A fitfully engaging book that ought to have been a much better one.
A fable of female empowerment and liberation is concealed—like a frail virgin’s body under heavy layers of clothing—within the melodramatics of Cooney’s sixth novel (Gun Ball Hill, 2004, etc.).
Set in New England in 1900, it’s the story of Charlotte Heath, a putative orphan who has married into an oppressively prosperous Massachusetts family, “failed” in health (polio is suspected) and as a potential breeder, and been shocked to discover her husband in the embrace of another woman. Befriended by a family of outcast bakers (falsely accused of poisoning their neighbors), Charlotte flees to Boston and the Beechmont, the eponymous domicile where “gentle ladies” receive more than the usual considerations from the stunningly handsome young men who seem to be employed there. Among the flamboyant characters Charlotte meets, and with whom she becomes variously involved, are the Beechmont’s unctuous owner Harry Alcorn and his morphine-addicted wife Lucy, diminutive medical student (and surprisingly potent amorist) Arthur Pym, a wheelchair-bound lady painter, a “factory boy” turned police detective, assorted overworked and underprivileged cooks and maids and housekeepers, a truculent woman doctor (Charlotte’s aunt by marriage) and famed cookbook author Fannie Farmer (who has a keen eye for a likely-looking lad). Cooney exhibits a sure grasp of period detail, and a knack for concocting suitable Dickensian grotesqueries, as Charlotte masters her illness, overcomes fears “that the desires of her body were things to be ashamed of,” investigates the possibility that her orphanhood is a myth and prepares to settle the hash of her smugly patriarchal and patronizing husband. Though the Gothic effects are fun, the novel’s structure is chaotic. Cooney repeatedly departs from present action into extended flashbacks without making clear transitions—and an entire sequence in which Charlotte returns to the town where she grew up seems to come out of nowhere.
A fitfully engaging book that ought to have been a much better one.Pub Date: Nov. 22, 2005
ISBN: 0-375-42340-0
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Pantheon
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2005
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Entertaining and thoroughly engrossing.
Another reboot of Jane Austen?!? Hadlow pulls it off in a smart, heartfelt novel devoted to bookish Mary, middle of the five sisters in Pride and Prejudice.
Part 1 recaps Pride and Prejudice through Mary’s eyes, climaxing with the humiliating moment when she sings poorly at a party and older sister Elizabeth goads their father to cut her off in front of everyone. The sisters’ friend Charlotte, who marries the unctuous Mr. Collins after Elizabeth rejects him, emerges as a pivotal character; her conversations with Mary are even tougher-minded here than those with Elizabeth depicted by Austen. In Part 2, two years later, Mary observes on a visit that Charlotte is deferential but remote with her husband; she forms an intellectual friendship with the neglected and surprisingly nice Mr. Collins that leads to Charlotte’s asking Mary to leave. In Part 3, Mary finds refuge in London with her kindly aunt and uncle, Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner. Mrs. Gardiner is the second motherly woman, after Longbourn housekeeper Mrs. Hill, to try to undo the psychic damage wrought by Mary’s actual mother, shallow, status-obsessed Mrs. Bennet, by building up her confidence and buying her some nice clothes (funded by guilt-ridden Lizzy). Sure enough, two suitors appear: Tom Hayward, a poetry-loving lawyer who relishes Mary’s intellect but urges her to also express her feelings; and William Ryder, charming but feckless inheritor of a large fortune, whom naturally Mrs. Bennet loudly favors. It takes some maneuvering to orchestrate the estrangement of Mary and Tom, so clearly right for each other, but debut novelist Hadlow manages it with aplomb in a bravura passage describing a walking tour of the Lake District rife with seething complications furthered by odious Caroline Bingley. Her comeuppance at Mary’s hands marks the welcome final step in our heroine’s transformation from a self-doubting wallflower to a vibrant, self-assured woman who deserves her happy ending. Hadlow traces that progression with sensitivity, emotional clarity, and a quiet edge of social criticism Austen would have relished.
Entertaining and thoroughly engrossing.Pub Date: March 31, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-12941-3
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: Dec. 22, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Anyone who believes in true love or is simply willing to accept it as the premise of a winding tale will find this debut an...
True love flares between two people, but they find that circumstances always impede it.
On a winter day in London, Laurie spots Jack from her bus home and he sparks a feeling in her so deep that she spends the next year searching for him. Her roommate and best friend, Sarah, is the perfect wing-woman but ultimately—and unknowingly—ends the search by finding Jack and falling for him herself. Laurie’s hasty decision not to tell Sarah is the second painful missed opportunity (after not getting off the bus), but Sarah’s happiness is so important to Laurie that she dedicates ample energy into retraining her heart not to love Jack. Laurie is misguided, but her effort and loyalty spring from a true heart, and she considers her project mostly successful. Perhaps she would have total success, but the fact of the matter is that Jack feels the same deep connection to Laurie. His reasons for not acting on them are less admirable: He likes Sarah and she’s the total package; why would he give that up just because every time he and Laurie have enough time together (and just enough alcohol) they nearly fall into each other’s arms? Laurie finally begins to move on, creating a mostly satisfying life for herself, whereas Jack’s inability to be genuine tortures him and turns him into an ever bigger jerk. Patriarchy—it hurts men, too! There’s no question where the book is going, but the pacing is just right, the tone warm, and the characters sympathetic, even when making dumb decisions.
Anyone who believes in true love or is simply willing to accept it as the premise of a winding tale will find this debut an emotional, satisfying read.Pub Date: Oct. 16, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-525-57468-2
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: July 30, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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