by Christopher Levan ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 5, 2016
A rigorous work of historical fiction weighed down by a bloated plot.
Levan’s (Give Us This Day, 2007) novel explores the personal wages of war, love, and sacrifice.
In 1992, when Christopher Levan, a minister, first came upon Gordon Davis, a former soldier of World War I, he found a broken man, mute and mad. Davis had languished in a veteran’s hospital for more than 70 years, but he began to communicate to Levan, however confusedly, in fits and starts. His story turns out to be heartbreaking. He was a ministry student at Wycliffe College in Toronto, on his way to the priesthood, when he enlisted in the military’s medical corps during the Great War. While passing through Montreal with his unit, he made the acquaintance of Bishop Terrance Hinks and his daughter, Joanna, with whom he fell deeply in love. The two pledged to marry once Davis finally returned to civilian life. The horrors of combat took their toll on Davis, but he conducted himself with notable bravery, participating in a battle against the German army at Vimy Ridge and in the bloodbath that was the Battle of Passchendaele. In December 1917, he and Joanna planned to meet at Halifax Harbour, but their plans were stymied due to a catastrophic explosion caused by a ship collision. When Davis couldn’t find her at their designated meeting place, he was prepared to scour the country to find her, but he became entangled in a political scandal involving a powerful priest. His loyalty to Joanna was subsequently tested in a way that has painful reverberations on the remainder of his days. Author Levan, who shares a name with the narrator, writes in a manner that evinces a masterful command of the historical period. He also unravels the romantic power of Davis’ connection with Joanna with patience and delicacy; for example, the character of Levan observes, “Something in those four days silenced [Davis], and it is my guess that it was not the war or the disaster that robbed him of speech. It was deeper than shock and hatred, and the only possibility that makes sense is love.” However, the author also makes the plot leap speedily back and forth in time, which results in a halting pace and a jarring lack of narrative momentum. Even after readers fully piece it together, the congested story will seem more convoluted than complex.
A rigorous work of historical fiction weighed down by a bloated plot.Pub Date: Aug. 5, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4602-8115-4
Page Count: 426
Publisher: FriesenPress
Review Posted Online: Dec. 7, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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by Nora Roberts ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 13, 1995
Thoroughbreds and Virginia blue-bloods cavort, commit murder, and fall in love in Roberts's (Hidden Riches, 1994, etc.) latest romantic thriller — this one set in the world of championship horse racing. Rich, sheltered Kelsey Byden is recovering from a recent divorce when she receives a letter from her mother, Naomi, a woman she has believed dead for over 20 years. When Kelsey confronts her genteel English professor father, though, he sheepishly confesses that, no, her mother isn't dead; throughout Kelsey's childhood, she was doing time for the murder of her lover. Kelsey meets with Naomi and not only finds her quite charming, but the owner of Three Willows, one of the most splendid horse farms in Virginia. Kelsey is further intrigued when she meets Gabe Slater, a blue-eyed gambling man who owns a neighboring horse farm; when one of Gabe's horses is mated with Naomi's, nostrils flare, flanks quiver, and the romance is on. Since both Naomi and Gabe have horses entered in the Kentucky Derby, Kelsey is soon swept into the whirlwind of the Triple Crown, in spite of her family's objections to her reconciliation with the notorious Naomi. The rivalry between the two horse farms remains friendly, but other competitors — one of them is Gabe's father, a vicious alcoholic who resents his son's success — prove less scrupulous. Bodies, horse and human, start piling up, just as Kelsey decides to investigate the murky details of her mother's crime. Is it possible she was framed? The ground is thick with no-goods, including haughty patricians, disgruntled grooms, and jockeys with tragic pasts, but despite all the distractions, the identity of the true culprit behind the mayhem — past and present — remains fairly obvious. The plot lopes rather than races to the finish. Gambling metaphors abound, and sexual doings have a distinctly equine tone. But Roberts's style has a fresh, contemporary snap that gets the story past its own worst excesses.
Pub Date: June 13, 1995
ISBN: 0-399-14059-X
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 1995
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by Kristin Hannah ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 1, 2008
Dated sermonizing on career versus motherhood, and conflict driven by characters’ willed helplessness, sap this tale of...
Lifelong, conflicted friendship of two women is the premise of Hannah’s maudlin latest (Magic Hour, 2006, etc.), again set in Washington State.
Tallulah “Tully” Hart, father unknown, is the daughter of a hippie, Cloud, who makes only intermittent appearances in her life. Tully takes refuge with the family of her “best friend forever,” Kate Mularkey, who compares herself unfavorably with Tully, in regards to looks and charisma. In college, “TullyandKate” pledge the same sorority and major in communications. Tully has a life goal for them both: They will become network TV anchorwomen. Tully lands an internship at KCPO-TV in Seattle and finagles a producing job for Kate. Kate no longer wishes to follow Tully into broadcasting and is more drawn to fiction writing, but she hesitates to tell her overbearing friend. Meanwhile a love triangle blooms at KCPO: Hard-bitten, irresistibly handsome, former war correspondent Johnny is clearly smitten with Tully. Expecting rejection, Kate keeps her infatuation with Johnny secret. When Tully lands a reporting job with a Today-like show, her career shifts into hyperdrive. Johnny and Kate had started an affair once Tully moved to Manhattan, and when Kate gets pregnant with daughter Marah, they marry. Kate is content as a stay-at-home mom, but frets about being Johnny’s second choice and about her unrealized writing ambitions. Tully becomes Seattle’s answer to Oprah. She hires Johnny, which spells riches for him and Kate. But Kate’s buttons are fully depressed by pitched battles over slutwear and curfews with teenaged Marah, who idolizes her godmother Tully. In an improbable twist, Tully invites Kate and Marah to resolve their differences on her show, only to blindside Kate by accusing her, on live TV, of overprotecting Marah. The BFFs are sundered. Tully’s latest attempt to salvage Cloud fails: The incorrigible, now geriatric hippie absconds once more. Just as Kate develops a spine, she’s given some devastating news. Will the friends reconcile before it’s too late?
Dated sermonizing on career versus motherhood, and conflict driven by characters’ willed helplessness, sap this tale of poignancy.Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2008
ISBN: 978-0-312-36408-3
Page Count: 496
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2007
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