WISE ONES OF MULL

Name: WISE ONES OF MULL
Author: Helen Prentice
ISBN: 978-1-4421-2561-2

by Helen Prentice ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 13, 2009

Lyrical and cruel, this tale about Scottish witches, midsummer nights, and a magical island also becomes a Shakespearean...

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In this fantasy historical novel, an apprentice wise woman in 16th-century Scotland learns her craft, experiences visions, and influences a London playwright.

Barring a brief framing narrative set in present-day Canada, this tale follows the fortunes of Wise Women in Mull, an island off the coast of Scotland, in the late 16th century. Gormal of Moy, an ancient wise woman, has a good relationship with John Mor, local chief. But his heir, Hector, remains suspicious and resentful, especially when young apprentice Anna predicts Hector’s daughter Ishbel “will have more power than you will ever know.” Ishbel eventually comes to Gormal for protection and teaching. After Gormal’s death, Anna becomes the new Doidag, gaining Ishbel and others as apprentices. They work magic to help their clan, such as warding off an attack from a Spanish galleon; regaining a changeling child; and fulfilling Gormal’s prophecy that Anna will draw a man of rare gifts from far away so that Ishbel can open his imagination “to the numinous beyond common thought.” This man (though nicknamed Hal, he’s obviously Shakespeare) agrees with a drunken, faery-influenced suggestion to practice a magic rite that involves torturing pet cats stolen from nearby farms. He’s assured he’ll win fame and fortune, but Ishbel still must bring him insight; she also encounters new dangers when Hector ascends the throne. The novel ends with several fates settled. Prentice (Meera’s Second Life, 2014, etc.) employs a lyrical, often rhapsodic style in creating her atmosphere, as when Gormal sits little Anna on a pony for a steep ride: “This casual act of understanding changed more than any spell of enchantment. It made the world new.” The witches’ focus on “connections” and “connectedness” is perhaps overly modern, but Prentice provides many intriguing examples of how wise women learn, gain visions, and practice magic. The Shakespeare story is something of an uneasy fit, partly because of the rite’s cruelty (it’s hard to wish Hal well after that) and partly because it detracts from wisdom and vision as woman-centered, otherwise such a strong theme in the plot.

Lyrical and cruel, this tale about Scottish witches, midsummer nights, and a magical island also becomes a Shakespearean origin story.

Pub Date: July 13, 2009

ISBN: 978-1-4421-2561-2

Page Count: 210

Publisher: CreateSpace

Review Posted Online: April 12, 2017

Review Program: Kirkus Indie

Categories:

GENERAL FICTION

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TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD

by Harper Lee ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 11, 1960

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A first novel, this is also a first person account of Scout's (Jean Louise) recall of the years that led to the ending of a mystery, the breaking of her brother Jem's elbow, the death of her father's enemy — and the close of childhood years. A widower, Atticus raises his children with legal dispassion and paternal intelligence, and is ably abetted by Calpurnia, the colored cook, while the Alabama town of Maycomb, in the 1930's, remains aloof to their divergence from its tribal patterns. Scout and Jem, with their summer-time companion, Dill, find their paths free from interference — but not from dangers; their curiosity about the imprisoned Boo, whose miserable past is incorporated in their play, results in a tentative friendliness; their fears of Atticus' lack of distinction is dissipated when he shoots a mad dog; his defense of a Negro accused of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell, is followed with avid interest and turns the rabble whites against him. Scout is the means of averting an attack on Atticus but when he loses the case it is Boo who saves Jem and Scout by killing Mayella's father when he attempts to murder them. The shadows of a beginning for black-white understanding, the persistent fight that Scout carries on against school, Jem's emergence into adulthood, Calpurnia's quiet power, and all the incidents touching on the children's "growing outward" have an attractive starchiness that keeps this southern picture pert and provocative. There is much advance interest in this book; it has been selected by the Literary Guild and Reader's Digest; it should win many friends.

Pub Date: July 11, 1960

ISBN: 0060935464

Page Count: 323

Publisher: Lippincott

Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1960

Categories:

GENERAL FICTION

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DISTANT SHORES

by Kristin Hannah ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 1, 2002

Soft-focus story moves right along with few surprises. This time around, Hannah avoids the soap-opera complications of her...

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Another middle-aged mom in a muddle.

After years of false starts and big hopes, Elizabeth’s ruggedly handsome husband Jack, a former football star, just landed a spot as a sportscaster on national news. He still loves her, even though much younger women are giving him come-hither looks. Heck, he doesn’t want to betray the love of his life after she helped him kick drugs and stuck by him even when he was a struggling has-been. And won’t it seem hypocritical if he fools around with his sexy assistant while he does in-depth reporting on a rape case involving a famous basketball center? Well, he fools around anyway. Elizabeth, nicknamed Birdie, knows nothing of this, but she withdraws from Jack when her hard-drinking, salt-of-the-earth father has a stroke and dies. Now no one will call her “sugar beet” ever again. Time to return home to Tennessee and contend with Anita, the sort-of-evil stepmother so trashy she wears pink puffy slippers all day long. Naturally, it turns out that Anita actually has a heart of gold and knows a few things about Birdie’s dead mother that were hushed up for years. Mom was an artist, just like Birdie, and an old scandal comes to light as Anita unrolls a vibrant canvas that portrays her secret lover. Perhaps, Birdie muses, her mother died of heartbreak, never having followed her true love or developed her talent. Has she, too, compromised everything she holds dear? Hoping to find out, Birdie joins a support group that promises to reconnect confused women with their passion. She and Jack separate, prompting a how-dare-you fit from their grown daughters. Will Birdie fly her empty nest? Will she go back to college for a degree in art? Will her brooding watercolors ever sell?

Soft-focus story moves right along with few surprises. This time around, Hannah avoids the soap-opera complications of her previous tales (Summer Island, 2001, etc.).