In 1875, Robert Lincoln committed his mother to an asylum for the insane. How did former first lady Mary Todd Lincoln fall from grace to incarceration at Bellevue Place?
Well known for her extensive Elm Creek Quilts series, Chiaverini now returns to the intimate circles of the political elite during the Civil War era, which she most recently explored with Mrs. Lincoln’s Dressmaker (2013). Leaving behind the often distracting intricacies of quilt- and dressmaking, Chiaverini builds a believable domestic sphere in which the women surrounding Mary—women who have also mourned the losses of husbands and children—try to puzzle out when she began to lose her sanity and whether her griefs truly transcend their own. Each chapter is told from the perspective of a different sister, which leaves Mary’s own thoughts and intentions tantalizingly mysterious. Mary’s three sisters—Elizabeth, Frances, and Ann—each recall Mary’s early life, from being the apple of her father’s eye to being banished to boarding school by her uncharmed stepmother to her surprising marriage to Abraham Lincoln. Once the Lincolns moved into the White House, her sisters recall, Mary’s quirks, including holding grudges and indulging in shopping sprees, became cause for marital strife and national criticism. The subsequent deaths of three sons, as well as Abe’s assassination, plunged Mary into the crisis that eventually led her remaining son, Robert, to have her committed. But as the sisters valiantly try to explain away Mary’s eccentric behavior, Mary again descends into paranoia and threats of violence.
An engaging glimpse of women’s privilege and anguish during the Civil War era.Pub Date: June 2, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-06-297597-3
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Morrow/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: March 15, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2020
Categories: FAMILY LIFE & FRIENDSHIP | HISTORICAL FICTION | GENERAL FICTION
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Ten years after her teenage daughter went missing, a mother begins a new relationship only to discover she can't truly move on until she answers lingering questions about the past.
Laurel Mack’s life stopped in many ways the day her 15-year-old daughter, Ellie, left the house to study at the library and never returned. She drifted away from her other two children, Hanna and Jake, and eventually she and her husband, Paul, divorced. Ten years later, Ellie’s remains and her backpack are found, though the police are unable to determine the reasons for her disappearance and death. After Ellie’s funeral, Laurel begins a relationship with Floyd, a man she meets in a cafe. She's disarmed by Floyd’s charm, but when she meets his young daughter, Poppy, Laurel is startled by her resemblance to Ellie. As the novel progresses, Laurel becomes increasingly determined to learn what happened to Ellie, especially after discovering an odd connection between Poppy’s mother and her daughter even as her relationship with Floyd is becoming more serious. Jewell’s (I Found You, 2017, etc.) latest thriller moves at a brisk pace even as she plays with narrative structure: The book is split into three sections, including a first one which alternates chapters between the time of Ellie’s disappearance and the present and a second section that begins as Laurel and Floyd meet. Both of these sections primarily focus on Laurel. In the third section, Jewell alternates narrators and moments in time: The narrator switches to alternating first-person points of view (told by Poppy’s mother and Floyd) interspersed with third-person narration of Ellie’s experiences and Laurel’s discoveries in the present. All of these devices serve to build palpable tension, but the structure also contributes to how deeply disturbing the story becomes. At times, the characters and the emotional core of the events are almost obscured by such quick maneuvering through the weighty plot.
Dark and unsettling, this novel’s end arrives abruptly even as readers are still moving at a breakneck speed.Pub Date: April 24, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5011-5464-5
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: Feb. 6, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2018
Categories: GENERAL THRILLER & SUSPENSE | SUSPENSE | FAMILY LIFE & FRIENDSHIP | SUSPENSE
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A heartwarming portrait of a broken heart finding a little healing magic.
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After acing a job interview and accepting a marriage proposal, Dannie Kohan has had the perfect day. That is, until she awakens to find herself five years in the future with a completely different man.
Just one hour in that alternate reality shakes Dannie to her core. After all, highly ambitious Dannie and her boyfriend, David, have plotted out their lives in minute detail, and the sexy man in her dream—was it a dream?—is most certainly not in the script. Serle (The Dinner List, 2018) deftly spins these magical threads into Dannie’s perfectly structured life, leaving not only Dannie, but also the reader wondering whether Dannie time traveled or hallucinated. Her best friend, Bella, would delight in the story given that she thinks Dannie is much too straight-laced, and some spicy dreaming might push Dannie to find someone more passionate than David. Unfortunately, glamorous Bella is in Europe with her latest lover. Ever pragmatic, Dannie consults her therapist, who almost concurs that it was likely a dream, and throws herself into her work. Pleased to have landed the job at a prestigious law firm, Dannie easily loses her worries in litigation. Soon four and a half years have passed with no wedding date set, and Bella is back in the U.S. with a new man in her life. A man who turns out to be literally the man of Dannie’s dream. The sheer fact of Aaron Gregory’s existence forces Dannie to reevaluate her trust in the laws of physics as well as her decision to marry David, a decision that seems less believable with each passing day. And as the architecture of Dannie’s overplanned life disintegrates, Serle twists and twines the remnants of her dream into a surprising future.
A heartwarming portrait of a broken heart finding a little healing magic.Pub Date: March 3, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-9821-3744-1
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: Dec. 9, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2020
Categories: FAMILY LIFE & FRIENDSHIP
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