A diplomatic tale that’s rich in history and filled with enticing drama.
A novel celebrates the life of a brilliant European power broker of the early 16th century.
Born in 1480 in Brussels, Margaret, daughter of Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I, is raised to be a queen. But destiny has other plans for the young princess. Betrothed to Charles, the Dauphin of France, when she is 3 years old, she is sent to that country to study its language and culture. Readers meet her in 1491 at the French court, just before the 11-year-old girl is told by Charles, now king, that he has married another. It takes several years but Maximilian, determined to increase the Habsburg influence in Europe and protect his empire from France, forms an alliance with King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain via two marriages. Maximilian’s son Philip gets paired with the monarchs’ second daughter, Princess Juana, and Margaret with the royal couple’s only son, Prince Juan. Margaret and Juan’s wedding in April 1497 is followed by a frolicking six-month honeymoon. But tragedy strikes in October of that year, when the young heir to the Spanish throne is stricken by illness and dies. Four years later, Maximilian arranges another marriage for Margaret, this time to Philibert, Duke of Savoy. Unlike most royal marriages, this one is a passionate love match. Plus, with Philibert only minimally interested in the affairs of state, Margaret, “organized, practical, and sure of her position,” begins managing the Duchy “with a council to guide her.” The experience prepares her for her life’s diplomatic work, especially after 1504, when she is once again widowed. Gaston’s prodigious research brings the early 16th century alive, taking readers inside backroom negotiations and family wranglings over wealth and power. Although the novel is burdened with a plethora of royal names and fluctuating titles, carefully scripted dialogue creates a sometimes poignant and at other times feisty narrative. The intricate minutiae of a multitude of marriage contracts—those broken and those honored—are head-spinning, and Gaston’s prose occasionally displays the rectitude of a history textbook. Fortunately, the cadence becomes delightfully lighter during those sections brimming with the trials and triumphs of Margaret’s personal life. She emerges as a charming, savvy, and wily hero, capable of manipulating Europe’s political chessboard.
A diplomatic tale that’s rich in history and filled with enticing drama.Pub Date: March 7, 2023
ISBN: 9781732589995
Page Count: 412
Publisher: Renaissance Editions
Review Posted Online: Feb. 27, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
This fresh reworking of a Greek myth will resonate.
An otherworldly Latinx retelling of the Orpheus and Eurydice myth set in the South Bronx.
Pheus visits his father in the Bronx every summer. The Afro-Dominican teen is known for his mesmerizing bachata music, love of history, and smooth way with the ladies. Eury, a young Puerto Rican woman and Hurricane Maria survivor, is staying with her cousin for the summer because of a recent, unspecified traumatic event. Her family doesn’t know that she’s been plagued since childhood by the demonlike Ato. Pheus and Eury bond over music and quickly fall in love. Attacked at a dance club by Sileno, its salacious and satyrlike owner, Eury falls into a coma and is taken to el Inframundo by Ato. Pheus, despite his atheism, follows the advice of his father and a local bruja to journey to find his love in the Underworld. Rivera skillfully captures the sounds and feels of the Bronx—its unique, diverse culture and the creeping gentrification of its neighborhoods. Through an amalgamation of Greek, Roman, and Taíno mythology and religious beliefs, gaslighting, the colonization of Puerto Rico, Afro-Latinidad identity, and female empowerment are woven into the narrative. While the pacing lags in the middle, secondary characters aren’t fully developed, and the couple’s relationship borders on instalove, the rush of a summertime romance feels realistic. Rivera’s complex world is well realized, and the dialogue rings true. All protagonists are Latinx.
This fresh reworking of a Greek myth will resonate. (Fabulism. 14-adult)Pub Date: Sept. 15, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5476-0373-2
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2020
PERSPECTIVES
BOOK TO SCREEN
A touching portrait of courage and friendship.
A lifetime of friendship endures many upheavals.
Ellie and Homa, two young girls growing up in Tehran, meet at school in the early 1950s. Though their families are very different, they become close friends. After the death of Ellie’s father, she and her difficult mother must adapt to their reduced circumstances. Homa’s more warm and loving family lives a more financially constrained life, and her father, a communist, is politically active—to his own detriment and that of his family’s welfare. When Ellie’s mother remarries and she and Ellie relocate to a more exclusive part of the city, the girls become separated. They reunite years later when Homa is admitted to Ellie’s elite high school. Now a political firebrand with aspirations to become a judge and improve the rights of women in her factionalized homeland, Homa works toward scholastic success and begins practicing political activism. Ellie follows a course, plotted originally by her mother, toward marriage. The tortuous path of the girls’ adult friendship over the following decades is played out against regime change, political persecution, and devastating loss. Ellie’s well-intentioned but naïve approach stands in stark contrast to Homa’s commitment to human rights, particularly for women, and her willingness to risk personal safety to secure those rights. As narrated by Ellie, the girls’ story incorporates frequent references to Iranian food, customs, and beliefs common in the years of tumult and reforms accompanying the Iranian Revolution. Themes of jealousy—even in close friendships—and the role of the shir zan, the courageous “lion women” of Iran who effect change, recur through the narrative. The heartaches associated with emigration are explored along with issues of personal sacrifice for the sake of the greater good (no matter how remote it may seem).
A touching portrait of courage and friendship.Pub Date: July 2, 2024
ISBN: 9781668036587
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: April 19, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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