From the British author of Monsieur de Brillancourt (1994) comes this aristocratic, sometimes inaccessible muddle through which two memorable characters emerge. The eccentric Imogen Holt (from Manta, Italy) and the irrepressible Jessica Grantsby-Harte (a diplomat's daughter who has lived all over the world) are among the only non-Catholic students at the unbearably strict Convent of the Immaculate Conception in England. As outcasts, they strike up a lifelong friendshipdescribed here by Imogen in a series of flashbacks framed by a sketchy modern-day narrative about a middle-aged Imogen and Jessica clearing out an attic full of letters, journals, and memories. After the convent and the Sorbonne, the girls are rarely in the same country at the same time, but they make equally bad decisions when it comes to love: Imogen loses her heart to the worldly Anthony, then catches him locked in an embrace with her twin brother, Simon; and Jessica marries the irascible Dermot, a young man who later drowns in a drunken accident. A triply brokenhearted Imogen (having lost Anthony, Simon, and Jessicato Dermot) marries the ever-unfaithful Enrico, a suitor from her Paris days, and moves to Washington, D.C., for his career. Through it all, Imogen's insightful grandmother tries to guide the impulsive pair, but it takes the wisdom gained from their own mistakes to make Imogen and Jessica realize their shared destiny. Although their conclusion seems motivated more by a mutual hatred of the men who've used and abused them than by any genuine passion, the soulmates become lovers and live happily-ever-after with their respective offspring in Imogen's childhood home. Unbearably stilted in spotscharacters speak in lengthy monologues, frequent passages in several foreign languages prove a daunting turn-off, and the intended-to-shock finale is coyand yet, overall, Imogen and Jessica are an engaging pair.
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1995
ISBN: 0-312-13611-0
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Dunne/St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1995
BOOK REVIEW
Ten years in the workaday progress of a New York Mafia sort of family dynasty tale with all the attendant flurries of great houses at war. Don Corleone is ruler of the Family, avenger and dispenser of favors, from judges boughten verdicts to rub-outs among the fiefdoms. The noble Don ages and there is the nagging worry as to who shall carry on. Eldest son Sonny is too impetuous; Freddie is a fornicator; Michael fancies a teaching career with his Yankee bride. Along with the manipulative, diplomatic and skull-smashing demands of the Eastern empire of real estate, manufacturing, and gambling, there is always the threat of treachery from within one unfortunate example of which snuffs out Sonny by the Jones Beach toll booths. Michael, forgetting the scholar's life, pumps bullets in revenge, is sent to Italy, and is finally returned miraculously intact after assassination attempts. It is Michael, after the Don's near murder and eventual death from heart failure who reasserts the Family as Number One in a coup which includes the garrotting of a traitorous brother-in-law. The scene roams from coast to coast, provides glimpses of the sex/love tangles of the Ladies Auxiliary, family fun and cosy Italian fiestas, boppings, bashings, shootings, hackings. A Mafia Whiteoaks, bound for popularity, once you get past the author's barely concealed admiration for the "ethics" and postulates of primitive power plays.
Pub Date: March 10, 1969
ISBN: 0451205766
Page Count: 472
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: April 9, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1969
BOOK TO SCREEN
More about grief and tragedy than romance.
Five friends meet on their first day of kindergarten at the exclusive Atwood School and remain lifelong friends through tragedy and triumph.
When Gabby, Billy, Izzie, Andy and Sean meet in the toy kitchen of the kindergarten classroom on their first day of school, no one can know how strong the group’s friendship will remain. Despite their different personalities and interests, the five grow up together and become even closer as they come into their own talents and life paths. But tragedy will strike and strike again. Family troubles, abusive parents, drugs, alcohol, stress, grief and even random bad luck will put pressure on each of them individually and as a group. Known for her emotional romances, Steel makes a bit of a departure with this effort that follows a group of friends through young adulthood. But even as one tragedy after another befalls the friends, the impact of the events is blunted by a distant narrative style that lacks emotional intensity.
More about grief and tragedy than romance.Pub Date: July 24, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-385-34321-3
Page Count: 322
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: Nov. 13, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2012
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