A sequel that stands firmly on its own, brimming with political intrigue and historical drama.
A Boston merchant is falsely accused of murdering a government official in 18th-century China in Flanders’ (The Girl from Recoleta and Other Stories of Love, 2014, etc.) intricate sequel to The Republic of Virtue (2014).
Businessman Calvin Tarkington’s plans for a happy life after his return to America from France unravel when his fiancee suddenly dies. Grief-stricken, he decides to expand his trade and takes a monthslong voyage to China. Although the Middle Kingdom allows some foreigners to do business in Macao, it remains largely closed off to Westerners. Many Chinese regard the “barbarians,” with their strange customs and religion, with suspicion, and the introduction of opium into the market has further eroded their trust for “foreign devils.” Scholarly Calvin is curious about the mysterious empire and spends most of his journey learning the language. He’s a quick study, and soon after his arrival, a fellow American asks him to help him pressure a Chinese trader into repaying a loan. Meanwhile, Commissioner Sun, the emperor’s representative, is investigating the killing of a suspected opium dealer. He stumbles upon the confrontation with the trader and takes a liking to Calvin. However, their budding friendship is cut short in a moment of violence. Calvin, accused of murder, is soon swept up in a murky tug of war between corrupt forces trying to hide their misdeeds and honorable officials seeking to clean house. He finds an unlikely ally in Gen. Daitun, who takes Calvin to Peking to defend his innocence. For the most part, Flanders paints the Chinese and their culture with nuance, avoiding the common trap of portraying Calvin as a persecuted, enlightened white savior. His meticulous eye for detail is on display the moment the Liberty docks in Macao; he portrays the land of tea and porcelain as vibrant and complex—a country struggling to balance tradition with innovation. The author does recycle some of The Republic of Virtue’s plot points, including a traitorous countryman and a bold, ahead-of-her-time love interest, but the dressing is so different, the setting so rich, and Calvin’s cultural immersion so absorbing that readers will hardly complain.
A sequel that stands firmly on its own, brimming with political intrigue and historical drama.Pub Date: Feb. 20, 2015
ISBN: 978-0990867517
Page Count: 300
Publisher: Munroe Hill Press
Review Posted Online: April 16, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2015
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
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