Despite some flaws, a courageous romance that reminds us that many of our problems are of the first-world variety, and how...
An American heiress volunteers for a month at an orphanage in the slums of Nairobi and falls in love while having to navigate political, racial and ethnic tensions.
Looking for relevance and a true human connection she’s never been able to find, Leda volunteers at a boys’ orphanage in Kibera, in the sprawling slums of Nairobi. She is immediately and powerfully drawn to the director, Ita, who’s traded in his dreams for the responsibility of child-rearing in tumultuous Kibera, as well as to the seven boys he is effectively raising. As attraction flares between them, Ita’s complicated childhood friend Chege—now a violent gangster—is confused and threatened by their romance. Meanwhile, tensions are rising amid a volatile political atmosphere (the book is set during the protests after the December 2007 presidential election) which will come to a head just as Leda is preparing to leave, with intentions of coming back. But as violence erupts in the slums, actions, reactions and misunderstandings will find Leda, Ita and Chege making difficult choices. They will see themselves and each other at their best and at their worst and must decide how to move through fear and betrayal into forgiveness and redemption. This is at heart a romance between two people who find acceptance and love in each other, after lifetimes of never quite feeling at home wherever they were. The book is marred by a jarring starting point, given its overall tenor and message, and an ending that works but may be too easy for some readers. (It certainly is easier to find a happy-ever-after when there is money enough to bring about life-changing opportunities.) The narrative style jumps back and forth among various voices and timelines, which can be disorienting, though it lends a suspenseful edge to the events.
Despite some flaws, a courageous romance that reminds us that many of our problems are of the first-world variety, and how lucky we are for it.Pub Date: March 26, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-7783-1379-3
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Harlequin
Review Posted Online: March 13, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2013
A thoughtful and pensive tale with intelligent characters and a satisfying romance.
A promise to his best friend leads an Army serviceman to a family in need and a chance at true love in this novel.
Beckett Gentry is surprised when his Army buddy Ryan MacKenzie gives him a letter from Ryan’s sister, Ella. Abandoned by his mother, Beckett grew up in a series of foster homes. He is wary of attachments until he reads Ella’s letter. A single mother, Ella lives with her twins, Maisie and Colt, at Solitude, the resort she operates in Telluride, Colorado. They begin a correspondence, although Beckett can only identify himself by his call sign, Chaos. After Ryan’s death during a mission, Beckett travels to Telluride as his friend had requested. He bonds with the twins while falling deeply in love with Ella. Reluctant to reveal details of Ryan’s death and risk causing her pain, Beckett declines to disclose to Ella that he is Chaos. Maisie needs treatment for neuroblastoma, and Beckett formally adopts the twins as a sign of his commitment to support Ella and her children. He and Ella pursue a romance, but when an insurance investigator questions the adoption, Beckett is faced with revealing the truth about the letters and Ryan’s death, risking losing the family he loves. Yarros’ (Wilder, 2016, etc.) novel is a deeply felt and emotionally nuanced contemporary romance bolstered by well-drawn characters and strong, confident storytelling. Beckett and Ella are sympathetic protagonists whose past experiences leave them cautious when it comes to love. Beckett never knew the security of a stable home life. Ella impulsively married her high school boyfriend, but the marriage ended when he discovered she was pregnant. The author is especially adept at developing the characters through subtle but significant details, like Beckett’s aversion to swearing. Beckett and Ella’s romance unfolds slowly in chapters that alternate between their first-person viewpoints. The letters they exchanged are pivotal to their connection, and almost every chapter opens with one. Yarros’ writing is crisp and sharp, with passages that are poetic without being florid. For example, in a letter to Beckett, Ella writes of motherhood: “But I’m not the center of their universe. I’m more like their gravity.” While the love story is the book’s focus, the subplot involving Maisie’s illness is equally well-developed, and the link between Beckett and the twins is heartfelt and sincere.
A thoughtful and pensive tale with intelligent characters and a satisfying romance.Pub Date: Feb. 26, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-64063-533-3
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Entangled: Amara
Review Posted Online: Jan. 2, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A modern day fable, with modern implications in a deceiving simplicity, by the author of Dickens. Dali and Others (Reynal & Hitchcock, p. 138), whose critical brilliance is well adapted to this type of satire. This tells of the revolt on a farm, against humans, when the pigs take over the intellectual superiority, training the horses, cows, sheep, etc., into acknowledging their greatness. The first hints come with the reading out of a pig who instigated the building of a windmill, so that the electric power would be theirs, the idea taken over by Napoleon who becomes topman with no maybes about it. Napoleon trains the young puppies to be his guards, dickers with humans, gradually instigates a reign of terror, and breaks the final commandment against any animal walking on two legs. The old faithful followers find themselves no better off for food and work than they were when man ruled them, learn their final disgrace when they see Napoleon and Squealer carousing with their enemies... A basic statement of the evils of dictatorship in that it not only corrupts the leaders, but deadens the intelligence and awareness of those led so that tyranny is inevitable. Mr. Orwell's animals exist in their own right, with a narrative as individual as it is apt in political parody.
Pub Date: Aug. 26, 1946
ISBN: 0452277507
Page Count: 114
Publisher: Harcourt, Brace
Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1946
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