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THE JEWEL TRADER OF PEGU

Name: THE JEWEL TRADER OF PEGU
Author: Jeffrey Hantover
ISBN: 978-0-06-125270-9

by Jeffrey Hantover ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 1, 2008

Appealing but thin.

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In cultural journalist Hantover’s first novel, a young Venetian Jew, recently widowed, spends 1598-99 in the Burmese kingdom of Pegu, acquiring gems and rediscovering, by way of an unusual cultural custom, his ability to love.

Abraham’s business in lush, lovely Pegu begins auspiciously. The merchandise is exquisite, and he’s assigned a savvy broker who knows a smattering of Italian; despite cultural and religious differences, they embark on a friendship. But trouble lurks. The king is a cruel and impetuous tyrant, for one thing. More immediately, Abraham discovers a native custom he finds bizarre and repellent: The Peguans believe that a foreigner should take the maidenhead of the region’s brides-to-be. Worse, Abraham learns this only when a young woman, perfumed with the finest unguents, arrives on his doorstep. He finally relents when he realizes that performing this “service” is necessary if his business is to flourish—it may even help preserve his life. Abraham subsequently takes a path that leads to his falling in love with tragedy-touched Mya, who is shunned when her betrothed dies in prenuptial revelry while she’s with Abraham. Hantover’s best and subtlest move is the way he uses Abraham’s devout faith to lend the story plausibility. As a Jew in Italy, Abraham is subject to appalling restrictions, forced, for example, to wear a yellow hat as a badge of foreignness; he’s an exile at home, himself despised and shunned, and Pegu’s relative freedoms have, therefore, great appeal. But despite that and a vivid setting, the book bogs down in its (predictably) treacly and (predictably) tragic second half.

Appealing but thin.

Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2008

ISBN: 978-0-06-125270-9

Page Count: 240

Publisher: Morrow/HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2007

Categories:

HISTORICAL FICTION | GENERAL FICTION

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THE LEGEND OF THE LADY SLIPPER

AN OJIBWE TALE

adapted by Lise Lunge-Larsen & Margi Preus ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 1999

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Lunge-Larsen and Preus debut with this story of a flower that blooms for the first time to commemorate the uncommon courage of a girl who saves her people from illness. The girl, an Ojibwe of the northern woodlands, knows she must journey to the next village to get the healing herb, mash-ki- ki, for her people, who have all fallen ill. After lining her moccasins with rabbit fur, she braves a raging snowstorm and crosses a dark frozen lake to reach the village. Then, rather than wait for morning, she sets out for home while the villagers sleep. When she loses her moccasins in the deep snow, her bare feet are cut by icy shards, and bleed with every step until she reaches her home. The next spring beautiful lady slippers bloom from the place where her moccasins were lost, and from every spot her injured feet touched. Drawing on Ojibwe sources, the authors of this fluid retelling have peppered the tale with native words and have used traditional elements, e.g., giving voice to the forces of nature. The accompanying watercolors, with flowing lines, jewel tones, and decorative motifs, give stately credence to the story’s iconic aspects. (Picture book/folklore. 4-8)

Pub Date: March 1, 1999

ISBN: 0-395-90512-5

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 1999

Categories:

GENERAL FICTION

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THE GIRL YOU LEFT BEHIND

by Jojo Moyes ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 20, 2013

While Liv’s more pedestrian story is less romantic than Sophie’s and far less nuanced, Moyes is a born storyteller who makes...

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The newest novel by Moyes (Me Before You, 2012, etc.) shares its title with a fictional painting that serves as catalyst in linking two love stories, one set in occupied France during World War I, the other in 21st-century London.

In a French village in 1916, Sophie is helping the family while her husband, Édouard, an artist who studied with Matisse, is off fighting. Sophie’s pluck in standing up to the new German kommandant in the village draws his interest. An art lover, he also notices Édouard's portrait of Sophie, which captures her essence (and the kommandant's adoration). Arranging to dine regularly at Sophie’s inn with his men, he begins a cat-and-mouse courtship. She resists. But learning that Édouard is being held in a particularly harsh “reprisal” camp, she must decide what she will sacrifice for Édouard’s freedom. The rich portrayals of Sophie, her family and neighbors hauntingly capture wartime’s gray morality. Cut to 2006 and a different moral puzzle. Thirty-two-year-old widow Liv has been struggling financially and emotionally since her husband David’s sudden death. She meets Paul in a bar after her purse is stolen. The divorced father is the first man she’s been drawn to since she was widowed. They spend a glorious night together, but after noticing Édouard's portrait of Sophie on Liv’s wall, he rushes away with no explanation. In fact, Paul is as smitten as Liv, but his career is finding and returning stolen art to the rightful owners. Usually the artwork was confiscated by Germans during World War II, not WWI, but Édouard's descendants recently hired him to find this very painting. Liv is not about to part with it; David bought it on their honeymoon because the portrait reminded him of Liv. In love, Liv and Paul soon find themselves on opposite sides of a legal battle.

While Liv’s more pedestrian story is less romantic than Sophie’s and far less nuanced, Moyes is a born storyteller who makes it impossible not to care about her heroines.