A Dubin-based historical researcher rights a historical wrong by revealing Lady Hazel Lavery as more than just a pretty face commemorated on Irish banknotes and in more than 400 paintings by her famous husband, John Lavery. Hazel Martyn Lavery may have been dubbed ``The Most Beautiful Girl in the Midwest'' in her boarding school days, but by the time she died in 1935 she had influenced some of Ireland's most important revolutionary leaders—notably Michael Collins and Kevin O'Higgins—and thus the direction of the freedom movement itself. She also counted among her many friends people such as Winston Churchill, George Bernard Shaw, and J.M. Barrie. McCoole ably traces this transformation from transplanted American to self-appointed Irish ambassador. Using previously unpublished documents and other sources, McCoole breaks new ground in her portrayal of a woman struggling to find her place in a world where women's roles were restricted (she suffered two nervous breakdowns). She takes us through Lady Lavery's unhappy first marriage, her second marriage to Lavery and her evolving role as vital social diplomat. At their London home she and Lavery hosted meetings between key British and Irish leaders and produced an artistic record of the Irish struggle via Lavery's paintings. An inveterate flirt, Lady Lavery was not just intellectually involved with her Irish friends. Although it is not absolutely certain she and Collins were lovers, McCoole leaves little doubt of their emotional passion. When he died she took up a similar relationship with O'Higgins, who was also assassinated. Part love story, part sociological/historical analysis, this is a thorough mini-history of Ireland's fight for freedom and a tantalizing portrait of a woman who was at once determined and vulnerable, talented and yet unsure. (24 color and b&w photos)
Pub Date: June 11, 1997
ISBN: 1-874675-84-8
Page Count: 242
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1997
It wasn’t all blood and guts—coffee and doughnuts played a part in the story of WWII, as related in these letters and journal entries from an American Red Cross worker based in England during that war. Norwalk joined the Red Cross in May 1944, only a month before the Allied invasion of Normandy (D-Day). The volunteers were issued helmets, uniforms, and instructions on what to do if they were captured by the enemy. Their day-to-day lives involved fighting shortages of personnel and equipment and the British propensity for stopping everything—including troop movements—for tea. But also, says Norwalk, “We were expected to be the friend, the girl next door, the kid sister, the funny aunt” to the US troops en route to France and Germany, even as Nazi bombs destroyed military and civilian targets in England. In less than five months, her Red Cross crew saw two million American soldiers debark from South Hampton, England, to Europe. This book is also a love story—or more precisely, several love stories, as one by one, she and members of her crew fell in love with young servicemen. She chronicles her romance with the blue-eyed major who was such a good dancer; they married and lived happily ever after in Seattle, recently celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary. After WWII, the Red Cross volunteers with their ubiquitous coffee and doughnuts were often parodied. This story recalls that their cheerful faces, willingness to sing, dance, listen, write letters, and lend a hand with personal problems was invaluable in what was then called the “war effort.” No Saving Private Ryan drama and mayhem here, but a low-key story of courage and dedication to duty whose reward was this: “We were vitally alive, living at full speed, working together for a cause we believed in.” (28 b&w photos, not seen)
Pub Date: March 12, 1999
ISBN: 0-471-32049-8
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Wiley
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 1999
``I have never apologized for my sexuality. I love men; I love the way they smell. I love the way they taste, their texture, the way they're built. I'm a big fan of sex.'' This little prose pheromone from Henner's introduction, not to mention the bedroom- eyes double entendre of the title, says it all. If we're Arsenio, we pump our arms and say, ``Woo, woo.'' If we're Leno, we mug in mock horror at such brazenness on network TV. If we're Letterman, we grin and move on to stupid pet tricks. Aided by Jerome (coauthor of Roger Corman's How I Made a Hundred Movies in Hollywood and Never Lost a Dime, not reviewed), Henner, who starred as Elaine Nardo in ``Taxi'' and currently appears in ``Evening Shade,'' presents herself as a Horatio Alger with legs (raising interesting questions, which Henner would no doubt gladly answer, about pulling yourself up by your own bootstraps). The beautiful thing about this book is the harmonic convergence between form and content that will occur when it comes time for Henner to plug it on Leno.
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1994
ISBN: 0-671-78446-3
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Pocket
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1994
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