An exuberant fairy-tale homage with sly commentary about gender, class, church, and state.
Tudor-era sweethearts gather a crew of “Holy Pirates” to push back on tax corruption and retrieve stolen monastery treasures in Conlan’s romantic historical adventure novel.
Morwenna Goodwin, who’s 19 and “now of wife age,” receives courtship gifts from her childhood pal Henry Truelove, the 20-year-old son of a family wealthier than hers, residing in Truelove Manor near her family’s small freehold farm. Morwenna puts the gifts—which begin with a partridge in a pear tree and proceed as in the anachronistic song “The Twelve Days of Christmas”—to practical use. She uses some of the bounty to hire former monk Tom to teach her how to write and learn about equitable marriage contracts. Henry, who’s been away at court, returns home after learning that his father is facing ruinous taxes; he brings eight milkmaids along with him. Daisy, one of them, becomes a servant in nearby Blount Hall, helping to expose and resolve the misdeeds of the tax collector and his oafish son. Blount servant James, a former monastery student, shows Tom a bejeweled holy book given to him for safekeeping after monasteries were disbanded under Tudor rule. A former abbot also arises, having stashed a cache of books and other stolen treasure in the area. All’s well by novel’s end thanks to a festival play created by the town’s wealthy sisters that results in several marriages and an opportunity for the main couple and their band of “Holy Pirates” to spirit away the books to a protected new home. In this amusing, action-packed tale, Conlan effectively combines the loving parody of William Goldman’s classic The Princess Bride (1973) with the feminism of Karen Cushman’s Catherine, Called Birdy (1994). It encompasses a colorful cavalcade of characters, who also include an actual ex-pirate; a formerly enslaved sailor; and displaced nuns, one of whom was once a pirate hostage. Many of these characters get to express snarky social criticism during their adventures, including Tom, who notes that church officials are “sneaky and venomous as snakes, and ever changing what be true and what heresy.”
An exuberant fairy-tale homage with sly commentary about gender, class, church, and state.Pub Date: April 4, 2023
ISBN: 978-1639888009
Page Count: 290
Publisher: Atmosphere Press
Review Posted Online: June 26, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Through palpable tension balanced with glimmers of hope, Hoover beautifully captures the heartbreak and joy of starting over.
The sequel to It Ends With Us (2016) shows the aftermath of domestic violence through the eyes of a single mother.
Lily Bloom is still running a flower shop; her abusive ex-husband, Ryle Kincaid, is still a surgeon. But now they’re co-parenting a daughter, Emerson, who's almost a year old. Lily won’t send Emerson to her father’s house overnight until she’s old enough to talk—“So she can tell me if something happens”—but she doesn’t want to fight for full custody lest it become an expensive legal drama or, worse, a physical fight. When Lily runs into Atlas Corrigan, a childhood friend who also came from an abusive family, she hopes their friendship can blossom into love. (For new readers, their history unfolds in heartfelt diary entries that Lily addresses to Finding Nemo star Ellen DeGeneres as she considers how Atlas was a calming presence during her turbulent childhood.) Atlas, who is single and running a restaurant, feels the same way. But even though she’s divorced, Lily isn’t exactly free. Behind Ryle’s veneer of civility are his jealousy and resentment. Lily has to plan her dates carefully to avoid a confrontation. Meanwhile, Atlas’ mother returns with shocking news. In between, Lily and Atlas steal away for romantic moments that are even sweeter for their authenticity as Lily struggles with child care, breastfeeding, and running a business while trying to find time for herself.
Through palpable tension balanced with glimmers of hope, Hoover beautifully captures the heartbreak and joy of starting over.Pub Date: Oct. 18, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-668-00122-6
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2022
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
Packed with riveting drama and painful truths, this book powerfully illustrates the devastation of abuse—and the strength of...
Hoover’s (November 9, 2015, etc.) latest tackles the difficult subject of domestic violence with romantic tenderness and emotional heft.
At first glance, the couple is edgy but cute: Lily Bloom runs a flower shop for people who hate flowers; Ryle Kincaid is a surgeon who says he never wants to get married or have kids. They meet on a rooftop in Boston on the night Ryle loses a patient and Lily attends her abusive father’s funeral. The provocative opening takes a dark turn when Lily receives a warning about Ryle’s intentions from his sister, who becomes Lily’s employee and close friend. Lily swears she’ll never end up in another abusive home, but when Ryle starts to show all the same warning signs that her mother ignored, Lily learns just how hard it is to say goodbye. When Ryle is not in the throes of a jealous rage, his redeeming qualities return, and Lily can justify his behavior: “I think we needed what happened on the stairwell to happen so that I would know his past and we’d be able to work on it together,” she tells herself. Lily marries Ryle hoping the good will outweigh the bad, and the mother-daughter dynamics evolve beautifully as Lily reflects on her childhood with fresh eyes. Diary entries fancifully addressed to TV host Ellen DeGeneres serve as flashbacks to Lily’s teenage years, when she met her first love, Atlas Corrigan, a homeless boy she found squatting in a neighbor’s house. When Atlas turns up in Boston, now a successful chef, he begs Lily to leave Ryle. Despite the better option right in front of her, an unexpected complication forces Lily to cut ties with Atlas, confront Ryle, and try to end the cycle of abuse before it’s too late. The relationships are portrayed with compassion and honesty, and the author’s note at the end that explains Hoover’s personal connection to the subject matter is a must-read.
Packed with riveting drama and painful truths, this book powerfully illustrates the devastation of abuse—and the strength of the survivors.Pub Date: Aug. 2, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-5011-1036-8
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: May 30, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2016
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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