by Diane Setterfield ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 12, 2006
Setterfield’s debut is enchanting Goth for the 21st century.
A dying writer bids a young bookshop assistant to write her biography.
Margaret Lea grew up in a household of mourning, but she never knew why until the day she opened a box of papers underneath her parent’s bed and found the birth and death certificates of a twin sister of whom she never knew. It is the coincidence of twins in the life of Vida Winter, Britain’s most famous writer, that convinces Margaret to leave her post at her father’s rare-books store and travel to the dying writer’s Yorkshire estate. There, she hears a story no one else knows: who Vida Winter really is. For decades, the author has wildly fabricated answers to personal questions in interviews. Now Vida wants to tell the true story. And what a story it is, replete with madness; incest; a pair of twins who speak a private language; a devastating fire; a ghost that opens doors and closes books; a baby abandoned on a doorstep in the rain; a page torn from a turn-of-the-century edition of Jane Eyre; a cake-baking gentle giant; skeletons; topiaries; blind housekeepers; and suicide. As the master storyteller nears death, Margaret has yet to understand why she is the one Vida chose to record her tale. And is it a tall tale? One last great fiction to leave for her reading public? Only Margaret, who begins to catch glimpses of her own dead twin in the eternal gloom of the Winter estate, can sort truth from longing and lies from guilt. Setterfield has crafted an homage to the romantic heroines of du Maurier, Collins and the Brontës. But this is no postmodern revision of the genre. It is a contemporary gothic tale whose excesses and occasional implausibility (Vida’s “brother” is the least convincing character) can be forgiven for the thrill of the storytelling.
Setterfield’s debut is enchanting Goth for the 21st century.Pub Date: Sept. 12, 2006
ISBN: 0-7432-9802-0
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2006
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by Kimberly Seigh ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 18, 2007
A local treasure for young and old.
A short and sweet coming-of-age historical novel from first-time author Seigh about life in Johnstown, Pa., in the early 20th century–a tumultuous time in America–from a young girl’s point of view.
The book, though slight, covers a lot of ground, including World War I, the women’s movement, Lindbergh’s flight and German-American culture. Seigh also touches on local history, like tragic mining or railroad accidents or feel-good football victories. The author weaves this information together with photographs and news clippings, to give readers a tangible and accurate portrayal of Johnstown from 1914 to 1928. But it’s her engaging young narrator, Doll, who truly brings the epoch to life, sharing her family’s story one year and one chapter at a time. She’s nine years old in 1914–the happy youngest girl in a large German-American family, Doll likes helping her mother and older sister, Lottie, take care of the rest of the clan. But the protagonist’s idyllic childhood ends abruptly when her mother passes away, leaving the two sisters to run the household. Doll’s experiences during the next 14 years–struggling to care for her father and brothers, managing school and making money, gaining independence in adulthood–provide an intimate lens for readers to better understand a historical period. Her lively opinions, description of household chores and conversations with family and friends all give great insight into the life of a girl on the brink of womanhood nearly 100 years ago. By 1928, at age 23, Doll is still caring for her family, but change is on the horizon. She cuts her hair in an act of feminist rebellion, her older sister gets married and her brothers are, for the most part, on their own. It’s time for Doll to take care of herself. Will she find love? Will she move out of Johnstown? Sadly, Seigh doesn’t give readers the opportunity to find out, as the book ends rather swiftly–hopefully the author has a sequel in mind.
A local treasure for young and old.Pub Date: Sept. 18, 2007
ISBN: 978-0929915-60-9
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: Jan. 4, 2011
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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by Carolyn Kirby ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 19, 2019
An ambitious effort that, despite its imperfections, will keep readers riveted.
Kirby’s assured debut depicts the travails of a displaced daughter in Victorian England.
Born to Mary Burns, a prisoner in Birmingham Gaol, infant Cora Burns is consigned to the local workhouse. She grows up there, makes one friend, Alice Salt, and excels at school, but then Alice drives her to commit a terrible crime. Her youth excuses her from prosecution, and at 16, Cora is sent to work at a nearby asylum, not knowing her mother is committed there. Like her mother, Cora has a child out of wedlock and is confined in Birmingham Gaol. Her child is also removed by authorities. This is only one of many parallels in Kirby’s multilayered narrative of grim coincidence, origin mysteries, and severed pairs, symbolized by the half medal Cora wears around her neck. Cora is determined and resourceful due to the hardships of her upbringing, but she is also capable of rage, which she mostly keeps contained—except on those unpredictable occasions when she doesn’t. Thomas Jerwood, the master of the house where Cora, upon release, is referred as a housemaid, is an amateur scientist whose treatises on nature and nurture appear every few chapters. Mrs. Jerwood is a bedridden madwoman who, when she spots Cora, upbraids her by another name, Annie. Meanwhile, Dr. Farley, resident physician at the asylum, is attempting to treat Mary Burns with hypnotherapy. His scientific observations are also interspersed in the narrative. Jerwood’s young ward (and guinea pig), Violet, befriends Cora but at times seems unusually distant, her appearance and accent slightly altered. The convoluted plot promises a thematic bombshell that never drops, although a Marxist gloss is attempted. Kirby makes no concessions to sentimentality even at the risk of alienating readers with an unappealing protagonist: Cora’s personality approaches the sociopathic as she guiltlessly exploits those around her. Still, the language is atmospheric and perfectly pitched, and the dialogue is spare and evocative.
An ambitious effort that, despite its imperfections, will keep readers riveted.Pub Date: March 19, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-945814-84-6
Page Count: 344
Publisher: Dzanc
Review Posted Online: Dec. 22, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2019
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