A dark, entangled, eerily insinuating first novel concerning the labyrinthine power-politics of the 14th-century Roman Catholic Church, and the intricate knot of conspiracies among clashing clerics and kings. At the center here is the humbly born Cistercian friar (he will become Pope Benedict XII) who grows in authority—as well as in cynical wisdom—as he searches for what will become known as the Shroud of Turin. Brother Jacques Fornier is stunned to be called before the ruthless Bernard de Caen, Inquisitor General for Provence, and, further, to be told that he and the young dispossessed knight, Nicholas de Lirey, will be sent to carry out a secret mission whose failure might mean the total control of the Church by King Philip the Fair of France. Oddly, a lot depends on the secrets of one prisoner—aging Pietro of Ocre, a preceptor of the order of the Temple and descendant of the counts of Ocre. (The now-destroyed Templars had aimed for control of the Church through a puppet pope.) It is some time, plus thickets of dangers undergone, before the goal of the quest—an ``image''—is apparent to Jacques, whose sleuthing leads to Ocre, in Italy. Before Jacques rides off with the''image,'' there will be perilous journeys, during which Jacques and Nicholas enjoy growing mutual respect; audiences with powerful men—from a weak Pope Clement to a terrifying King Philip—whose purposes and plots are mainly hidden; interrogations, hideous tortures and deaths; and, at the close, with the Shroud discovered, the hacking away at each other of King Philip's men, mercenaries, a remnant of Templar knights, and clerics as Jacques rides away with the prize, knowing its falsity. He has real power now, plus a knowledge of human folly. A thorny, intelligent medieval tale of nasty business in the name of religion.
Pub Date: May 23, 1991
ISBN: 0-312-05876-4
Page Count: 304
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1991
BOOK REVIEW
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.
Pub Date: July 11, 1960
ISBN: 0060935464
Page Count: 323
Publisher: Lippincott
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1960
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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
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