An intriguing, heartwarming tale of family and faith.
In the midst of a family crisis, a young mother must come to grips with her past when she discovers her surprising heritage.
In this unusual novel, Brown (Come and Get It! The Saga of Western Dinnerware, 2010, etc.) tells the story of Rachel Martinez Ortega, a wife and mother in the small New Mexican community of Estrella. Between running her own diner, watching over her two sons, and caring for her father-in-law, Héctor, Rachel has her hands full—and her husband, Gerry, is no help at all. Everything comes to a head when the Ortega family is ordered to move out of their longtime family home to make room for a new highway. But Ángel, the rebellious older son, is determined not to move and runs away from home instead. He’s accompanied by his younger brother, Juan, desperate not to be left behind. In the midst of this chaos, Rachel discovers some hidden family heirlooms, a set of candlesticks and a Hebrew Bible that dates back to the mid 16th century. After conferring with Father Domingo Nunez and handsome policeman Jose Flores, Rachel is shocked to realize that these treasures mean that her family is Jewish—specifically, conversos, or Jews of Spanish origin who hid their heritage while avoiding persecution. Now, with her children missing, her marriage foundering, and her entire family history coming into question, Rachel must trust in her newfound faith to help her overcome her difficulties. Brown weaves a vivid, accessible story here that jumps between the present and the past to illuminate the tale of Rachel’s Jewish ancestors. The characters are fully drawn and engaging as they grapple with both abstract questions of faith and urgent matters of life and death. Some passages lack subtlety; there are a few too many lines like “She could feel it, a connection way beyond anything she’d felt before.” And the narrative offers a few flashbacks that are a bit confusing when introducing new characters. But on the whole, this novel is a well-told account that sheds light on a community and a story that is all too rarely told.
An intriguing, heartwarming tale of family and faith.Pub Date: Feb. 26, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4602-7577-1
Page Count: 288
Publisher: FriesenPress
Review Posted Online: May 5, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
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