Part travelogue, part epistolary novel, this tale will engage fans of family sagas.
Debut historical fiction about an upper-class young woman who begins her marriage by traveling from England to the frontiers of Canada in the early 1900s.
In this ambitious novel, Pekter takes readers on a journey that spans approximately 100 years, beginning with the reckless decision of Minnie Sinclair to marry a man she hardly knows. When she meets Harry Worthing Jr. in London, she’s immediately infatuated, forsaking her former love interest as well as her familial obligations to remain near her childhood home. After a whirlwind courtship, she crosses the Atlantic as the new Mrs. Worthing, ready to tackle homesteading in the Dominion of Canada. Unfortunately, the harsh realities of life on the unforgiving Canadian plains quickly change Harry, who becomes cruel. In many letters written to her lifelong friend Emily McCrindle, Minnie discloses the difficult emotional and physical struggles she faces. Emily proves a faithful pen pal and friend, ultimately traveling to Grand Prairie, Alberta, to help Minnie raise her children. The Minnie who awaits Emily on the homestead is much changed, and Emily knows she was right to come. After an additional tragedy strikes the family in Grand Prairie, they relocate to Victoria, where they form new relationships, resulting in multiple generations over several decades. Despite the apparent progress of Minnie’s children and grandchildren, the secrets of her life in Grand Prairie continue to haunt them until they uncover shocking truths. Throughout the novel, Pekter uses a stately, classical prose that lends a feeling of authenticity to the characters’ observations: “The wind has ceased. Its voice must feel as dry and cracked as my hands—both of us exposed to the cold.” There’s a languidness in the first half of the story that deftly reflects the lifestyle of the characters of the era, but the pace gets faster as the plot ascends into the modern era. Along the way, the author presents intriguing details about life on the Canadian Prairies at the turn of the 20th century and about the long-lasting psychological effects of impulsive choices.
Part travelogue, part epistolary novel, this tale will engage fans of family sagas.Pub Date: June 2, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4602-7792-8
Page Count: 270
Publisher: FriesenPress
Review Posted Online: Sept. 21, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A first novel, this is also a first person account of Scout's (Jean Louise) recall of the years that led to the ending of a mystery, the breaking of her brother Jem's elbow, the death of her father's enemy — and the close of childhood years. A widower, Atticus raises his children with legal dispassion and paternal intelligence, and is ably abetted by Calpurnia, the colored cook, while the Alabama town of Maycomb, in the 1930's, remains aloof to their divergence from its tribal patterns. Scout and Jem, with their summer-time companion, Dill, find their paths free from interference — but not from dangers; their curiosity about the imprisoned Boo, whose miserable past is incorporated in their play, results in a tentative friendliness; their fears of Atticus' lack of distinction is dissipated when he shoots a mad dog; his defense of a Negro accused of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell, is followed with avid interest and turns the rabble whites against him. Scout is the means of averting an attack on Atticus but when he loses the case it is Boo who saves Jem and Scout by killing Mayella's father when he attempts to murder them. The shadows of a beginning for black-white understanding, the persistent fight that Scout carries on against school, Jem's emergence into adulthood, Calpurnia's quiet power, and all the incidents touching on the children's "growing outward" have an attractive starchiness that keeps this southern picture pert and provocative. There is much advance interest in this book; it has been selected by the Literary Guild and Reader's Digest; it should win many friends.
Pub Date: July 11, 1960
ISBN: 0060935464
Page Count: 323
Publisher: Lippincott
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1960
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
Coelho's placebo has racked up impressive sales in Brazil and Europe. Americans should flock to it like gulls.
Coelho is a Brazilian writer with four books to his credit. Following Diary of a Magus (1992—not reviewed) came this book, published in Brazil in 1988: it's an interdenominational, transcendental, inspirational fable—in other words, a bag of wind.
The story is about a youth empowered to follow his dream. Santiago is an Andalusian shepherd boy who learns through a dream of a treasure in the Egyptian pyramids. An old man, the king of Salem, the first of various spiritual guides, tells the boy that he has discovered his destiny: "to realize one's destiny is a person's only real obligation." So Santiago sells his sheep, sails to Tangier, is tricked out of his money, regains it through hard work, crosses the desert with a caravan, stops at an oasis long enough to fall in love, escapes from warring tribesmen by performing a miracle, reaches the pyramids, and eventually gets both the gold and the girl. Along the way he meets an Englishman who describes the Soul of the World; the desert woman Fatima, who teaches him the Language of the World; and an alchemist who says, "Listen to your heart" A message clings like ivy to every encounter; everyone, but everyone, has to put in their two cents' worth, from the crystal merchant to the camel driver ("concentrate always on the present, you'll be a happy man"). The absence of characterization and overall blandness suggest authorship by a committee of self-improvement pundits—a far cry from Saint- Exupery's The Little Prince: that flagship of the genre was a genuine charmer because it clearly derived from a quirky, individual sensibility.
Coelho's placebo has racked up impressive sales in Brazil and Europe. Americans should flock to it like gulls.Pub Date: July 1, 1993
ISBN: 0-06-250217-4
Page Count: 192
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1993
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
BOOK TO SCREEN
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