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THE RISE OF MR. WARDE

Name: THE RISE OF MR. WARDE
Author: Duncan Sprott
ISBN: 0-312-06932-4

by Duncan Sprott ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 22, 1992

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The tragicomic tale of a Victorian gentleman fallen prey to sexual lust—an eccentric and very amusing first novel, based on a true story, by an English writer. They appeared to be the quintessential English upper-class couple—Mr. Warde, a country squire whose vast estates were equaled in splendor only by his large stature and golden good looks, and Mrs. Warde, whose meek demeanor and religious fervor were all that could be required of a Victorian wife. When the countryfolk around Stratford-upon-Avon glimpsed the Wardes flying along the roads in their carriage full of blue-eyed children, they stopped to smile and wave—that is, until the first hint of unnatural goings-on surfaced in the summer of 1846. That summer the town learns that Mrs. Warde is preparing to desert her husband, and the reasons for her departure soon leave Stratford awash in outrage. As the Wardes battle viciously through a separation, divorce, and custody trial- -each paying the local commoners to testify against the other—Mr. Warde's base behavior is described in lurid detail. Accounts of his beating his wife, swearing in front of his children, refusing to attend church, and having intercourse with loose women shock the local gentry and result in the loss of Warde's wife, children, and reputation. Though Warde the Magnificent has been transformed into Warde the Infamous in the public eye, he maintains his usual genteel facade as he proceeds to take a mistress and sire three daughters with her. When the mistress in turn sues Warde for support, revealing in court his predilection for physical abuse, blasphemy, and sexual perversion, the squire seems at last done in. He takes to his bed, tended only by a scullery maid, and dies spurned and taunted by all the women of Stratford—an ignominious end for one who began life so well. For those who like their humor very dry—a bizarre literary treat.

Pub Date: Jan. 22, 1992

ISBN: 0-312-06932-4

Page Count: 224

Publisher: St. Martin's

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1991

Categories:

GENERAL FICTION

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BETWEEN SISTERS

by Kristin Hannah ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 1, 2003

Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles...

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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

Categories:

GENERAL FICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
THE WOMEN
by Kristin Hannah

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THE FOUR WINDS
by Kristin Hannah

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THE GREAT ALONE
by Kristin Hannah

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THE ALCHEMIST

by Paulo Coelho & translated by Margaret Jull Costa ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 1, 1993

Coelho's placebo has racked up impressive sales in Brazil and Europe. Americans should flock to it like gulls.

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Coelho is a Brazilian writer with four books to his credit. Following Diary of a Magus (1992—not reviewed) came this book, published in Brazil in 1988: it's an interdenominational, transcendental, inspirational fable—in other words, a bag of wind.

The story is about a youth empowered to follow his dream. Santiago is an Andalusian shepherd boy who learns through a dream of a treasure in the Egyptian pyramids. An old man, the king of Salem, the first of various spiritual guides, tells the boy that he has discovered his destiny: "to realize one's destiny is a person's only real obligation." So Santiago sells his sheep, sails to Tangier, is tricked out of his money, regains it through hard work, crosses the desert with a caravan, stops at an oasis long enough to fall in love, escapes from warring tribesmen by performing a miracle, reaches the pyramids, and eventually gets both the gold and the girl. Along the way he meets an Englishman who describes the Soul of the World; the desert woman Fatima, who teaches him the Language of the World; and an alchemist who says, "Listen to your heart" A message clings like ivy to every encounter; everyone, but everyone, has to put in their two cents' worth, from the crystal merchant to the camel driver ("concentrate always on the present, you'll be a happy man"). The absence of characterization and overall blandness suggest authorship by a committee of self-improvement pundits—a far cry from Saint- Exupery's The Little Prince: that flagship of the genre was a genuine charmer because it clearly derived from a quirky, individual sensibility.

Coelho's placebo has racked up impressive sales in Brazil and Europe. Americans should flock to it like gulls.