A spirited historical novel marked by humor, intrigue and entertainment.
An 18th-century “gentleman player” fights, loves and charms his way through Ireland in Watkins’ (The Wayward Gentleman: John Theophilus Potter & The Town of Haverfordwest, 2012, etc.) delightful ode to the theater.
John Theophilus Potter (“Theo” to his many friends and admirers) is blessed with exuberance, height, swordsmanship, and such good looks that noblewomen can’t help but try to seduce him. He also has a quality that proves to be both a blessing and an impediment: He’s a skilled actor, equally adept at performing dramatic roles (Hamlet, Romeo) and comedic ones (the drunkard Trinculo in The Tempest). He becomes enamored with the theater as a precocious child growing up on a country estate outside Dublin, where he’s raised to be a gentleman. In 18th-century Ireland, however, propriety forbade gentlemen from performing onstage, a custom gradually being reversed by the likes of Thomas Sheridan—a real actor who features prominently in Theo’s story. (Theophilus Potter was apparently a real person, too, although biographical details of his life are scant.) Theo’s battles against the prejudices of the time lead to some of the book’s adventures, while others are the consequences of uncertain parentage, insane acquaintances, temporary blindness, vindictive women, villainous Trinity students, and the petty jealousies and small catastrophes that affect an acting troupe. The novel’s plot is as restless as its protagonist, resulting in a compelling narrative with a few hastily introduced and dropped characters and storylines. Like the picaresque novels this one emulates, Watkins’ story isn’t too concerned with psychology; readers know little about Theo’s internal state, beyond an occasional reference to nightmares or the “residual emotional problems” caused by, for instance, his near-murder at the hands of his best friend. But it is nonetheless a vivid historical envisioning, with insightful observations about playacting in everyday life and memorable anecdotes about life in the theater. In particular, costuming mishaps inform several buoyant episodes.
A spirited historical novel marked by humor, intrigue and entertainment.Pub Date: Dec. 9, 2012
ISBN: 978-0957210479
Page Count: 322
Publisher: Down Design Publications
Review Posted Online: Dec. 9, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2014
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles...
Sisters in and out of love.
Meghann Dontess is a high-powered matrimonial lawyer in Seattle who prefers sex with strangers to emotional intimacy: a strategy bound to backfire sooner or later, warns her tough-talking shrink. It’s advice Meghann decides to ignore, along with the memories of her difficult childhood, neglectful mother, and younger sister. Though she managed to reunite Claire with Sam Cavenaugh (her father but not Meghann’s) when her mother abandoned both girls long ago, Meghann still feels guilty that her sister’s life doesn’t measure up, at least on her terms. Never married, Claire ekes out a living running a country campground with her dad and is raising her six-year-old daughter on her own. When she falls in love for the first time with an up-and-coming country musician, Meghann is appalled: Bobby Austin is a three-time loser at marriage—how on earth can Claire be so blind? Bobby’s blunt explanation doesn’t exactly satisfy the concerned big sister, who busies herself planning Claire’s dream wedding anyway. And, to relieve the stress, she beds various guys she picks up in bars, including Dr. Joe Wyatt, a neurosurgeon turned homeless drifter after the demise of his beloved wife Diane (whom he euthanized). When Claire’s awful headache turns out to be a kind of brain tumor known among neurologists as a “terminator,” Joe rallies. Turns out that Claire had befriended his wife on her deathbed, and now in turn he must try to save her. Is it too late? Will Meghann find true love at last?
Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles (Distant Shores, 2002, etc.). Kudos for skipping the snifflefest this time around.Pub Date: May 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-345-45073-6
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2003
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
© Copyright 2026 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.
