An engrossing tale and a wonderful tribute to the author’s formidable grandmother.
In this historical novel, a teenager becomes a reluctant passenger on the orphan train in 1902.
Blanche Spencer is a precocious 14-year-old from Oraville, Illinois, and a real hit on the temperance circuit. Her recitation of “The Drunkard” sparks loud applause from the tent audience every night. Her father has been persuaded to put her on the orphan train so that she can have better opportunities in St. Louis. She is immediately taken in (so to speak) by the Robeys, who see her not as an adopted daughter but as a servant. She is even forbidden to write home. But she loves her young charges and they her, so she sticks it out. Then Mr. Robey—these people are not absolutely evil—finds a place for her at a millinery company; her talent is discovered; and her career takes off. Soon, she is sent on extended trips, first to Cobden, Illinois, near her hometown, where she does a bang-up job of breathing new life into a dowdy hat shop. On the strength of that success, she is sent to the Wild West—Oklahoma City, another triumph. In Cobden, she met handsome Charlie Menees, and his attentions were part of the reason she accepted this new assignment—she is not ready for a man in her life. Lo and behold, Charlie shows up in Oklahoma, and eventually love does conquer her independent spirit. They marry in Muskogee and start life anew back in Cobden.
Hardesty’s book, based on the experiences of her grandmother, is a very engaging read. Blanche (later “Bonnie”) is an admirable character, fully drawn. One recurring theme is abandonment. While her father—though torn—genuinely thought he was doing the right thing for Blanche, she nurses a grievance all of the nine years that she is away. In fact, the crux of the book’s climax, the homecoming, is whether she will ever be able to see her father in the same loving light again. Compounding this is her experience with the Robeys. The one thing that kept her 14-year-old self going was the thought of being educated (she was the brightest of the Spencer brood). The greatest test of her mettle comes when Mr. Robey says there will be no schooling for her. She is crushed, betrayed—not just by the Robeys, but also by the father she trusted. The author makes readers feel this keenly. And that testing of Blanche’s mettle is the turning point in her young life, as she vows to educate herself. She is determined to beat any odds, and she does. The writing is sometimes a bit awkward (“On the dining room table, after asking Mrs. Robey if she could use the table”) and the speech can be a bit arch (“We will never forget your hats, and your bravery out on the hostile prairie”). But these are quibbles. For the most part, the details are admirable, not just of women’s hats—a very big deal back then—but also the rest of their outfits; what a rooming house or a train ride looked and felt like; and so forth.
An engrossing tale and a wonderful tribute to the author’s formidable grandmother. (photographs)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-9977619-4-8
Page Count: 402
Publisher: Solificatio
Review Posted Online: Aug. 22, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A dramatic, vividly detailed reconstruction of a little-known aspect of the Vietnam War.
A young woman’s experience as a nurse in Vietnam casts a deep shadow over her life.
When we learn that the farewell party in the opening scene is for Frances “Frankie” McGrath’s older brother—“a golden boy, a wild child who could make the hardest heart soften”—who is leaving to serve in Vietnam in 1966, we feel pretty certain that poor Finley McGrath is marked for death. Still, it’s a surprise when the fateful doorbell rings less than 20 pages later. His death inspires his sister to enlist as an Army nurse, and this turn of events is just the beginning of a roller coaster of a plot that’s impressive and engrossing if at times a bit formulaic. Hannah renders the experiences of the young women who served in Vietnam in all-encompassing detail. The first half of the book, set in gore-drenched hospital wards, mildewed dorm rooms, and boozy officers’ clubs, is an exciting read, tracking the transformation of virginal, uptight Frankie into a crack surgical nurse and woman of the world. Her tensely platonic romance with a married surgeon ends when his broken, unbreathing body is airlifted out by helicopter; she throws her pent-up passion into a wild affair with a soldier who happens to be her dead brother’s best friend. In the second part of the book, after the war, Frankie seems to experience every possible bad break. A drawback of the story is that none of the secondary characters in her life are fully three-dimensional: Her dismissive, chauvinistic father and tight-lipped, pill-popping mother, her fellow nurses, and her various love interests are more plot devices than people. You’ll wish you could have gone to Vegas and placed a bet on the ending—while it’s against all the odds, you’ll see it coming from a mile away.
A dramatic, vividly detailed reconstruction of a little-known aspect of the Vietnam War.Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024
ISBN: 9781250178633
Page Count: 480
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: Nov. 4, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2023
PERSPECTIVES
BOOK TO SCREEN
Lush, gorgeous, precise language and propulsive plotting sweep readers into a story as intelligent as it is atmospheric.
In 16th-century Madrid, a crypto-Jew with a talent for casting spells tries to steer clear of the Inquisition.
Luzia Cotado, a scullion and an orphan, has secrets to keep: “It was a game she and her mother had played, saying one thing and thinking another, the bits and pieces of Hebrew handed down like chipped plates.” Also handed down are “refranes”—proverbs—in “not quite Spanish, just as Luzia was not quite Spanish.” When Luzia sings the refranes, they take on power. “Aboltar cazal, aboltar mazal” (“A change of scene, a change of fortune”) can mend a torn gown or turn burnt bread into a perfect loaf; “Quien no risica, no rosica” (“Whoever doesn’t laugh, doesn’t bloom”) can summon a riot of foliage in the depths of winter. The Inquisition hangs over the story like Chekhov’s famous gun on the wall. When Luzia’s employer catches her using magic, the ambitions of both mistress and servant catapult her into fame and danger. A new, even more ambitious patron instructs his supernatural servant, Guillén Santángel, to train Luzia for a magical contest. Santángel, not Luzia, is the familiar of the title; he has been tricked into trading his freedom and luck to his master’s family in exchange for something he no longer craves but can’t give up. The novel comes up against an issue common in fantasy fiction: Why don’t the characters just use their magic to solve all their problems? Bardugo has clearly given it some thought, but her solutions aren’t quite convincing, especially toward the end of the book. These small faults would be harder to forgive if she weren’t such a beautiful writer. Part fairy tale, part political thriller, part romance, the novel unfolds like a winter tree bursting into unnatural bloom in response to one of Luzia’s refranes, as she and Santángel learn about power, trust, betrayal, and love.
Lush, gorgeous, precise language and propulsive plotting sweep readers into a story as intelligent as it is atmospheric.Pub Date: April 9, 2024
ISBN: 9781250884251
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 3, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2024
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
bookshelf
