A sudden string of calamities prompts a righteous woman to question her faith in Hartley’s debut novel.
Jemimah Barraclough—named after the daughter of the biblically afflicted Job—leads a charmed life. Cozily married to railroad technician Bob with four lovable kids, Jemimah counts among her blessings a fine house in the glowing English village of Moorthwaite and a comfortable nest-egg from a lucky lottery ticket. She deserves it, too; she’s a leader in her church, generous to charities and always ready to console a troubled neighbor. But Sophie, a cynical town gossip with horn-shaped wisps of cigarette smoke crowning her head, thinks Jemimah’s holiness would crumble along with her happiness if she were to suffer misfortune. And Jemimah will suffer—but not for a good long while. The first half of Hartley’s sprawling novel is a slow-paced, naturalistic depiction of the Barracloughs’ bliss with hardly a cloud on the horizon. There are well-observed scenes of genial domestic chaos, comically bickering kids and family outings in the countryside, with the exasperated, slightly uptight Jemimah always striving to enforce rules of morality and deportment. A roomy subplot about one of Bob’s construction projects immerses readers in railroad office politics, endless jocular banter among electricians and the technicalities of rewiring signal stations. This is engaging enough material, especially if you like trains, and Harley stocks it with vivid, sympathetic characters but the reader sometimes wonders where the narrative is heading. Then, an avalanche of disasters sweeps down. Hartley explores Jemimah’s anguish with sensitivity as she struggles to keep a stiff upper lip, pull her family together amid shocking traumas and reach out to others as tragedy closes in. As in the Old Testament, God’s response to rattled prayers is not entirely satisfying and entails a string of contrivances that strain credulity. Still, as characters wrestle with trials great and small, Hartley’s delicate, perceptive rendering of their sorrow and confusion makes for an absorbing read. A moving, if meandering, fable of good people who weather bad things.
Pub Date: Feb. 21, 2012
ISBN: 978-1467884709
Page Count: 508
Publisher: AuthorHouse
Review Posted Online: April 12, 2012
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
These letters from some important executive Down Below, to one of the junior devils here on earth, whose job is to corrupt mortals, are witty and written in a breezy style seldom found in religious literature. The author quotes Luther, who said: "The best way to drive out the devil, if he will not yield to texts of Scripture, is to jeer and flout him, for he cannot bear scorn." This the author does most successfully, for by presenting some of our modern and not-so-modern beliefs as emanating from the devil's headquarters, he succeeds in making his reader feel like an ass for ever having believed in such ideas. This kind of presentation gives the author a tremendous advantage over the reader, however, for the more timid reader may feel a sense of guilt after putting down this book. It is a clever book, and for the clever reader, rather than the too-earnest soul.
Pub Date: Jan. 1, 1942
ISBN: 0060652934
Page Count: 53
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 17, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1943
Hoffman (The Red Garden, 2011, etc.) births literature from tragedy: the destruction of Jerusalem's Temple, the siege of Masada and the loss of Zion.
This is a feminist tale, a story of strong, intelligent women wedded to destiny by love and sacrifice. Told in four parts, the first comes from Yael, daughter of Yosef bar Elhanan, a Sicarii Zealot assassin, rejected by her father because of her mother's death in childbirth. It is 70 CE, and the Temple is destroyed. Yael, her father, and another Sicarii assassin, Jachim ben Simon, and his family flee Jerusalem. Hoffman's research renders the ancient world real as the group treks into Judea's desert, where they encounter Essenes, search for sustenance and burn under the sun. There too Jachim and Yael begin a tragic love affair. At Masada, Yael is sent to work in the dovecote, gathering eggs and fertilizer. She meets Shirah, her daughters, and Revka, who narrates part two. Revka's husband was killed when Romans sacked their village. Later, her daughter was murdered. At Masada, caring for grandsons turned mute by tragedy, Revka worries over her scholarly son-in-law, Yoav, now consumed by vengeance. Aziza, daughter of Shirah, carries the story onward. Born out of wedlock, Aziza grew up in Moab, among the people of the blue tunic. Her passion and curse is that she was raised as a warrior by her foster father. In part four, Shirah tells of her Alexandrian youth, the cherished daughter of a consort of the high priests. Shirah is a keshaphim, a woman of amulets, spells and medicine, and a woman connected to Shechinah, the feminine aspect of God. The women are irretrievably bound to Eleazar ben Ya'ir, Masada's charismatic leader; Amram, Yael's brother; and Yoav, Aziza's companion and protector in battle. The plot is intriguingly complex, with only a single element unresolved. An enthralling tale rendered with consummate literary skill.
Pub Date: Oct. 4, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-4516-1747-4
Page Count: 512
Publisher: Scribner
Review Posted Online: April 5, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2011
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