by D.R. Bell ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 23, 2018
A beautiful but challengingly complex tale of the ramifications of history.
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In this dramatic novel haunted by the Holocaust, a man stumbles upon an old collection of letters that raise provocative questions about his grandfather’s death.
Seattle engineer Avi Arutiyan’s uncle Sarkis dies and leaves him his house in Hermosa Beach, California—a small, dilapidated structure that originally belonged to Avi’s grandfather, Aram. There, Avi discovers a valise filled with correspondence addressed to Aram from David Levy, a survivor of the Holocaust who was imprisoned at Auschwitz. Aram was apparently murdered in Germany in 1965, during a burglary, but the case was never officially solved. Levy cryptically refers to acquiring “military supplies,” but it’s unclear for what purpose. Avi decides to investigate, hungry to understand his hidden family history. He pleads for answers from his mother: “This family’s been full of secrets,” Avi says. “I don’t know who my grandfather was, or my father, or my uncle, or even my brother. They are all gone, and I don’t have anyone to ask but you.” Bell (The Metronome, 2014) artfully weaves an intricate plot that’s so labyrinthine it flirts with convolution, showing one family’s connections to both the Holocaust and the 1915 Armenian genocide. The text jumps back and forth in time from Avi’s contemporary investigation to the early 1960s, when Nazi Adolf Eichmann’s war crimes trial stirred painful memories for many people, including Aram and David. Bell tells the story kaleidoscopically, shifting the narrative from one character’s perspective to another, creating a kind of literary panopticon. Avi’s background is Armenian and Jewish, but he doesn’t feel particularly connected to either identity, and Bell poignantly depicts the character’s alienation as he learns more about his family’s past; later, for example, it’s revealed that Avi’s half brother, Armenian freedom fighter Tigran, apparently died while wiring a bomb. Throughout, Bell masterfully combines his mystery story with an unflinching look at the 20th century’s bleakest tragedies.
A beautiful but challengingly complex tale of the ramifications of history.Pub Date: Oct. 23, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-72662-689-7
Page Count: 452
Publisher: Time Tunnel Media
Review Posted Online: Dec. 19, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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by Nora Roberts ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 13, 1995
Thoroughbreds and Virginia blue-bloods cavort, commit murder, and fall in love in Roberts's (Hidden Riches, 1994, etc.) latest romantic thriller — this one set in the world of championship horse racing. Rich, sheltered Kelsey Byden is recovering from a recent divorce when she receives a letter from her mother, Naomi, a woman she has believed dead for over 20 years. When Kelsey confronts her genteel English professor father, though, he sheepishly confesses that, no, her mother isn't dead; throughout Kelsey's childhood, she was doing time for the murder of her lover. Kelsey meets with Naomi and not only finds her quite charming, but the owner of Three Willows, one of the most splendid horse farms in Virginia. Kelsey is further intrigued when she meets Gabe Slater, a blue-eyed gambling man who owns a neighboring horse farm; when one of Gabe's horses is mated with Naomi's, nostrils flare, flanks quiver, and the romance is on. Since both Naomi and Gabe have horses entered in the Kentucky Derby, Kelsey is soon swept into the whirlwind of the Triple Crown, in spite of her family's objections to her reconciliation with the notorious Naomi. The rivalry between the two horse farms remains friendly, but other competitors — one of them is Gabe's father, a vicious alcoholic who resents his son's success — prove less scrupulous. Bodies, horse and human, start piling up, just as Kelsey decides to investigate the murky details of her mother's crime. Is it possible she was framed? The ground is thick with no-goods, including haughty patricians, disgruntled grooms, and jockeys with tragic pasts, but despite all the distractions, the identity of the true culprit behind the mayhem — past and present — remains fairly obvious. The plot lopes rather than races to the finish. Gambling metaphors abound, and sexual doings have a distinctly equine tone. But Roberts's style has a fresh, contemporary snap that gets the story past its own worst excesses.
Pub Date: June 13, 1995
ISBN: 0-399-14059-X
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 1995
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by Kristin Hannah ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 1, 2008
Dated sermonizing on career versus motherhood, and conflict driven by characters’ willed helplessness, sap this tale of...
Lifelong, conflicted friendship of two women is the premise of Hannah’s maudlin latest (Magic Hour, 2006, etc.), again set in Washington State.
Tallulah “Tully” Hart, father unknown, is the daughter of a hippie, Cloud, who makes only intermittent appearances in her life. Tully takes refuge with the family of her “best friend forever,” Kate Mularkey, who compares herself unfavorably with Tully, in regards to looks and charisma. In college, “TullyandKate” pledge the same sorority and major in communications. Tully has a life goal for them both: They will become network TV anchorwomen. Tully lands an internship at KCPO-TV in Seattle and finagles a producing job for Kate. Kate no longer wishes to follow Tully into broadcasting and is more drawn to fiction writing, but she hesitates to tell her overbearing friend. Meanwhile a love triangle blooms at KCPO: Hard-bitten, irresistibly handsome, former war correspondent Johnny is clearly smitten with Tully. Expecting rejection, Kate keeps her infatuation with Johnny secret. When Tully lands a reporting job with a Today-like show, her career shifts into hyperdrive. Johnny and Kate had started an affair once Tully moved to Manhattan, and when Kate gets pregnant with daughter Marah, they marry. Kate is content as a stay-at-home mom, but frets about being Johnny’s second choice and about her unrealized writing ambitions. Tully becomes Seattle’s answer to Oprah. She hires Johnny, which spells riches for him and Kate. But Kate’s buttons are fully depressed by pitched battles over slutwear and curfews with teenaged Marah, who idolizes her godmother Tully. In an improbable twist, Tully invites Kate and Marah to resolve their differences on her show, only to blindside Kate by accusing her, on live TV, of overprotecting Marah. The BFFs are sundered. Tully’s latest attempt to salvage Cloud fails: The incorrigible, now geriatric hippie absconds once more. Just as Kate develops a spine, she’s given some devastating news. Will the friends reconcile before it’s too late?
Dated sermonizing on career versus motherhood, and conflict driven by characters’ willed helplessness, sap this tale of poignancy.Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2008
ISBN: 978-0-312-36408-3
Page Count: 496
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2007
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