by Charlene Bell Dietz ‧ RELEASE DATE: N/A
A robust imagining of the life of a largely unsung hero.
A historical novel inspired by the life of one of Maryland’s earliest English colonists.
Dietz, the author of The Flapper, the Imposter, and the Stalker (2017), fictionalizes the story of Margaret Brent, a wealthy Englishwoman who becomes a prominent figure in Maryland in the mid-17th century. The story opens in England, where she, along with the rest of her family, worries that her economic and social privilege may not protect her as the Protestant government increases restrictions on their Catholic faith. When her cousin Lord Baltimore encourages the Brents to consider moving to the Colony that his father established across the Atlantic, where Catholics are free to worship, Margaret is hesitant. She’s finally swayed by Baltimore’s offer of land and other rights to anyone, including women, who brings servants to settle in the Colony. Along with three of her siblings, Margaret travels to Maryland and settles into life in her new home. Although men far outnumber women there, Margaret feels that she should remain unmarried, both for religious reasons (to devote herself only to God) and to maintain her independence. She frequently appears in front of the Colony’s governing body, speaking on her own behalf as well as for other colonists in their disputes and petitions. Margaret also takes a role in the Colony’s relationship with neighboring Native Americans, even serving as foster mother to the daughter of a Piscataway chief who converts to Christianity. When conflicts with residents of other Colonies threaten the Colony, Margaret acts as a close adviser to the governor, and he names her as his representative when he dies, leading her to play an important role in saving the community.
Although little of Margaret’s real-life history was recorded, Dietz does a good job of drawing on what’s known about her and about the early years of Maryland’s colonization to create a well-rounded, convincing portrait. Over the course of the novel, the author employs a great many vivid details (“His mossy-green silk doublet, embroidered with scrolls of golden-brown and pink-rose threads, emphasized his slashed sleeves, which in turn showed his ivory silk shirt beneath”) that bring everyday life in both England and Maryland into sharp focus. However, as a result, some readers may find the narrative to be overly wordy at times. The theme of women as a settling influence (“ ‘Worst of all,’ Margaret interrupted, ‘the country is overrun with irrational angry young men with no wives to settle them’ ”) appears throughout the book, offset by Margaret’s refusal to be anyone’s spouse, which makes for an intriguing contrast. The novel sticks closely to its protagonist’s perspective, so it does not address colonization from the point of view of the Indigenous characters, and no mention is made of enslaved people, who were also present at that time and place. For the most part, though, the book is sweeping in scope, covering Maryland’s foundational years from the perspective of a woman who played a crucial role in its existence.
A robust imagining of the life of a largely unsung hero.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: 978-1-9452-1238-3
Page Count: 398
Publisher: Quill Mark Press
Review Posted Online: June 28, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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by Kristin Hannah ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 6, 2024
A dramatic, vividly detailed reconstruction of a little-known aspect of the Vietnam War.
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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
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by Leigh Bardugo ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 9, 2024
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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by Leigh Bardugo ; illustrated by Dani Pendergast
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