This tale should prove entertaining for readers who enjoy amusing characters and a less pulpy style of intrigue.
A novel details the gossip and rumors surrounding a renowned theater family, as its would-be biographer searches for the truth.
The story is set in 1965 and most of it takes place in the quiet fictional town of Oldfield, Connecticut, not far from New York City. Jasper de Vole, columnist for the Scrutator, travels to Oldfield to conduct research for a biography on the Harts, a famous acting family that resided in the town. Rex and Dora Hart have died, and locals haven’t seen their daughter, Margot, for many years. But socialite Winifred “Freddie” Hart (who is not an actress) is agreeable and shows Jasper many artifacts in the family’s home of Coverdale, with the help of curmudgeonly housekeeper Mrs. Plunkett. Freddie even invites Jasper to take up residence at Coverdale, which he does. At first Jasper is taken in by the treasure trove of objects he is shown and the hospitality of Freddie, but he can’t shake the feeling that there is a bigger story to uncover and that the family is hiding something. He wonders about the disappearance of Margot, whom Freddie doesn’t mention. Living at Coverdale allows him to snoop around the house whenever he’s able to avoid Mrs. Plunkett. Meanwhile, Freddie’s property, Wilderhall, sits in disrepair, as she hasn’t used or maintained it for many years. And elsewhere in town, Margot’s old friend Whitty Daniels meets Mr. Moravec, a handsome Shakespeare scholar, who says he’s interested in purchasing Wilderhall. The story’s characters are likable and appealing, particularly Whitty, who loves the dilapidated Wilderhall (“There is a beauty in crumbling ruins, don’t you think? They engage the imagination: you have to complete them in your mind”). And Farewell’s (House Party, 2017, etc.) prose is bright and evocative. But it’s difficult to categorize this book—it lacks the fast pace and urgency of a thriller. It doesn’t always feel like a mystery either, because the knowledge that a character is missing is often imparted to readers first, and the players don’t have to expend death-defying efforts to learn crucial information. It’s a bit gentler than those genres while still remaining engaging for audiences that aren’t looking for heart-stopping suspense.
This tale should prove entertaining for readers who enjoy amusing characters and a less pulpy style of intrigue.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-9778509-7-6
Page Count: 238
Publisher: Puddingdale Press
Review Posted Online: Nov. 13, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.
A violent surfacing of adolescence (which has little in common with Tarkington's earlier, broadly comic, Seventeen) has a compulsive impact.
"Nobody big except me" is the dream world of Holden Caulfield and his first person story is down to the basic, drab English of the pre-collegiate. For Holden is now being bounced from fancy prep, and, after a vicious evening with hall- and roommates, heads for New York to try to keep his latest failure from his parents. He tries to have a wild evening (all he does is pay the check), is terrorized by the hotel elevator man and his on-call whore, has a date with a girl he likes—and hates, sees his 10 year old sister, Phoebe. He also visits a sympathetic English teacher after trying on a drunken session, and when he keeps his date with Phoebe, who turns up with her suitcase to join him on his flight, he heads home to a hospital siege. This is tender and true, and impossible, in its picture of the old hells of young boys, the lonesomeness and tentative attempts to be mature and secure, the awful block between youth and being grown-up, the fright and sickness that humans and their behavior cause the challenging, the dramatization of the big bang. It is a sorry little worm's view of the off-beat of adult pressure, of contemporary strictures and conformity, of sentiment….
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.Pub Date: June 15, 1951
ISBN: 0316769177
Page Count: -
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1951
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
APPRECIATIONS
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