A formidable, ambitious debut novel with the tantalizing promise of a follow-up.
This historical novel offers a smorgasbord that includes Freemasonry, aborted revolutions, slavers, family dynasties, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and the Enlightenment—while also telling a tale of a far-ranging treasure hunt.
The engine of the plot in Dennis’ tale is a search for the “crimson heirlooms”: the Cross of Nantes, an almost mystically stunning creation that makes its bearer “merchant royalty,” and a “less tangible” heirloom: “the words of the devil’s song, as he danced across the blood-drenched hills of the Vendée Militaire.” Whoever finds these heirlooms will inherit the holdings of the wealthy Traversier family and be rich as Croesus. There are several pivotal characters and forces in this densely packed novel that’s set in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, and chief among them is Xavier Traversier, the heir to his family’s mercantile enterprise in the city of Nantes in western France. The business is in decline during his childhood, but by book’s end he will have taken the Traversier fortunes to incredible heights. Jake Loring is an American student in 1832 Paris and a budding revolutionary who’s forced by a man named Monsieur Tyran into searching for the heirlooms. By a circuitous route, the story arrives in 1783 Saint-Domingue (later known as Haiti), which brings in the Guerrier clan, including father Feroce, mother Seonaidh, and the children, Guillaume and Estelle; the kids, when grown up, figure in the story at crucial junctures. Freemasonry also undergirds the intellectual history of the era along with the ideas of philosophers Rousseau and Montesquieu. Revolution is in the air as the story alternates between different time periods. The end presents a semiconclusion to the action followed by the phrase “To Be Continued.” Dennis knows how to spin a yarn, although the reader may be forgiven for not keeping all the characters straight over 400-plus pages; indeed, an initial list of the various players might have been helpful. The intellectual discussions sometimes make things drag a bit unless one is already a keen student of political and intellectual history, but when Dennis is good, he’s very good—especially when it comes to description. The details of Traversier’s first voyage as captain of his slave ship are particularly horrifying. Likewise, the particulars of Jake’s frontline actions as a revolutionary and Guillaume’s earlier exploits, also as a revolutionary (Plus ça change…), are well-handled. One curious chapter, “Jérémie,” stands out as an eloquent testimony on the plight of the country peasants of the time; revolution should come as no surprise at all, even if it does start in the cities. Dennis has certainly immersed himself in the era of his novel, and he has clearly done his homework. The result is a book in which readers can certainly lose themselves, in the best sense of the term. And although it would be a long stretch to compare this novel to those of Leo Tolstoy or Victor Hugo, the flavor of their works is certainly present.
A formidable, ambitious debut novel with the tantalizing promise of a follow-up.Pub Date: Jan. 31, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-9994936-0-1
Page Count: 470
Publisher: A-R-B Books
Review Posted Online: April 11, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
The phrase “tour de force” could have been invented for this audacious novel.
Four men who meet as college roommates move to New York and spend the next three decades gaining renown in their professions—as an architect, painter, actor and lawyer—and struggling with demons in their intertwined personal lives.
Yanagihara (The People in the Trees, 2013) takes the still-bold leap of writing about characters who don’t share her background; in addition to being male, JB is African-American, Malcolm has a black father and white mother, Willem is white, and “Jude’s race was undetermined”—deserted at birth, he was raised in a monastery and had an unspeakably traumatic childhood that’s revealed slowly over the course of the book. Two of them are gay, one straight and one bisexual. There isn’t a single significant female character, and for a long novel, there isn’t much plot. There aren’t even many markers of what’s happening in the outside world; Jude moves to a loft in SoHo as a young man, but we don’t see the neighborhood change from gritty artists’ enclave to glitzy tourist destination. What we get instead is an intensely interior look at the friends’ psyches and relationships, and it’s utterly enthralling. The four men think about work and creativity and success and failure; they cook for each other, compete with each other and jostle for each other’s affection. JB bases his entire artistic career on painting portraits of his friends, while Malcolm takes care of them by designing their apartments and houses. When Jude, as an adult, is adopted by his favorite Harvard law professor, his friends join him for Thanksgiving in Cambridge every year. And when Willem becomes a movie star, they all bask in his glow. Eventually, the tone darkens and the story narrows to focus on Jude as the pain of his past cuts deep into his carefully constructed life.
The phrase “tour de force” could have been invented for this audacious novel.Pub Date: March 10, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-385-53925-8
Page Count: 720
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: Dec. 21, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
PROFILES
PERSPECTIVES
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.
Sisters work together to solve a child-abandonment case.
Ellie and Julia Cates have never been close. Julia is shy and brainy; Ellie gets by on charm and looks. Their differences must be tossed aside when a traumatized young girl wanders in from the forest into their hometown in Washington. The sisters’ professional skills are put to the test. Julia is a world-renowned child psychologist who has lost her edge. She is reeling from a case that went publicly sour. Though she was cleared of all wrongdoing, Julia’s name was tarnished, forcing her to shutter her Beverly Hills practice. Ellie Barton is the local police chief in Rain Valley, who’s never faced a tougher case. This is her chance to prove she is more than just a fading homecoming queen, but a scarcity of clues and a reluctant victim make locating the girl’s parents nearly impossible. Ellie places an SOS call to her sister; she needs an expert to rehabilitate this wild-child who has been living outside of civilization for years. Confronted with her professional demons, Julia once again has the opportunity to display her talents and salvage her reputation. Hannah (The Things We Do for Love, 2004, etc.) is at her best when writing from the girl’s perspective. The feral wolf-child keeps the reader interested long after the other, transparent characters have grown tiresome. Hannah’s torturously over-written romance passages are stale, but there are surprises in store as the sisters set about unearthing Alice’s past and creating a home for her.
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.Pub Date: March 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-345-46752-3
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2005
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