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AMONG THE ASHES

Name: AMONG THE ASHES
Author: Matthew James McDonald
ISBN: 978-1490944081

by Matthew James McDonald ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 21, 2013

A compelling story about a man following his heart and his conscience, however much it costs him.

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In a debut novel that will appeal to fans of romance and history alike, McDonald elegantly captures the burden of being innocent, naïve and principled in a time of war.

Set at the start of World War I, this novel centers on Lt. Erich von Zandt, a young, aristocratic, German cavalry officer. He’s part of the Second Landsturm Battalion, which is occupying Louvain, in neutral Belgium, through which German military leaders hope to stage a quick, successful assault on France before Russia can get mobilized. Early on, McDonald skillfully taps into the century-old mystery of what caused the destruction of the historic city of Louvain over five days in 1914. In an event that the Germans claim to be the result of an attack by saboteurs, Louvain is soon aflame; chaos reigns, but from his hotel room, von Zandt witnesses a scene quite different from the official version, and he’s lucky to escape with his life from the tumult. He makes the mistake of telling his superiors what he witnessed. He makes a second mistake: falling in love with Genevieve Delacroix, a local woman whose jailing gives leverage over von Zandt to those plotting a cover-up. The young officer plays along for a time while hatching an ill-conceived plan to rescue Genevieve, but he’s up against greater schemers than he imagines. Von Zandt eventually gets to tell his truth to a German court of inquiry, though his voice struggles to be heard. Throughout, McDonald creates an intriguing cast of characters, even though most of them, beyond von Zandt and his friend Lt. Gimmel, aren’t quite as fully realized. McDonald, a Marine officer of 11 years, also seizes upon how horrifying war can be, although the novel’s conclusion proves to be less than satisfying.

A compelling story about a man following his heart and his conscience, however much it costs him.

Pub Date: Nov. 21, 2013

ISBN: 978-1490944081

Page Count: 288

Publisher: CreateSpace

Review Posted Online: March 10, 2014

Review Program: Kirkus Indie

Categories:

HISTORICAL FICTION

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WE WERE THE LUCKY ONES

by Georgia Hunter ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 14, 2017

Too beholden to sentimentality and cliché, this novel fails to establish a uniquely realized perspective.

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Hunter’s debut novel tracks the experiences of her family members during the Holocaust.

Sol and Nechuma Kurc, wealthy, cultured Jews in Radom, Poland, are successful shop owners; they and their grown children live a comfortable lifestyle. But that lifestyle is no protection against the onslaught of the Holocaust, which eventually scatters the members of the Kurc family among several continents. Genek, the oldest son, is exiled with his wife to a Siberian gulag. Halina, youngest of all the children, works to protect her family alongside her resistance-fighter husband. Addy, middle child, a composer and engineer before the war breaks out, leaves Europe on one of the last passenger ships, ending up thousands of miles away. Then, too, there are Mila and Felicia, Jakob and Bella, each with their own share of struggles—pain endured, horrors witnessed. Hunter conducted extensive research after learning that her grandfather (Addy in the book) survived the Holocaust. The research shows: her novel is thorough and precise in its details. It’s less precise in its language, however, which frequently relies on cliché. “You’ll get only one shot at this,” Halina thinks, enacting a plan to save her husband. “Don’t botch it.” Later, Genek, confronting a routine bit of paperwork, must decide whether or not to hide his Jewishness. “That form is a deal breaker,” he tells himself. “It’s life and death.” And: “They are low, it seems, on good fortune. And something tells him they’ll need it.” Worse than these stale phrases, though, are the moments when Hunter’s writing is entirely inadequate for the subject matter at hand. Genek, describing the gulag, calls the nearest town “a total shitscape.” This is a low point for Hunter’s writing; elsewhere in the novel, it’s stronger. Still, the characters remain flat and unknowable, while the novel itself is predictable. At this point, more than half a century’s worth of fiction and film has been inspired by the Holocaust—a weighty and imposing tradition. Hunter, it seems, hasn’t been able to break free from her dependence on it.

Too beholden to sentimentality and cliché, this novel fails to establish a uniquely realized perspective.

Pub Date: Feb. 14, 2017

ISBN: 978-0-399-56308-9

Page Count: 416

Publisher: Viking

Review Posted Online: Nov. 21, 2016

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2016

Categories:

RELIGIOUS FICTION | HISTORICAL FICTION

- BOOK TO SCREEN
Hulu’s ‘We Were the Lucky Ones’ Adds To Cast

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HANG THE MOON

by Jeannette Walls ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 28, 2023

A rollicking soap opera that keeps the pages turning with a surfeit of births, deaths, and surprising plot reveals.

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Historical fiction concerning the intricate battles over succession within the family that controls a poor rural county in post–World War I Virginia.

Duke Kincaid owns most of Claiborne County, both financially and politically. A charming, ruthless autocrat, feared yet beloved, he has three acknowledged children by three different wives (not to mention unacknowledged offspring). Shortly after his fourth marriage, the Duke dies unexpectedly. Although pragmatic, street-smart middle child Sallie is his intellectual and emotional heir, the Duke leaves his estate to her emotionally oversensitive half brother, Eddie, because he’s the only boy. Seventeen-year-old Sallie is devoted to Eddie, who's 13, but after he commits suicide she's torn by conflicting loyalties to her weak but lovable stepmother; her father’s scheming but able sister; and her older half sister, Mary, who's next in line to inherit the Kincaid empire but has not lived in Claiborne Country since her parents divorced. Family intrigue plays out against the backdrop of 1920s Claiborne County, where racism is a given, Prohibition is the law, and bootlegging is the main source of income for Blacks and Whites. Staunch prohibitionist Mary goes to war against the bootleggers using an enforcer who employs extreme violence. Sallie wants to support her sister but sympathizes with the bootleggers—her neighbors and tenants—and recognizes that the family's finances depend on trading whiskey. Defining what is moral becomes complicated for Sallie. So does defining family. Tough and independent, Sallie refuses to let womanhood limit her ambitions as she earns the nickname Queen of the Kincaid Rumrunners. History buffs will enjoy the many hints Walls sprinkles to show that Tudor England is her novel’s template (the Duke’s marriage to his brother’s widow; his banished daughter, Mary, and short-lived heir, Edward; the Kincaids’ counselor Cecil, etc.). Television buffs will smile at the Kincaids’ resemblance to the Roys of Succession.

A rollicking soap opera that keeps the pages turning with a surfeit of births, deaths, and surprising plot reveals.