Seaworthy historical fiction at its best.
An exemplary reissue of Hill’s 1975 historical novel about one woman’s life and loves from the end of the American Revolution to the War of 1812.
After the Revolutionary War leaves Hannah Deems a destitute widow, she has no choice but to accept farmer Seth Adams’ offer to take care of her and her young daughter, Molly. Without the benefit of marriage, Hannah becomes little more than a slave, and Seth’s cruelty compels Hannah to save Molly by sending her to live with a kindly Quaker woman, Elizabeth Warden. Molly thrives as a servant under Mrs. Warden’s care, but when word comes that Hannah has drowned herself, Molly makes a life-changing decision: She will never allow someone else to control her destiny. She sets her sights on handsome young sailor Elijah Merrick, but her mother’s infamous past makes Molly look like damaged goods to potential suitors. Still, Elijah is willing to fight for her honor. But Molly cannot contain her desire for Isaac Warden, Elizabeth’s son, even after she marries Elijah. Molly plays a dangerous game—she may very well lose the one man who showed her the meaning of true love. Hill (House of Kingsley, 1978, etc.) creates a lush, vibrant landscape in post-Revolutionary Cape Cod with historical details that blend seamlessly with the narrative. Molly is a compelling, feisty heroine whose journey from orphan to servant to wife of a sea captain aptly shows how the American Revolution broke down class barriers and made it possible for even the lowest-level citizens to climb the social ladder. Elijah’s voyages offer a revealing glimpse into the perils of American shipping and his determination to succeed as a sea captain epitomizes the American self-made man so espoused by Thomas Jefferson. What compels the reader to turn the page, however, is Molly’s uncompromising will to not only survive but thrive in the midst of her persecution and the country’s upheaval. Though the narrative may drag for some who prefer a faster read, others will enjoy Hill’s slowed pace that allows for full immersion in American maritime history.
Seaworthy historical fiction at its best.Pub Date: April 1, 2012
ISBN: 978-0984441402
Page Count: 454
Publisher: North Road
Review Posted Online: Feb. 17, 2012
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with...
Talk-show queen takes tumble as millions jeer.
Nora Bridges is a wildly popular radio spokesperson for family-first virtues, but her loyal listeners don't know that she walked out on her husband and teenaged daughters years ago and didn't look back. Now that a former lover has sold racy pix of naked Nora and horny himself to a national tabloid, her estranged daughter Ruby, an unsuccessful stand-up comic in Los Angeles, has been approached to pen a tell-all. Greedy for the fat fee she's been promised, Ruby agrees and heads for the San Juan Islands, eager to get reacquainted with the mom she plans to betray. Once in the family homestead, nasty Ruby alternately sulks and glares at her mother, who is temporarily wheelchair-bound as a result of a post-scandal car crash. Uncaring, Ruby begins writing her side of the story when she's not strolling on the beach with former sweetheart Dean Sloan, the son of wealthy socialites who basically ignored him and his gay brother Eric. Eric, now dying of cancer and also in a wheelchair, has returned to the island. This dismal threesome catch up on old times, recalling their childhood idylls on the island. After Ruby's perfect big sister Caroline shows up, there's another round of heartfelt talk. Nora gradually reveals the truth about her unloving husband and her late father's alcoholism, which led her to seek the approval of others at the cost of her own peace of mind. And so on. Ruby is aghast to discover that she doesn't know everything after all, but Dean offers her subdued comfort. Happy endings await almost everyone—except for readers of this nobly preachy snifflefest.
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with syrupy platitudes about life and love.Pub Date: March 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-609-60737-5
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2001
Britisher Swift's sixth novel (Ever After, 1992 etc.) and fourth to appear here is a slow-to-start but then captivating tale of English working-class families in the four decades following WW II. When Jack Dodds dies suddenly of cancer after years of running a butcher shop in London, he leaves a strange request—namely, that his ashes be scattered off Margate pier into the sea. And who could better be suited to fulfill this wish than his three oldest drinking buddies—insurance man Ray, vegetable seller Lenny, and undertaker Vic, all of whom, like Jack himself, fought also as soldiers or sailors in the long-ago world war. Swift's narrative start, with its potential for the melodramatic, is developed instead with an economy, heart, and eye that release (through the characters' own voices, one after another) the story's humanity and depth instead of its schmaltz. The jokes may be weak and self- conscious when the three old friends meet at their local pub in the company of the urn holding Jack's ashes; but once the group gets on the road, in an expensive car driven by Jack's adoptive son, Vince, the story starts gradually to move forward, cohere, and deepen. The reader learns in time why it is that no wife comes along, why three marriages out of three broke apart, and why Vince always hated his stepfather Jack and still does—or so he thinks. There will be stories of innocent youth, suffering wives, early loves, lost daughters, secret affairs, and old antagonisms—including a fistfight over the dead on an English hilltop, and a strewing of Jack's ashes into roiling seawaves that will draw up feelings perhaps unexpectedly strong. Without affectation, Swift listens closely to the lives that are his subject and creates a songbook of voices part lyric, part epic, part working-class social realism—with, in all, the ring to it of the honest, human, and true.
Pub Date: April 5, 1996
ISBN: 0-679-41224-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 1996
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