Wine aficionados and fans of romance and historical fiction will drink this in.
A young French woman, determined to pursue her dreams, shows resourcefulness and endurance as she journeys from her home to America in a novel set in the late 1800s.
Seventeen year-old Sara Thibault is the youngest daughter of a Loire Valley vintner, and she hopes to follow in his footsteps. She’s well-versed in the intricacies of winemaking and understands the importance of a strong grape crop, but Sara doesn’t anticipate the series of events that threatens to derail her dreams. Her sister, Lydia, is engaged to Bastien Lemieux, the eldest son of the area’s wine broker. He’s handsome, but Sara suspects he also possesses a cruel streak, a sharp contrast to his kind younger brother, Philippe, who left for America following a scandalous episode. When Sara’s father is killed in a mudslide and leaves behind a sizable debt, her mother sells the vineyard to the Lemieux family, and Lydia marries Bastien. Distraught but not defeated, Sara vows one day to reclaim her family’s legacy and blames the Lemieux family for her father’s death. (The accident happened as he was traveling to find a better price for his wine than that offered by Lemieux senior.) Bastien proves Sara’s suspicions correct: He brutalizes Lydia, and when he attacks Sara, her response is so forceful that she must flee France to avoid dire consequences. A pregnant Lydia accompanies her, and they set sail for America. Although Sara’s path becomes more difficult, she doesn’t lose sight of her goal. Using her dwindling funds, she travels to California hoping to make her mark in its flourishing winemaking industry and ends up in a situation that could take her full circle. Harnisch's palatable debut is enriched with historical detail about the wine industry. Sara is a dynamic heroine, but secondary characters would benefit from further development. Even so, the plot is engaging and well-paced.
Wine aficionados and fans of romance and historical fiction will drink this in.Pub Date: Aug. 5, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-63512-929-0
Page Count: 342
Publisher: She Writes Press
Review Posted Online: June 30, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2014
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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