Jane Austen's heir-apparent rewrites the Emma story and gives life to some wonderful minor characters in this delightful epistolary novel. The events of Emma are given a new twist in the letters of Mrs. Mary Goddard, the headmistress of the girls' school in Highbury, Emma Woodhouse's village 12 miles outside of London, and Mrs. Goddard's sister, Mrs. Charlotte Pinkney. Mrs. Pinkney is unhappy with her recent marriage to Mr. Pinkney, who she feels wed her to replace his housekeeper. For her part, Mrs. Pinkney was nearly destitute after the death of her first husband and accepted Mr. Pinkney with no expectations of marital bliss. In her early letters to her sister, Mrs. Pinkney complains constantly of her unloving and reclusive husband and looks forward to the correspondence to alleviate some of her boredom and loneliness. Mrs. Goddard, although willing to give Mr. Pinkney more credit, is happy to be able to gossip about Highbury with Mrs. Pinkney. She relates the details of the budding friendship between her pretty but simple parlor boarder, Harriet Smith, and the wealthy and clever Emma; the strange circumstances of the handsome vicar's marriage; the secret engagement of Jane Fairfax and Frank Churchill; and Emma's own unexpected romance. At the same time, Mrs. Pinkney writes of her young protÇgÇe, Charlotte Gordon, who lives at the ladies' seminary next door to the Pinkneys. Mr. and Mrs. Pinkney take Charlotte to Bath, and en route she meets a dashing young naval lieutenant who saves her from falling off the coach. The young couple's romance progresses without too much difficulty and they, in return, aid in the older couple's reconciliation. Mr. Pinkney then joins his wife in unraveling the little mysteries of Highbury, where all the characters eventually end up. Austen-Leigh, the great-great-grandniece of Austen, is faithful to her illustrious ancestor. Although lacking the dark humor of the original, her visit with old friends will be a pleasure for Austen enthusiasts.
Pub Date: March 29, 1995
ISBN: 0-312-11860-0
Page Count: 192
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1995
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
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