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A Rebel West

Name: A Rebel West
Author: Jan Spann
ISBN: 978-1493784240

by Jan Spann ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 11, 2014

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In Spann’s debut historical novel, an extended family finds a home in California and Kansas in the decade following the Civil War.
Belle Pettifaux is comfortable in her role as the young daughter of a Louisville physician. Unfortunately, the onset of the Civil War disrupts Belle’s world, sending her father and Samuel J., her sweetheart, into the Confederate army. When her mother dies, teenage Belle is sent from Louisville to Kansas to live with an aunt. She befriends local farm boy Earle Johnson—despite his suspicions about her Rebel ways—beginning a connection between the Johnson and Pettifaux families that deepens after the war ends, as Belle’s father marries Earle’s widowed mother, Earle marries Belle’s best friend, and Belle is reunited with Samuel J. At the close of the 1860s, financial troubles send half the family to California, and after overcoming numerous challenges, Belle reunites with her family’s former slave and discovers her calling as an opera singer. The book features period photographs captioned with the names of individuals and places in the story, leaving the reader to wonder whether the novel has a historical basis. Spann presents some engaging characters and develops them over the course of the narrative, but her decision to shift the narration from one character to another becomes confusing at times. The phonetic rendering of Southern speech is often taken to extremes, particularly when African-American characters speak: “Did y’all dance everee dance, Mizz Bayelle? Waz it fine? Ah talked to the drivers, everee laydee was plum cited.” A few minor but noticeable historical implausibilities (a 5-acre kitchen garden, a Kansas native who identifies as a Southern lady, etc.) might distract historical-fiction enthusiasts, but the story will still appeal to readers looking for a new perspective on the United States after the Civil War.
A novel of 19th-century America driven by strong characters but hampered by narrative and historical shortcomings.

Pub Date: June 11, 2014

ISBN: 978-1493784240

Page Count: 154

Publisher: CreateSpace

Review Posted Online: July 17, 2014

Review Program: Kirkus Indie

Categories:

HISTORICAL FICTION | GENERAL FICTION

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WE WERE THE LUCKY ONES

by Georgia Hunter ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 14, 2017

Too beholden to sentimentality and cliché, this novel fails to establish a uniquely realized perspective.

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Hunter’s debut novel tracks the experiences of her family members during the Holocaust.

Sol and Nechuma Kurc, wealthy, cultured Jews in Radom, Poland, are successful shop owners; they and their grown children live a comfortable lifestyle. But that lifestyle is no protection against the onslaught of the Holocaust, which eventually scatters the members of the Kurc family among several continents. Genek, the oldest son, is exiled with his wife to a Siberian gulag. Halina, youngest of all the children, works to protect her family alongside her resistance-fighter husband. Addy, middle child, a composer and engineer before the war breaks out, leaves Europe on one of the last passenger ships, ending up thousands of miles away. Then, too, there are Mila and Felicia, Jakob and Bella, each with their own share of struggles—pain endured, horrors witnessed. Hunter conducted extensive research after learning that her grandfather (Addy in the book) survived the Holocaust. The research shows: her novel is thorough and precise in its details. It’s less precise in its language, however, which frequently relies on cliché. “You’ll get only one shot at this,” Halina thinks, enacting a plan to save her husband. “Don’t botch it.” Later, Genek, confronting a routine bit of paperwork, must decide whether or not to hide his Jewishness. “That form is a deal breaker,” he tells himself. “It’s life and death.” And: “They are low, it seems, on good fortune. And something tells him they’ll need it.” Worse than these stale phrases, though, are the moments when Hunter’s writing is entirely inadequate for the subject matter at hand. Genek, describing the gulag, calls the nearest town “a total shitscape.” This is a low point for Hunter’s writing; elsewhere in the novel, it’s stronger. Still, the characters remain flat and unknowable, while the novel itself is predictable. At this point, more than half a century’s worth of fiction and film has been inspired by the Holocaust—a weighty and imposing tradition. Hunter, it seems, hasn’t been able to break free from her dependence on it.

Too beholden to sentimentality and cliché, this novel fails to establish a uniquely realized perspective.

Pub Date: Feb. 14, 2017

ISBN: 978-0-399-56308-9

Page Count: 416

Publisher: Viking

Review Posted Online: Nov. 21, 2016

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2016

Categories:

RELIGIOUS FICTION | HISTORICAL FICTION

- BOOK TO SCREEN
Hulu’s ‘We Were the Lucky Ones’ Adds To Cast

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MAGIC HOUR

by Kristin Hannah ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2006

Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.

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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.