This latest series entry continues the tale of how a medieval king and an abbot helped to found Scotland.
In two previous books, Exile (2012) and Prophet (2013), de Fougerolles told the twin stories of future saint Columba and warrior Aedan mac Gabran, two friends and allies in a strife-torn world. As Columba worked to found a monastery on the island of Iona, Aedan forged new political and personal relationships that helped him rise to power. Now, in the spring of 574, Aedan has just been acclaimed king of Dal Riata, a region that roughly encompasses western Scotland and eastern Ireland. But to keep the throne, he must keep the peace, and because the two Dal Riatas haven’t been combined for more than 70 years, Aedan’s control of them is more nominal than actual. Nor can Columba rest easy, as he has a knack for making enemies. A crisis ensues when Baetan mac Cairell—the overking of Ulaid, the Scots’ ancestral homeland in Ireland—demands that Aedan acknowledge him as his leader. The kingdom as a whole must be unified, and soon, everything depends upon finding the Irish heir-apparent Fiachna Lurgan, who was sold into slavery as a boy. Aedan and Columba must mount a dangerous expedition to Ireland where, as an exile, Columba faces mortal danger. If they succeed, they’ll have a chance to bring stability to their benighted world. De Fougerolles, a medieval historian, again brings this complicated, rich world to vivid life. With its scenes of battle and conflict, the main story is stirringly intense, and the many levels of sixth-century culture are often surprising, such as the roving gangs of bards who threaten their hosts with vicious satires if they don’t provide fine food and lodging. Although the pages are thick with daunting, unfamiliar names and titles, de Fougerolles does provide a helpful list of characters, maps, and a glossary with pronunciations, among other supporting material. Several links to Arthurian legend add further interest to the story—most importantly, a growing social awareness that laws should protect the innocent. (A further volume is planned.)
A thoughtful, well-written, and exciting historical novel in an excellent series.Pub Date: June 21, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-692-12286-0
Page Count: 354
Publisher: Careswell Press
Review Posted Online: Oct. 5, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Categories: GENERAL FICTION
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The phrase “tour de force” could have been invented for this audacious novel.
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Four men who meet as college roommates move to New York and spend the next three decades gaining renown in their professions—as an architect, painter, actor and lawyer—and struggling with demons in their intertwined personal lives.
Yanagihara (The People in the Trees, 2013) takes the still-bold leap of writing about characters who don’t share her background; in addition to being male, JB is African-American, Malcolm has a black father and white mother, Willem is white, and “Jude’s race was undetermined”—deserted at birth, he was raised in a monastery and had an unspeakably traumatic childhood that’s revealed slowly over the course of the book. Two of them are gay, one straight and one bisexual. There isn’t a single significant female character, and for a long novel, there isn’t much plot. There aren’t even many markers of what’s happening in the outside world; Jude moves to a loft in SoHo as a young man, but we don’t see the neighborhood change from gritty artists’ enclave to glitzy tourist destination. What we get instead is an intensely interior look at the friends’ psyches and relationships, and it’s utterly enthralling. The four men think about work and creativity and success and failure; they cook for each other, compete with each other and jostle for each other’s affection. JB bases his entire artistic career on painting portraits of his friends, while Malcolm takes care of them by designing their apartments and houses. When Jude, as an adult, is adopted by his favorite Harvard law professor, his friends join him for Thanksgiving in Cambridge every year. And when Willem becomes a movie star, they all bask in his glow. Eventually, the tone darkens and the story narrows to focus on Jude as the pain of his past cuts deep into his carefully constructed life.
The phrase “tour de force” could have been invented for this audacious novel.Pub Date: March 10, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-385-53925-8
Page Count: 720
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: Dec. 21, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2015
Categories: GENERAL FICTION
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PROFILES
PERSPECTIVES
Lifelong, conflicted friendship of two women is the premise of Hannah’s maudlin latest (Magic Hour, 2006, etc.), again set in Washington State.
Tallulah “Tully” Hart, father unknown, is the daughter of a hippie, Cloud, who makes only intermittent appearances in her life. Tully takes refuge with the family of her “best friend forever,” Kate Mularkey, who compares herself unfavorably with Tully, in regards to looks and charisma. In college, “TullyandKate” pledge the same sorority and major in communications. Tully has a life goal for them both: They will become network TV anchorwomen. Tully lands an internship at KCPO-TV in Seattle and finagles a producing job for Kate. Kate no longer wishes to follow Tully into broadcasting and is more drawn to fiction writing, but she hesitates to tell her overbearing friend. Meanwhile a love triangle blooms at KCPO: Hard-bitten, irresistibly handsome, former war correspondent Johnny is clearly smitten with Tully. Expecting rejection, Kate keeps her infatuation with Johnny secret. When Tully lands a reporting job with a Today-like show, her career shifts into hyperdrive. Johnny and Kate had started an affair once Tully moved to Manhattan, and when Kate gets pregnant with daughter Marah, they marry. Kate is content as a stay-at-home mom, but frets about being Johnny’s second choice and about her unrealized writing ambitions. Tully becomes Seattle’s answer to Oprah. She hires Johnny, which spells riches for him and Kate. But Kate’s buttons are fully depressed by pitched battles over slutwear and curfews with teenaged Marah, who idolizes her godmother Tully. In an improbable twist, Tully invites Kate and Marah to resolve their differences on her show, only to blindside Kate by accusing her, on live TV, of overprotecting Marah. The BFFs are sundered. Tully’s latest attempt to salvage Cloud fails: The incorrigible, now geriatric hippie absconds once more. Just as Kate develops a spine, she’s given some devastating news. Will the friends reconcile before it’s too late?
Dated sermonizing on career versus motherhood, and conflict driven by characters’ willed helplessness, sap this tale of poignancy.Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2008
ISBN: 978-0-312-36408-3
Page Count: 496
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2007
Categories: GENERAL FICTION | FAMILY LIFE & FRIENDSHIP
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