A tender and historically engaging tribute to a family and 20th-century Newfoundland.
A semibiographical novel focuses on the life of the author’s mother, the daughter of a Newfoundland lighthouse keeper.
It is 1927, and Hannah Greene is 9 years old, one of nine siblings. Her father, Joe, like many of the men living in the small village of Point Verde, is a fisherman. It is a hardscrabble life. The work is dangerous, and Joe struggles to feed his large family. He wants to move to Boston, against the wishes of Hannah’s mother, Louise. Fortunately, Louise’s own mother has some strong connections to the powers that be, and Joe is offered a job as keeper of the Point Verde lighthouse. The position comes with a government salary, a house that will accommodate his family in comfort, food supplements, and a variety of other perks. When Hannah sees their new home, she is delighted. It has electricity and, even more spectacular, indoor plumbing. For the next 90 or so pages, readers witness the sometimes-amusing, sometimes-frightening adventures Hannah and her siblings experience during their years on the windy, often icy promontory of Point Verde. At 14, Hannah moves in with her maternal grandmother in the neighboring town of Placentia, where the teen’s social life, interests, and independence expand. During World War II, Newfoundland becomes an important military way station. When the United States builds a base near Placentia, it brings with it jobs and the influence of American culture. Although Ladolcetta’s primary characters are all members of his family, he introduces several fictional players to bolster the narrative with drama and context. He also embellishes the family stories, attributing to lead characters incidents that are culled from family lore and personal experiences. He sorts all of this out in one of his final chapters, “True Tales and Tall Tales.” Genial, conversational prose and the extensive use of dialogue maintain an engaging, in-the-moment, albeit ambling, pace. But most intriguing are the voluminous cultural details woven into the gentle novel—the daily routines, food (plenty of cod), celebrations, and unique idioms of the island. The book provides a useful glossary of local terminology and family photographs.
A tender and historically engaging tribute to a family and 20th-century Newfoundland.Pub Date: April 19, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-95-048132-3
Page Count: 340
Publisher: Tranquility Press
Review Posted Online: July 22, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles...
Sisters in and out of love.
Meghann Dontess is a high-powered matrimonial lawyer in Seattle who prefers sex with strangers to emotional intimacy: a strategy bound to backfire sooner or later, warns her tough-talking shrink. It’s advice Meghann decides to ignore, along with the memories of her difficult childhood, neglectful mother, and younger sister. Though she managed to reunite Claire with Sam Cavenaugh (her father but not Meghann’s) when her mother abandoned both girls long ago, Meghann still feels guilty that her sister’s life doesn’t measure up, at least on her terms. Never married, Claire ekes out a living running a country campground with her dad and is raising her six-year-old daughter on her own. When she falls in love for the first time with an up-and-coming country musician, Meghann is appalled: Bobby Austin is a three-time loser at marriage—how on earth can Claire be so blind? Bobby’s blunt explanation doesn’t exactly satisfy the concerned big sister, who busies herself planning Claire’s dream wedding anyway. And, to relieve the stress, she beds various guys she picks up in bars, including Dr. Joe Wyatt, a neurosurgeon turned homeless drifter after the demise of his beloved wife Diane (whom he euthanized). When Claire’s awful headache turns out to be a kind of brain tumor known among neurologists as a “terminator,” Joe rallies. Turns out that Claire had befriended his wife on her deathbed, and now in turn he must try to save her. Is it too late? Will Meghann find true love at last?
Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles (Distant Shores, 2002, etc.). Kudos for skipping the snifflefest this time around.Pub Date: May 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-345-45073-6
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2003
An affecting portrait of a prickly woman.
A lifetime’s worth of letters combine to portray a singular character.
Sybil Van Antwerp, a cantankerous but exceedingly well-mannered septuagenarian, is the titular correspondent in Evans’ debut novel. Sybil has retired from a beloved job as chief clerk to a judge with whom she had previously been in private legal practice. She is the divorced mother of two living adult children and one who died when he was 8. She is a reader of novels, a gardener, and a keen observer of human nature. But the most distinguishing thing about Sybil is her lifelong practice of letter writing. As advancing vision problems threaten Sybil’s carefully constructed way of life—in which letters take the place of personal contact and engagement—she must reckon with unaddressed issues from her past that threaten the house of cards (letters, really) she has built around herself. Sybil’s relationships are gradually revealed in the series of letters sent to and received from, among others, her brother, sister-in-law, children, former work associates, and, intriguingly, literary icons including Joan Didion and Larry McMurtry. Perhaps most affecting is the series of missives Sybil writes but never mails to a shadowy figure from her past. Thoughtful musings on the value and immortal quality of letters and the written word populate one of Sybil’s notes to a young correspondent while other messages are laugh-out-loud funny, tinged with her characteristic blunt tartness. Evans has created a brusque and quirky yet endearing main character with no shortage of opinions and advice for others but who fails to excavate the knotty difficulties of her own life. As Sybil grows into a delayed self-awareness, her letters serve as a chronicle of fitful growth.
An affecting portrait of a prickly woman.Pub Date: May 6, 2025
ISBN: 9780593798430
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2025
SEEN & HEARD
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