An often engaging novel with dramatic plot twists.
A World War II–era family saga filled with secrets, passion and untimely tragedy.
Kelly’s debut novel is set during the five years after the end of WWII. After Caroline Hunt’s husband dies in the war, she moves from a town called Beaufort to her hometown of Salem, Mass., with her two daughters, teenage Dinah and 6-year-old Jemima. Caroline soon reconnects with an old flame, Tom, himself a widower who has a son named Tru. Caroline and Tom’s reunion is peaceful and sweet, and Kelly draws a realistic portrait of a new family awkwardly, but happily, coming together. The Hunt girls, in particular, are relatable and lifelike; Jemima is hilarious, and Dinah is refreshingly kind and self-assured, always looking after her sister and preferring “the company of dead authors” to the companionship of her peers. She settles into high school, but her relationship with her slightly older and more popular stepbrother, Tru, remains stagnant; Tru dotes on Jemima and refers to Caroline as “mom,” but he and Dinah never quite seem to hit it off. Eventually, however, Tru is unable to hide the fact that he’s in love with her. Their relationship is tested by its taboo nature, other suitors, illness and a tragic death. Unfortunately, although both characters are well–thought-out, their passion seems to be based on nothing but mutual physical attraction. There doesn’t seem to be enough substance for their relationship to progress—but it does, despite their parents’ surprisingly weak attempts to stop it. The teens’ relationship may disturb some readers, but Kelly’s story is a revealing peek into family life—including inside jokes, closely guarded secrets and long-standing feuds. There are a few aspects of the novel that fall flat, including a few superfluous characters and a few too many cute winks about the time period (“That Tom Stuart bears an uncanny resemblance to that new Congressman in the eleventh district—what’s his name again…that’s right—Kennedy”). Overall, however, the book is an easy, absorbing read.
An often engaging novel with dramatic plot twists.Pub Date: July 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-0989320009
Page Count: 390
Publisher: Legitur Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 28, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
A first novel, this is also a first person account of Scout's (Jean Louise) recall of the years that led to the ending of a mystery, the breaking of her brother Jem's elbow, the death of her father's enemy — and the close of childhood years. A widower, Atticus raises his children with legal dispassion and paternal intelligence, and is ably abetted by Calpurnia, the colored cook, while the Alabama town of Maycomb, in the 1930's, remains aloof to their divergence from its tribal patterns. Scout and Jem, with their summer-time companion, Dill, find their paths free from interference — but not from dangers; their curiosity about the imprisoned Boo, whose miserable past is incorporated in their play, results in a tentative friendliness; their fears of Atticus' lack of distinction is dissipated when he shoots a mad dog; his defense of a Negro accused of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell, is followed with avid interest and turns the rabble whites against him. Scout is the means of averting an attack on Atticus but when he loses the case it is Boo who saves Jem and Scout by killing Mayella's father when he attempts to murder them. The shadows of a beginning for black-white understanding, the persistent fight that Scout carries on against school, Jem's emergence into adulthood, Calpurnia's quiet power, and all the incidents touching on the children's "growing outward" have an attractive starchiness that keeps this southern picture pert and provocative. There is much advance interest in this book; it has been selected by the Literary Guild and Reader's Digest; it should win many friends.
Pub Date: July 11, 1960
ISBN: 0060935464
Page Count: 323
Publisher: Lippincott
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1960
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with...
Talk-show queen takes tumble as millions jeer.
Nora Bridges is a wildly popular radio spokesperson for family-first virtues, but her loyal listeners don't know that she walked out on her husband and teenaged daughters years ago and didn't look back. Now that a former lover has sold racy pix of naked Nora and horny himself to a national tabloid, her estranged daughter Ruby, an unsuccessful stand-up comic in Los Angeles, has been approached to pen a tell-all. Greedy for the fat fee she's been promised, Ruby agrees and heads for the San Juan Islands, eager to get reacquainted with the mom she plans to betray. Once in the family homestead, nasty Ruby alternately sulks and glares at her mother, who is temporarily wheelchair-bound as a result of a post-scandal car crash. Uncaring, Ruby begins writing her side of the story when she's not strolling on the beach with former sweetheart Dean Sloan, the son of wealthy socialites who basically ignored him and his gay brother Eric. Eric, now dying of cancer and also in a wheelchair, has returned to the island. This dismal threesome catch up on old times, recalling their childhood idylls on the island. After Ruby's perfect big sister Caroline shows up, there's another round of heartfelt talk. Nora gradually reveals the truth about her unloving husband and her late father's alcoholism, which led her to seek the approval of others at the cost of her own peace of mind. And so on. Ruby is aghast to discover that she doesn't know everything after all, but Dean offers her subdued comfort. Happy endings await almost everyone—except for readers of this nobly preachy snifflefest.
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with syrupy platitudes about life and love.Pub Date: March 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-609-60737-5
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2001
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