One of those fatly satisfying Victorian tales taking place in comfortable London digs, this time by British advice columnist Rayner, author of many such stories of domestic travail with lively and knowledgeable period ambiance (Clinical Judgements, 1990, etc.). Here, the much put-upon, timid female who's battered emotionally by nasty males (and females) but who in the end will manage to shake free, settle scores, and come into her successful own is one Little Tilly. The girl had a miserable childhoodfather was a noisy bully, mother a useless alcoholic, and Tilly herself the vulnerable victim of the mean-spirited, greedy maid Dorcas, daughter of housekeeper Mrs. Leander (of an unsavory past, as it turned out). But, sadly, marriage for Tilly at a young age is no better. Husband Frank, whom she discovered on her wedding day in flagrante with Dorcas, is generally awful, and due to financial problems (Tilly was a commodity in a money transaction), the couple is forced to live with Papa. Then, however, there's liberation in a way. Frank dies of a stroke during a drunken fury, and Papawho's left all his money to Mrs. Leander, his mistressexpires in disgraceful circumstances. With Dorcas and Mrs. Leander gone, Tilly begins to rally. And thanks to the help and affection of another oppressed waif, Eliza the scullery maid, sheeven faced with homelessnessgathers her inner forces. There will be a duel with lawyers; the appalling return of maid Dorcas; a new venture; a birth; and marriage to a dying man. At the close, Tilly is ceremonially seated at the head table of a grand new dining room full of cherished guests: ``The bedrock of fortunes...only peace and prosperity to come.'' For Anglophiles who enjoy watching nice guys finish first.
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1995
ISBN: 0-312-13560-2
Page Count: 384
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1995
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.
Sisters work together to solve a child-abandonment case.
Ellie and Julia Cates have never been close. Julia is shy and brainy; Ellie gets by on charm and looks. Their differences must be tossed aside when a traumatized young girl wanders in from the forest into their hometown in Washington. The sisters’ professional skills are put to the test. Julia is a world-renowned child psychologist who has lost her edge. She is reeling from a case that went publicly sour. Though she was cleared of all wrongdoing, Julia’s name was tarnished, forcing her to shutter her Beverly Hills practice. Ellie Barton is the local police chief in Rain Valley, who’s never faced a tougher case. This is her chance to prove she is more than just a fading homecoming queen, but a scarcity of clues and a reluctant victim make locating the girl’s parents nearly impossible. Ellie places an SOS call to her sister; she needs an expert to rehabilitate this wild-child who has been living outside of civilization for years. Confronted with her professional demons, Julia once again has the opportunity to display her talents and salvage her reputation. Hannah (The Things We Do for Love, 2004, etc.) is at her best when writing from the girl’s perspective. The feral wolf-child keeps the reader interested long after the other, transparent characters have grown tiresome. Hannah’s torturously over-written romance passages are stale, but there are surprises in store as the sisters set about unearthing Alice’s past and creating a home for her.
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.Pub Date: March 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-345-46752-3
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2005
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.
A violent surfacing of adolescence (which has little in common with Tarkington's earlier, broadly comic, Seventeen) has a compulsive impact.
"Nobody big except me" is the dream world of Holden Caulfield and his first person story is down to the basic, drab English of the pre-collegiate. For Holden is now being bounced from fancy prep, and, after a vicious evening with hall- and roommates, heads for New York to try to keep his latest failure from his parents. He tries to have a wild evening (all he does is pay the check), is terrorized by the hotel elevator man and his on-call whore, has a date with a girl he likes—and hates, sees his 10 year old sister, Phoebe. He also visits a sympathetic English teacher after trying on a drunken session, and when he keeps his date with Phoebe, who turns up with her suitcase to join him on his flight, he heads home to a hospital siege. This is tender and true, and impossible, in its picture of the old hells of young boys, the lonesomeness and tentative attempts to be mature and secure, the awful block between youth and being grown-up, the fright and sickness that humans and their behavior cause the challenging, the dramatization of the big bang. It is a sorry little worm's view of the off-beat of adult pressure, of contemporary strictures and conformity, of sentiment….
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.Pub Date: June 15, 1951
ISBN: 0316769177
Page Count: -
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1951
BOOK REVIEW
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