Once again (as in The Courtyard, 2007), a potentially intriguing fictional family history is smothered by excessive niceness.
In Willett’s latest Cornwall cozy, a trio of aging siblings is threatened—but not enough—by their erstwhile stepbrother.
Ed and Billa St. Enedoc, who live in Mellinpons, a lovingly renovated former butter factory inherited from their parents, and their half brother, Dom, who lives nearby, are all retired and settling down to a comfortable routine of tea parties, nature studies and dog walking when the postcards start arriving. These missives, postmarked in France, hail from their stepbrother, Tris, whom they haven’t seen in 50 years, not since his father, Andrew, abruptly left Ed and Billa’s mother, Elinor, and disappeared, along with his son. The postcards are apparently intended to goad: Ed’s features an image reminiscent of a prized bicycle Tris appropriated, Billa’s a dog resembling her beloved Bitser, whose euthanasia was engineered by Tris; Dom’s is a reference to the fact that he is the illegitimate son of Ed and Billa’s father, Harry, born of a liaison which predated his marriage. What could Tris possibly want of the St. Enedocs now? The suspense of finding out what he's up to is the book’s main plot, which is not fleshed-out enough to stand on its own but must be padded with a subplot involving a 20-something university graduate, Tilly, the burgeoning IT business she runs with Navy wife Sarah and the growing affection of both young women for dishy curate Clem. Although Willett may doubt that the concerns of the older people are enough to carry the novel, in reality, Tilly’s and her cohorts’ predicaments seem banal and dull compared to the intriguing menace of Tris and the conflicted childhood memories he evokes. Willett’s determination to portray each character fairly and compassionately causes her to paint herself into a narrative corner: By allowing Tris a voice and evoking sympathy for him, she attenuates his power as the antagonist, thereby weakening the conflict and guaranteeing an anticlimactic denouement.
Once again (as in The Courtyard, 2007), a potentially intriguing fictional family history is smothered by excessive niceness.Pub Date: April 14, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-250-04633-8
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Dunne/St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2015
Entertaining and thoroughly engrossing.
Another reboot of Jane Austen?!? Hadlow pulls it off in a smart, heartfelt novel devoted to bookish Mary, middle of the five sisters in Pride and Prejudice.
Part 1 recaps Pride and Prejudice through Mary’s eyes, climaxing with the humiliating moment when she sings poorly at a party and older sister Elizabeth goads their father to cut her off in front of everyone. The sisters’ friend Charlotte, who marries the unctuous Mr. Collins after Elizabeth rejects him, emerges as a pivotal character; her conversations with Mary are even tougher-minded here than those with Elizabeth depicted by Austen. In Part 2, two years later, Mary observes on a visit that Charlotte is deferential but remote with her husband; she forms an intellectual friendship with the neglected and surprisingly nice Mr. Collins that leads to Charlotte’s asking Mary to leave. In Part 3, Mary finds refuge in London with her kindly aunt and uncle, Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner. Mrs. Gardiner is the second motherly woman, after Longbourn housekeeper Mrs. Hill, to try to undo the psychic damage wrought by Mary’s actual mother, shallow, status-obsessed Mrs. Bennet, by building up her confidence and buying her some nice clothes (funded by guilt-ridden Lizzy). Sure enough, two suitors appear: Tom Hayward, a poetry-loving lawyer who relishes Mary’s intellect but urges her to also express her feelings; and William Ryder, charming but feckless inheritor of a large fortune, whom naturally Mrs. Bennet loudly favors. It takes some maneuvering to orchestrate the estrangement of Mary and Tom, so clearly right for each other, but debut novelist Hadlow manages it with aplomb in a bravura passage describing a walking tour of the Lake District rife with seething complications furthered by odious Caroline Bingley. Her comeuppance at Mary’s hands marks the welcome final step in our heroine’s transformation from a self-doubting wallflower to a vibrant, self-assured woman who deserves her happy ending. Hadlow traces that progression with sensitivity, emotional clarity, and a quiet edge of social criticism Austen would have relished.
Entertaining and thoroughly engrossing.Pub Date: March 31, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-12941-3
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: Dec. 22, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Anyone who believes in true love or is simply willing to accept it as the premise of a winding tale will find this debut an...
True love flares between two people, but they find that circumstances always impede it.
On a winter day in London, Laurie spots Jack from her bus home and he sparks a feeling in her so deep that she spends the next year searching for him. Her roommate and best friend, Sarah, is the perfect wing-woman but ultimately—and unknowingly—ends the search by finding Jack and falling for him herself. Laurie’s hasty decision not to tell Sarah is the second painful missed opportunity (after not getting off the bus), but Sarah’s happiness is so important to Laurie that she dedicates ample energy into retraining her heart not to love Jack. Laurie is misguided, but her effort and loyalty spring from a true heart, and she considers her project mostly successful. Perhaps she would have total success, but the fact of the matter is that Jack feels the same deep connection to Laurie. His reasons for not acting on them are less admirable: He likes Sarah and she’s the total package; why would he give that up just because every time he and Laurie have enough time together (and just enough alcohol) they nearly fall into each other’s arms? Laurie finally begins to move on, creating a mostly satisfying life for herself, whereas Jack’s inability to be genuine tortures him and turns him into an ever bigger jerk. Patriarchy—it hurts men, too! There’s no question where the book is going, but the pacing is just right, the tone warm, and the characters sympathetic, even when making dumb decisions.
Anyone who believes in true love or is simply willing to accept it as the premise of a winding tale will find this debut an emotional, satisfying read.Pub Date: Oct. 16, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-525-57468-2
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: July 30, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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