An impressively researched but emotionally unengaging historical novel.
In Hirschmann’s debut historical novel, a young sailor contends with a dangerous captain on a voyage to Alaska.
The Eclipse sets sail from Boston in 1801, heading out into an ocean still dominated by the British Navy, who are only too happy to conscript American sailors into their war against Napoleon. Eclipse captain Jonathan Fletcher is young and brash, and his 11-man crew is even younger. Second Mate Joshua Hall distrusts the captain’s recklessness, but like First Mate Micah Triplett, Joshua is obligated to follow the captain’s orders, even when he disagrees. Besides, Joshua must focus on his true reason for signing on with the voyage, beyond merely acquiring otter pelts in the Pacific Northwest to sell in China: He’s investigating the fate of another ship, captained by his rebellious brother, Elias, that disappeared along the northwest coast the year before. After two sailors are lost in a storm while rounding Cape Horn, the crew takes on replacements in Hawaii—despite the taboo against such things, the recruits include Fletcher’s and Triplett’s Hawaiian paramours. To be fair, the women as skilled sailors, particularly Fletcher’s “wahine,” Alamea. It’s under these fraught conditions that the Eclipse arrives on the shores of Alaska, where the dangerous fur trade is pursued by competing Russian trappers, powerful Indigenous clans, and conniving British and American crews. Joshua’s rescue of a young slave from captivity wins him Alamea’s affection, which he cannot help but return: “Her graceful presence and manner only added to an overpowering, if not disquieting attraction that he was beginning to realize could never be defeated, only contained, though for how long he was uncertain.” However, Fletcher’s increasingly erratic behavior must be contended with if Joshua hopes to find his brother or make it back to Boston alive.
The author, a history professor, is well acquainted with the conditions of the time, and his text is rich with wonderful period details, as when the crew of the Eclipse prepares to trade for pelts with the Haida people of Prince of Wales Island: “Further down the deck, Lavelle Clark prepared his blacksmithing forge, ready to accommodate any villagers’ requests to make or refashion copper and iron goods. Kekoa held two young white and orange cats high on his shoulders to catch the eyes of otter pelt-owning villagers desiring a pet.” Hirschmann succeeds in communicating the harshness of the era through the youth of the sailors, their distance from home, the general lawlessness of the time, and the ruthless exploitation of local populations. Stopovers in remote places like the Juan Fernandez Islands drive home the far-flung geography of the Age of Sail. The author displays less skill when it comes to crafting personalities to populate this world; Joshua’s pat heroism is neither compelling nor terribly believable. The other characters are just as thin, including the native Hawaiians and Tlingits sailing with the crew. It’s a shame, as the reader is curious to see the effect such harrowing conditions—battles, storms, duels, months at sea—would have on people of diverse perspectives. An impressively researched but emotionally unengaging historical novel.Pub Date: March 14, 2023
ISBN: 9781684920518
Page Count: 286
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A pleasant if not entirely convincing tribute to the power of art.
A French art historian’s English-language fiction debut combines the story of a loving relationship between a grandfather and granddaughter with an enlightening discussion of art.
One day, when 10-year-old Mona removes the necklace given to her by her now-dead grandmother, she experiences a frightening, hour-long bout of blindness. Her parents take her to the doctor, who gives her a variety of tests and also advises that she see a psychiatrist. Her grandfather Henry tells her parents that he will take care of that assignment, but instead, he takes Mona on weekly visits to either the Louvre, the Musée d’Orsay, or the Centre Pompidou, where each week they study a single work of art, gazing at it deeply and then discussing its impact and history and the biography of its maker. For the reader’s benefit, Schlesser also describes each of the works in scrupulous detail. As the year goes on, Mona faces the usual challenges of elementary school life and the experiences of being an only child, and slowly begins to understand the causes of her temporary blindness. Primarily an amble through a few dozen of Schlesser’s favorite works of art—some well known and others less so, from Botticelli and da Vinci through Basquiat and Bourgeois—the novel would probably benefit from being read at a leisurely pace. While the dialogue between Henry and the preternaturally patient and precocious Mona sometimes strains credulity, readers who don’t have easy access to the museums of Paris may enjoy this vicarious trip in the company of a guide who focuses equally on that which can be seen and the context that can’t be. Come for the novel, stay for the introductory art history course.
A pleasant if not entirely convincing tribute to the power of art.Pub Date: Aug. 26, 2025
ISBN: 9798889661115
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Europa Editions
Review Posted Online: June 7, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2025
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
An affecting portrait of a prickly woman.
A lifetime’s worth of letters combine to portray a singular character.
Sybil Van Antwerp, a cantankerous but exceedingly well-mannered septuagenarian, is the titular correspondent in Evans’ debut novel. Sybil has retired from a beloved job as chief clerk to a judge with whom she had previously been in private legal practice. She is the divorced mother of two living adult children and one who died when he was 8. She is a reader of novels, a gardener, and a keen observer of human nature. But the most distinguishing thing about Sybil is her lifelong practice of letter writing. As advancing vision problems threaten Sybil’s carefully constructed way of life—in which letters take the place of personal contact and engagement—she must reckon with unaddressed issues from her past that threaten the house of cards (letters, really) she has built around herself. Sybil’s relationships are gradually revealed in the series of letters sent to and received from, among others, her brother, sister-in-law, children, former work associates, and, intriguingly, literary icons including Joan Didion and Larry McMurtry. Perhaps most affecting is the series of missives Sybil writes but never mails to a shadowy figure from her past. Thoughtful musings on the value and immortal quality of letters and the written word populate one of Sybil’s notes to a young correspondent while other messages are laugh-out-loud funny, tinged with her characteristic blunt tartness. Evans has created a brusque and quirky yet endearing main character with no shortage of opinions and advice for others but who fails to excavate the knotty difficulties of her own life. As Sybil grows into a delayed self-awareness, her letters serve as a chronicle of fitful growth.
An affecting portrait of a prickly woman.Pub Date: May 6, 2025
ISBN: 9780593798430
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2025
SEEN & HEARD
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