Once again, de Moor offers an enchantingly original novel. She’s getting better with every book.
From the internationally acclaimed Dutch author (First Gray, Then White, Then Blue, p. 979, etc.), a richly imagined, subtly constructed exploration of an unusual fictional subject: Europe’s gypsy populations and their adversarial relationships with settled societies.
Stage center is the marriage of Lucie, a beautiful Dutch woman who runs her family’s horse farm, and Joseph Plato, a charismatic nomad whose effortless empathy with all creatures domestic and wild (and also the ingenuous souls with whom he trades horses) is matched by the easy power he exerts over the smitten Lucie and their three children. Every spring, Joseph leaves his family to wander (belonging as he does to “a race of people with lungs so full of air that it simply has to escape”) across the continent; every fall, he returns, seemingly unchanged. Scenes from different stages of his courtship of Lucie, their union, and numerous separations and estrangements are shown from their viewpoints, as well as those of Lucie’s widowed, roughhewn father Gerard (who grudgingly admires the sleek, confident Joseph almost as much as he distrusts him) and of an unidentified narrator who seems, at various times, to be Joseph (observing himself as he observes others), Lucie’s sister, the voice of her village, and the omniscient author. Behind Joseph’s “story” (which is central) loom the travels, and travail of his people, recorded in tales told by his elders, the complex memories Gerard resists and compulsively recycles, and piecemeal historical information (invariably vividly dramatized). It’s a resonant, bittersweet history of romance and adventure, elaborate confidence games (e.g., itinerant public performances with a trained bear reputedly capable of “cur[ing] gout and tumors by laying on one of its paws”) and other strategies for survival, and the continuing threats (and the realities) of persecution and imprisonment.
Once again, de Moor offers an enchantingly original novel. She’s getting better with every book.Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2001
ISBN: 1-55970-546-9
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Arcade
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2001
The novel brings the Civil War era to life and effectively links it to contemporary times.
Two women, separated by a century and a half, survive life in the United States military in Estes' suspenseful, neatly structured second novel.
Larkin Bennett has recently returned home to the state of Washington after a stint in Afghanistan, suffering from PTSD and mourning the death of her best friend and fellow soldier, Sarah. As she cleans out Sarah's storage locker, she discovers the diary that Sarah said inspired her to become a soldier. It belonged to Emily Wilson, who grew up on a farm in Indiana and, during the Civil War, changed her name to Jesse and posed as a man in order to join the Army. Estes (The Girl Who Wrote in Silk, 2015) moves smoothly between the stories of Larkin, who with the help of her grandmother and other friends and relatives begins to find her way back into civilian life, and Emily, who both faces the horrors of war and starts to recognize the freedom inherent in appearing to others as a man. Estes includes passages from the (fictional) diary but primarily reveals Emily in the third person. Although the historical dialogue is occasionally anachronistic (would anyone in the 1860s say, “Yeah, me too”?) and the contemporary dialogue is sometimes overloaded with facts about the past, both central characters are credible and well developed. They're surrounded by equally intriguing secondary characters, including Emily's brother Ben and fellow soldier Willie and, in the contemporary sections, Sarah's brother, Zach, with whom Larkin forms a tentative relationship. Though it would have been easy to make Emily the more compelling character, Larkin's struggles with survivor's guilt and the day-to-day issues of recovering from war make her story just as riveting.
The novel brings the Civil War era to life and effectively links it to contemporary times.Pub Date: Aug. 6, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4926-6418-5
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark
Review Posted Online: May 12, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
A promising start to a family saga about ordinary people.
The inaugural volume of Gregory’s (Dark Tracks, 2018, etc.) new series is set during the English civil war.
A wise woman is at the center of this launch. Alinor, an herbalist and midwife, is reminiscent of Jacquetta (The Lady of the Rivers, 2011), another Gregory protagonist, foundress of the Woodville dynasty of beautiful and resourceful women who figure in the War of the Roses and attract accusations of witchcraft. In 1648, the risk of such accusations is even higher, since Alinor lacks Jacquetta’s noble lineage and because an army of Puritan Christians led by Oliver Cromwell has dethroned King Charles, now confined on the Isle of Wight. Extensive atmospherics slow the action but convey a strong sense of place—the Sussex tidelands, where, on Sealsea Island, Alinor earns a sparse living selling herbs and practicing the healing arts. She also invites scrutiny because her abusive husband disappeared months before. Detail abounds about the 17th-century economy of a small island: The local lord, Sir William, still holds sway thanks to a deal with Parliament, and his tenants each have their trade. Alinor’s brother Ned, a staunch anti-royalist, runs the family ferry business, her daughter Alys, also beautiful, works for the miserly Mrs. Miller, whose family controls the tide-driven mill. Everyone makes their own ale. When Alinor meets James, a disguised Catholic priest who has been summoned by Sir William, her fortunes change for both good and ill. James, a spy from the exiled English court in France, is embroiled in a plot to rescue King Charles. With James’ help, Alinor’s son Rob is assured of a brighter future under Sir William’s patronage. Alinor and the handsome James are instantly drawn to one another, and his vow of chastity falls to the wayside, with rather unpleasant results once he is called back to France. There are chilling descriptions of what Puritans in power are prepared to do to women who deviate from social norms—or merely incite envy. Once the jeopardy accelerates, this is Gregory par excellence.
A promising start to a family saga about ordinary people.Pub Date: Aug. 20, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5011-8715-5
Page Count: 480
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: May 26, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2019
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