne’s world into focus, particularly when she leaves Lesington Hall for a trip to New York with a school friend; in exuberant letters home, Anne describes seeing Niagara Falls and meeting a man who fought in the Civil War.
A charming work that may appeal to fans of Jane Austen and the Brontë sisters.Pub Date: Feb. 19, 2017
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 445
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: May 20, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The emotions run high, the conversations run deep, and the relationships ebb and flow with grace.
When tragedy strikes, a mother and daughter forge a new life.
Morgan felt obligated to marry her high school sweetheart, Chris, when she got pregnant with their daughter, Clara. But she secretly got along much better with Chris’ thoughtful best friend, Jonah, who was dating her sister, Jenny. Now her life as a stay-at-home parent has left her feeling empty but not ungrateful for what she has. Jonah and Jenny eventually broke up, but years later they had a one-night stand and Jenny got pregnant with their son, Elijah. Now Jonah is back in town, engaged to Jenny, and working at the local high school as Clara’s teacher. Clara dreams of being an actress and has a crush on Miller, who plans to go to film school, but her father doesn't approve. It doesn’t help that Miller already has a jealous girlfriend who stalks him via text from college. But Clara and Morgan’s home life changes radically when Chris and Jenny are killed in an accident, revealing long-buried secrets and forcing Morgan to reevaluate the life she chose when early motherhood forced her hand. Feeling betrayed by the adults in her life, Clara marches forward, acting both responsible and rebellious as she navigates her teenage years without her father and her aunt, while Jonah and Morgan's relationship evolves in the wake of the accident. Front-loaded with drama, the story leaves plenty of room for the mother and daughter to unpack their feelings and decide what’s next.
The emotions run high, the conversations run deep, and the relationships ebb and flow with grace.Pub Date: Dec. 10, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5420-1642-1
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Montlake Romance
Review Posted Online: Oct. 13, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2019
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.
Are we not men? We are—well, ask Bigfoot, as Brooks does in this delightful yarn, following on his bestseller World War Z(2006).
A zombie apocalypse is one thing. A volcanic eruption is quite another, for, as the journalist who does a framing voice-over narration for Brooks’ latest puts it, when Mount Rainier popped its cork, “it was the psychological aspect, the hyperbole-fueled hysteria that had ended up killing the most people.” Maybe, but the sasquatches whom the volcano displaced contributed to the statistics, too, if only out of self-defense. Brooks places the epicenter of the Bigfoot war in a high-tech hideaway populated by the kind of people you might find in a Jurassic Park franchise: the schmo who doesn’t know how to do much of anything but tries anyway, the well-intentioned bleeding heart, the know-it-all intellectual who turns out to know the wrong things, the immigrant with a tough backstory and an instinct for survival. Indeed, the novel does double duty as a survival manual, packed full of good advice—for instance, try not to get wounded, for “injury turns you from a giver to a taker. Taking up our resources, our time to care for you.” Brooks presents a case for making room for Bigfoot in the world while peppering his narrative with timely social criticism about bad behavior on the human side of the conflict: The explosion of Rainier might have been better forecast had the president not slashed the budget of the U.S. Geological Survey, leading to “immediate suspension of the National Volcano Early Warning System,” and there’s always someone around looking to monetize the natural disaster and the sasquatch-y onslaught that follows. Brooks is a pro at building suspense even if it plays out in some rather spectacularly yucky episodes, one involving a short spear that takes its name from “the sucking sound of pulling it out of the dead man’s heart and lungs.” Grossness aside, it puts you right there on the scene.
A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.Pub Date: June 16, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-9848-2678-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Del Rey/Ballantine
Review Posted Online: Feb. 9, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
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