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ALEXANDER HICKORY

Name: ALEXANDER HICKORY
Author: Emily Kieson
ISBN: 978-0-692-00067-0

by Emily Kieson ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 5, 2009

Unique, if sometimes slow moving.

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A middle-grade fantasy/mystery with gothic overtones by debut author Kieson.

Eccentric Alexander Hickory, in the unusual habit of faking his death, finally succumbs in 1849, leaving a will as peculiar as he was. Rather than bequeathing his impressive estate to his toddler son and namesake, Hickory established a lease agreement allowing tenants of his mansion to search the home for treasure he hid–as long as they follow his rules. Fifty-one years later, his young son is dead and his orphaned 12-year-old daughter–named Alexander Hickory as well–is a servant in the Hickory estate. Assisted by young Henry, another orphaned servant, Alex tries to solve the elaborate scavenger hunt her manipulative grandfather designed. Conniving and vicious fellow employees, most descended from the original Hickory’s servants, impede Alex and Henry’s progress, while the current tenants, Mr. Evans, Miss Chamberlain and Mr. Carol–believing that Alex’s genetic tie to the house’s original owner gives her insight into the mystery–closely monitor her actions. In the Dickensian atmosphere of the Hickory estate, young Alex and Henry suffer frequent abuse from evil housekeeper Mrs. Finley; they don’t know who they can trust and sneak around in the dead of night searching out clues. Young readers will be suitably outraged by the unmitigated evilness–if one-dimensionality–of some characters, but those accustomed to more varied action and interesting settings may find Alexander Hickory less engaging than its competition. Further, it may be too disturbing for younger readers but has themes that are slightly immature for true YA readers. Still, the book is consistently well-written and suspenseful, and any young reader who enjoys a good puzzle will be challenged by the one the batty Mr. Hickory has devised.

Unique, if sometimes slow moving.

Pub Date: Jan. 5, 2009

ISBN: 978-0-692-00067-0

Page Count: -

Publisher: N/A

Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010

Review Program: Kirkus Indie

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

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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.