A darkly immersive coming-of-age story set on the hazardous coast of Cornwall.
Baker brings the world of the 19th-century wrecking industry to life in this historical novel.
The village of St. Rose in Cornwall, England, sustains itself on a peculiar trade: salvage. The law says that when a ship smashes on the treacherous rocks off the coast, whoever can grab its contents, either from the sea or from the shore, is the new rightful owner—if everyone aboard the ship is dead. This leads to macabre practices, even by children, such as 14-year-old Hannah Pendarves and her younger siblings, who find a still-living man on the beach and promptly bash in his head so they can loot his pockets. Only later does Hannah learn that dead man hadn’t been swept in from a ship at all, but was a gentleman of some importance whose murder is of interest to the constable. The teen feels no guilt for taking the man’s life—she views anyone not from St. Rose as a “foreigner” and therefore undeserving of empathy—but she’d prefer not to bring the eyes of the law on wreckers’ work. When Hannah’s father, salvager Hap Pendarves, is convinced by his new wife to get Hannah out of the house, he places his daughter as a servant (and spy) in the home of Falmouth shipping agent, Francis Keverne, who turns out to be related to the man she murdered. Hannah’s time outside the community of St. Rose soon has her wondering if the kill-and-steal ethic is really the best way to live. Over the course of this novel, Baker masterfully recreates the salt and grit of the period. This extend to the wreckers’ dialect, which is generally clear and straightforward, if occasionally confusing: “Tain’t that,” Hannah says, expressing her father’s intention to wed a local widow. “The Widdy Chegwidden is out of mourning today. He’s after marrying she.” Most impressive, though, is the author’s rendering of the violent, clannish culture of the Cornwall wreckers, which, over the course of Hannah’s journey, is engagingly portrayed from both the outside and inside.
A darkly immersive coming-of-age story set on the hazardous coast of Cornwall.Pub Date: Jan. 6, 2025
ISBN: 9781778066382
Page Count: 335
Publisher: Stories All the Way Down
Review Posted Online: Jan. 29, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Have tissues ready as you read this. A small package will do.
A love story about a life of second chances.
In Nassau, in the Bahamas, casino detective Vincent LaPorta grills Alfie Logan, who’d come up a winner three times in a row at the roulette table and walked away with $2 million. “How did you do it?” asks the detective. Alfie calmly denies cheating. You wired all the money to a Gianna Rule, LaPorta says. Why? To explain, Alfie produces a composition book with the words “For the Boss, to Be Read Upon My Death” written on the cover. Read this for answers, Alfie suggests, calling it a love story. His mother had passed along to him a strange trait: He can say “Twice!” and go back to a specific time and place to have a do-over. But it only works once for any particular moment, and then he must live with the new consequences. He can only do this for himself and can’t prevent anyone from dying. Alfie regularly uses his power—failing to impress a girl the first time, he finds out more about her, goes back in time, and presto! She likes him. The premise is of course not credible—LaPorta doesn’t buy it either—but it’s intriguing. Most people would probably love to go back and unsay something. The story’s focus is on Alfie’s love for Gianna and whether it’s requited, unrequited, or both. In any case, he’s obsessed with her. He’s a good man, though, an intelligent person with ordinary human failings and a solid moral compass. Albom writes in a warm, easy style that transports the reader to a world of second chances and what-ifs, where spirituality lies close to the surface but never intrudes on the story. Though a cynic will call it sappy, anyone who is sick to their core from the daily news will enjoy this escape from reality.
Have tissues ready as you read this. A small package will do.Pub Date: Oct. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9780062406682
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: July 18, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2025
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
With captivating dialogue, angst-y characters, and a couple of steamy sex scenes, Hoover has done it again.
After being released from prison, a young woman tries to reconnect with her 5-year-old daughter despite having killed the girl’s father.
Kenna didn’t even know she was pregnant until after she was sent to prison for murdering her boyfriend, Scotty. When her baby girl, Diem, was born, she was forced to give custody to Scotty’s parents. Now that she’s been released, Kenna is intent on getting to know her daughter, but Scotty’s parents won’t give her a chance to tell them what really happened the night their son died. Instead, they file a restraining order preventing Kenna from so much as introducing herself to Diem. Handsome, self-assured Ledger, who was Scotty’s best friend, is another key adult in Diem’s life. He’s helping her grandparents raise her, and he too blames Kenna for Scotty’s death. Even so, there’s something about her that haunts him. Kenna feels the pull, too, and seems to be seeking Ledger out despite his judgmental behavior. As Ledger gets to know Kenna and acknowledges his attraction to her, he begins to wonder if maybe he and Scotty’s parents have judged her unfairly. Even so, Ledger is afraid that if he surrenders to his feelings, Scotty’s parents will kick him out of Diem’s life. As Kenna and Ledger continue to mourn for Scotty, they also grieve the future they cannot have with each other. Told alternatively from Kenna’s and Ledger’s perspectives, the story explores the myriad ways in which snap judgments based on partial information can derail people’s lives. Built on a foundation of death and grief, this story has an undercurrent of sadness. As usual, however, the author has created compelling characters who are magnetic and sympathetic enough to pull readers in. In addition to grief, the novel also deftly explores complex issues such as guilt, self-doubt, redemption, and forgiveness.
With captivating dialogue, angst-y characters, and a couple of steamy sex scenes, Hoover has done it again.Pub Date: Jan. 18, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-5420-2560-7
Page Count: 335
Publisher: Montlake Romance
Review Posted Online: Oct. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2021
SEEN & HEARD
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
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