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A MEANS OF GRACE

Name: A MEANS OF GRACE
Author: Edith Pargeter
ISBN: 0-7472-4679-3

by Edith Pargeter ‧ RELEASE DATE: Dec. 1, 1995

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Another worthwhile revival (The Heaven Tree Trilogy, 1993) of an out-of-print Pargeter novel (a.k.a. mystery writer Ellis Peters) appearing here for the first time. Published in 1956 in England, this is a lowering, often eloquent, romantically heroic tale of lovers caught in the icy constrictions of the Cold War. Concert soprano Emmy Marryat, despite warnings, books a brief tour in a Baltic country (unnamed) that's in the turbulent process of coalescing as a stable Communist state. Emmy has yearned to see her dear friends the Ivanescus, whom she first met during the war: the nurturing mother and modest father (owner of a small factory); beautiful Wanda, enthusiastic supporter of the new State (including its policy of nationalizing factories like her father's); Milo, a buoyant, cheerful student; and Lubov, grave and tender, a university teacher with whom Emmy will find a lasting love. The country's changes accelerate, but in the aftermath of war there's still a ``chilling breath of tragedy unredeemed, uncompensated . . . blowing across the suave modern highway.'' Meanwhile, Milo's close friend Yuri, frantic with restrictions, successfully escapes to the West, and Emmy—though she, like the Ivanescus, disapproves of his flight—nevertheless answers his pathetic, devastated need. Emmy will not join the anti-Communist herd at home, however, and she offers Yuri compassion rather than love. Yuri takes his revenge—and Lubov faces prison. Together (Emmy visits the country once more), the lovers deliberate as they struggle for wholeness in a ``mutilated world.'' Through them the author examines the claims of nationalism, as opposed to nationality, and offers a plea to look beyond governments to the needs and ways that unite us all. The verbiage sinks into the ponderous now and then, and characters occasionally become mouthpieces, but, still, there's much here that's touching and memorable.

Pub Date: Dec. 1, 1995

ISBN: 0-7472-4679-3

Page Count: 312

Publisher: Headline

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 1995

Categories:

GENERAL FICTION

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SUMMER ISLAND

by Kristin Hannah ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2001

The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with...

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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

Categories:

GENERAL FICTION

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TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD

by Harper Lee ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 11, 1960

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A first novel, this is also a first person account of Scout's (Jean Louise) recall of the years that led to the ending of a mystery, the breaking of her brother Jem's elbow, the death of her father's enemy — and the close of childhood years. A widower, Atticus raises his children with legal dispassion and paternal intelligence, and is ably abetted by Calpurnia, the colored cook, while the Alabama town of Maycomb, in the 1930's, remains aloof to their divergence from its tribal patterns. Scout and Jem, with their summer-time companion, Dill, find their paths free from interference — but not from dangers; their curiosity about the imprisoned Boo, whose miserable past is incorporated in their play, results in a tentative friendliness; their fears of Atticus' lack of distinction is dissipated when he shoots a mad dog; his defense of a Negro accused of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell, is followed with avid interest and turns the rabble whites against him. Scout is the means of averting an attack on Atticus but when he loses the case it is Boo who saves Jem and Scout by killing Mayella's father when he attempts to murder them. The shadows of a beginning for black-white understanding, the persistent fight that Scout carries on against school, Jem's emergence into adulthood, Calpurnia's quiet power, and all the incidents touching on the children's "growing outward" have an attractive starchiness that keeps this southern picture pert and provocative. There is much advance interest in this book; it has been selected by the Literary Guild and Reader's Digest; it should win many friends.