A smooth and ultimately redemptive Christian historical tale.
An injured English nobleman assumes a new identity under the care of a ministering angel.
Celich’s richly atmospheric debut novel opens in the early 1800s with a funeral: The third earl of Hartwell has suddenly died, and one of those standing in the rain as he’s installed in the family vault is his heir, William Devreaux. William’s sadness is compounded by two things: First, he seethes with the knowledge that his father scorned his wastrel gambler’s life in London. And second, he’s tense with guilt because his father almost certainly caught his fatal illness from his visiting son. The combination makes inheriting Ashbourne Park a nightmare that the young fourth earl is desperate to escape. But when he and his horse are caught in a storm and accidentally ride off a cliff, William is badly injured. He wakes up in a strange place, being watched over by a group of concerned, kindly strangers in a Staffordshire village. The band is led by a compassionate young woman named Charissa Armitage, who initially infuriates William by praying devoutly for his full recovery. His leg injury is severe enough to keep him bedridden for weeks as the unexpected guest of the religious woman, her aunt, and Sir Godfrey Scrivener, the owner of the estate, who has every intention of making Charissa his wife. Confronted with this world so different from both the one back at Ashbourne and the one he left behind in London, William suddenly yearns for a new start, deciding to concoct a false name and background. Celich skillfully draws out the story of William’s coming to a new understanding of himself—and his growing attraction to Charissa’s simple faith. The novel’s Christian undertones are subtly done, and the author does a wonderfully accomplished job of incorporating her research about the Regency era without ever making it heavy-handed. Her concentration is far more weighted toward the sparring personalities of her main characters, who are very convincingly sketched. Readers of Regency romances should find a welcoming world in these pages and hope Celich writes another novel soon.
A smooth and ultimately redemptive Christian historical tale.Pub Date: Dec. 5, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-973600-82-4
Page Count: 282
Publisher: Westbow Press
Review Posted Online: March 5, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
These letters from some important executive Down Below, to one of the junior devils here on earth, whose job is to corrupt mortals, are witty and written in a breezy style seldom found in religious literature. The author quotes Luther, who said: "The best way to drive out the devil, if he will not yield to texts of Scripture, is to jeer and flout him, for he cannot bear scorn." This the author does most successfully, for by presenting some of our modern and not-so-modern beliefs as emanating from the devil's headquarters, he succeeds in making his reader feel like an ass for ever having believed in such ideas. This kind of presentation gives the author a tremendous advantage over the reader, however, for the more timid reader may feel a sense of guilt after putting down this book. It is a clever book, and for the clever reader, rather than the too-earnest soul.
Pub Date: Jan. 1, 1942
ISBN: 0060652934
Page Count: 53
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 17, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1943
This first novel, ostensibly about the friendship between two boys, Reuven and Danny, from the time when they are fourteen on opposing yeshiva ball clubs, is actually a gently didactic differentiation between two aspects of the Jewish faith, the Hasidic and the Orthodox. Primarily the Hasidic, the little known mystics with their beards, earlocks and stringently reclusive way of life. According to Reuven's father who is a Zionist, an activist, they are fanatics; according to Danny's, other Jews are apostates and Zionists "goyim." The schisms here are reflected through discussions, between fathers and sons, and through the separation imposed on the two boys for two years which still does not affect their lasting friendship or enduring hopes: Danny goes on to become a psychiatrist refusing his inherited position of "tzaddik"; Reuven a rabbi.... The explanation, in fact exegesis, of Jewish culture and learning, of the special dedication of the Hasidic with its emphasis on mind and soul, is done in sufficiently facile form to engage one's interest and sentiment. The publishers however see a much wider audience for The Chosen. If they "rub their tzitzis for good luck,"—perhaps—although we doubt it.
Pub Date: April 28, 1967
ISBN: 0449911543
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: April 6, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1967
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