by Samuel Endicott ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 1, 2011
A superbly researched book about the French and British fight for North America, Endicott’s story muscles through adventure...
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In Endicott’s first installment of his historical fiction series, girl-hero Molly Lake fights to reunite her family while a European war for North America rages.
From the first page, Molly Lake is on a mission. Her baby brother has been pitilessly murdered and her mother carried away by French soldiers, so Molly’s vengeful father, with his daughter in tow, sets out to save his wife and reunite the family. The time is 1759 and French and British forces are battling for control of portions of North America. Endicott’s book reads like a blockbuster movie; chapters are a few pages in length, cliffhangers abound and characters are drawn economically, for maximum effect. This is an action-packed story, the cast of characters drawn in bold, primary colors. Molly is a familiar, plucky heroine; the beautiful kind of tomboy who can win over the most hardened, notorious of seamen, the sort of girl who can fearlessly battle Micmac Indians, deploy her flawless French to fool French citizenry of her identity and even become the most dangerous of military assets—a spy who also sees good in some who are supposed to be her enemies. Again and again, Molly’s cleverness, fortitude and generous heart save her from mortal danger. Endicott’s past life in the military is on full display here; the author details military strategy with the precision and care that some writers devote to character development. This is not a book for readers who want complex characters, nuanced personal dynamics or original dialogue. Only in the final 100 or so pages does the heroine act like an adolescent girl coming of age among men. In those pages, Molly breaks hearts and realizes that she’s in the thralls of first love, despite the inevitable dangers of her desire. While most of the characters are familiar standards in an action story, the star of the book is its setting. Colonial-era military practices and Quebec itself are lovingly described, becoming a rich backdrop for action.
A superbly researched book about the French and British fight for North America, Endicott’s story muscles through adventure after adventure, all seen through the eyes of an undeniable heroine.Pub Date: May 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-098343382
Page Count: 507
Publisher: Griffin
Review Posted Online: Aug. 26, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2011
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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by J.D. Salinger ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 15, 1951
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.
A violent surfacing of adolescence (which has little in common with Tarkington's earlier, broadly comic, Seventeen) has a compulsive impact.
"Nobody big except me" is the dream world of Holden Caulfield and his first person story is down to the basic, drab English of the pre-collegiate. For Holden is now being bounced from fancy prep, and, after a vicious evening with hall- and roommates, heads for New York to try to keep his latest failure from his parents. He tries to have a wild evening (all he does is pay the check), is terrorized by the hotel elevator man and his on-call whore, has a date with a girl he likes—and hates, sees his 10 year old sister, Phoebe. He also visits a sympathetic English teacher after trying on a drunken session, and when he keeps his date with Phoebe, who turns up with her suitcase to join him on his flight, he heads home to a hospital siege. This is tender and true, and impossible, in its picture of the old hells of young boys, the lonesomeness and tentative attempts to be mature and secure, the awful block between youth and being grown-up, the fright and sickness that humans and their behavior cause the challenging, the dramatization of the big bang. It is a sorry little worm's view of the off-beat of adult pressure, of contemporary strictures and conformity, of sentiment….
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.Pub Date: June 15, 1951
ISBN: 0316769177
Page Count: -
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1951
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by Kristin Hannah ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2006
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.
Sisters work together to solve a child-abandonment case.
Ellie and Julia Cates have never been close. Julia is shy and brainy; Ellie gets by on charm and looks. Their differences must be tossed aside when a traumatized young girl wanders in from the forest into their hometown in Washington. The sisters’ professional skills are put to the test. Julia is a world-renowned child psychologist who has lost her edge. She is reeling from a case that went publicly sour. Though she was cleared of all wrongdoing, Julia’s name was tarnished, forcing her to shutter her Beverly Hills practice. Ellie Barton is the local police chief in Rain Valley, who’s never faced a tougher case. This is her chance to prove she is more than just a fading homecoming queen, but a scarcity of clues and a reluctant victim make locating the girl’s parents nearly impossible. Ellie places an SOS call to her sister; she needs an expert to rehabilitate this wild-child who has been living outside of civilization for years. Confronted with her professional demons, Julia once again has the opportunity to display her talents and salvage her reputation. Hannah (The Things We Do for Love, 2004, etc.) is at her best when writing from the girl’s perspective. The feral wolf-child keeps the reader interested long after the other, transparent characters have grown tiresome. Hannah’s torturously over-written romance passages are stale, but there are surprises in store as the sisters set about unearthing Alice’s past and creating a home for her.
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.Pub Date: March 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-345-46752-3
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2005
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