A cloying fable better suited for a bedtime story.
The fictional tale of a young woman who attains her childhood dream of becoming a queen.
Debut novelist Buckley depicts the imaginary country of Molgravia as one whose citizens value resilience and determination. Nona, the only child of Vlok, an entrepreneurial count, and Henrietta, a somewhat self-absorbed but loving mother, internalizes these ideals from a young age. Raised in comfort, she delights in being cast as queen in her school play. When she tells her parents of her desire to someday become a real queen who has the power to help people, they tell her it’s unlikely since they’re not of royal lineage or of the highest economic class. Nona matures into a beautiful, intelligent young woman who attracts two serious suitors, neither of whom entirely captures her heart. Upon attending a royal wedding in her country’s capital, she meets a charming foreigner, Wolfgang, the king of Gavia—a fact unbeknownst to her until later that weekend. They begin an enduring romance and eventually wed. While Nona wins over the hearts of the Gavian people, she inwardly despairs over her futile attempts to become pregnant. As she sinks deeper into depression, another country attacks Gavia, forcing it to go to war. Nona summons her faith and positivity, and in just a few days, the enemies withdraw and peace returns. Soon after, she becomes pregnant and overflows with optimism: “There is no obstacle on your way you can’t overcome, no situation out of which there might be no solution.” Nona may be cheerful, but her frequent saccharine soliloquies border on self-righteousness and paint her as more of a caricature than a realistic character. The narrative as a whole is rife with moralistic aphorisms yet short on dialogue, plot development and suspense. Copy editing glitches also detract from the writing. Nevertheless, Buckley paints an absorbing account of the cultural norms and seasonal rhythms of life in Nona’s village. Molgravia comes alive in what appears to be Europe of yesteryear, although this seemingly old-fashioned tale occasionally invokes more modern sensibilities through its call for gender equality.
A cloying fable better suited for a bedtime story.Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2012
ISBN: 978-0646570853
Page Count: 186
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: May 4, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.
Sisters work together to solve a child-abandonment case.
Ellie and Julia Cates have never been close. Julia is shy and brainy; Ellie gets by on charm and looks. Their differences must be tossed aside when a traumatized young girl wanders in from the forest into their hometown in Washington. The sisters’ professional skills are put to the test. Julia is a world-renowned child psychologist who has lost her edge. She is reeling from a case that went publicly sour. Though she was cleared of all wrongdoing, Julia’s name was tarnished, forcing her to shutter her Beverly Hills practice. Ellie Barton is the local police chief in Rain Valley, who’s never faced a tougher case. This is her chance to prove she is more than just a fading homecoming queen, but a scarcity of clues and a reluctant victim make locating the girl’s parents nearly impossible. Ellie places an SOS call to her sister; she needs an expert to rehabilitate this wild-child who has been living outside of civilization for years. Confronted with her professional demons, Julia once again has the opportunity to display her talents and salvage her reputation. Hannah (The Things We Do for Love, 2004, etc.) is at her best when writing from the girl’s perspective. The feral wolf-child keeps the reader interested long after the other, transparent characters have grown tiresome. Hannah’s torturously over-written romance passages are stale, but there are surprises in store as the sisters set about unearthing Alice’s past and creating a home for her.
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.Pub Date: March 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-345-46752-3
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2005
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.
A violent surfacing of adolescence (which has little in common with Tarkington's earlier, broadly comic, Seventeen) has a compulsive impact.
"Nobody big except me" is the dream world of Holden Caulfield and his first person story is down to the basic, drab English of the pre-collegiate. For Holden is now being bounced from fancy prep, and, after a vicious evening with hall- and roommates, heads for New York to try to keep his latest failure from his parents. He tries to have a wild evening (all he does is pay the check), is terrorized by the hotel elevator man and his on-call whore, has a date with a girl he likes—and hates, sees his 10 year old sister, Phoebe. He also visits a sympathetic English teacher after trying on a drunken session, and when he keeps his date with Phoebe, who turns up with her suitcase to join him on his flight, he heads home to a hospital siege. This is tender and true, and impossible, in its picture of the old hells of young boys, the lonesomeness and tentative attempts to be mature and secure, the awful block between youth and being grown-up, the fright and sickness that humans and their behavior cause the challenging, the dramatization of the big bang. It is a sorry little worm's view of the off-beat of adult pressure, of contemporary strictures and conformity, of sentiment….
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.Pub Date: June 15, 1951
ISBN: 0316769177
Page Count: -
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1951
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