Turning once again to WW II, bestselling historical novelist Fleming (Over There, 1992, etc.) blends fact and fiction to explore the ramifications of the Allied demand for unconditional surrender through the lives of four people. His ``facts,'' however, are at the very least open to differing interpretations and may anger some readers. In Berlin, Berthe von Hoffman experiences a mystical religious conversion when she sees the horror of Kristallnacht and the bravery of a young German Lutheran pastor, leading her to become a secret agent for the German Resistance. This puts her at odds with her husband, Ernst, a dedicated U-boat commander whose unstinting commitment to his nation's cause will eventually lead him to lose his sense of honor. Shortly before Pearl Harbor, Ernst's U-boat mistakenly sinks the USS Spencer Lewis and then rescues from the sea Lieutenant Commander Jonathan Talbot. This young officer is outspoken with his doubts about the way FDR is maneuvering America into the war, putting him at odds with his wife, Annie, the daughter of a powerful Democratic pol. Both men end up as naval attachÇs in neutral Spain within months. There, Berthe and Jonathan begin a star-crossed affair, both working for some acceptable negotiated resolution to the fighting short of unconditional surrender. Ernst goes back to sea and then to a desk job high in the German Command, and Annie becomes a top-notch political reporter and eventually a war correspondent. Through a series of unlikely coincidences, their four paths cross again and again throughout the war, culminating in an improbable rescue mission during the fall of Berlin. Fleming makes a good case for the wrongheadedness of the Allies' policy of no compromise and their denial of the existence of a resistance movement. But he hurts his credibility with unstinting antagonism toward FDR and virtually every New Deal figure who appears in these pages. Melodramatic as always, but more controversial than usual. ($30,000 ad/promo)
Pub Date: June 1, 1994
ISBN: 0-06-017709-8
Page Count: 464
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1994
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A first novel, this is also a first person account of Scout's (Jean Louise) recall of the years that led to the ending of a mystery, the breaking of her brother Jem's elbow, the death of her father's enemy — and the close of childhood years. A widower, Atticus raises his children with legal dispassion and paternal intelligence, and is ably abetted by Calpurnia, the colored cook, while the Alabama town of Maycomb, in the 1930's, remains aloof to their divergence from its tribal patterns. Scout and Jem, with their summer-time companion, Dill, find their paths free from interference — but not from dangers; their curiosity about the imprisoned Boo, whose miserable past is incorporated in their play, results in a tentative friendliness; their fears of Atticus' lack of distinction is dissipated when he shoots a mad dog; his defense of a Negro accused of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell, is followed with avid interest and turns the rabble whites against him. Scout is the means of averting an attack on Atticus but when he loses the case it is Boo who saves Jem and Scout by killing Mayella's father when he attempts to murder them. The shadows of a beginning for black-white understanding, the persistent fight that Scout carries on against school, Jem's emergence into adulthood, Calpurnia's quiet power, and all the incidents touching on the children's "growing outward" have an attractive starchiness that keeps this southern picture pert and provocative. There is much advance interest in this book; it has been selected by the Literary Guild and Reader's Digest; it should win many friends.
Pub Date: July 11, 1960
ISBN: 0060935464
Page Count: 323
Publisher: Lippincott
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1960
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
Soft-focus story moves right along with few surprises. This time around, Hannah avoids the soap-opera complications of her...
Another middle-aged mom in a muddle.
After years of false starts and big hopes, Elizabeth’s ruggedly handsome husband Jack, a former football star, just landed a spot as a sportscaster on national news. He still loves her, even though much younger women are giving him come-hither looks. Heck, he doesn’t want to betray the love of his life after she helped him kick drugs and stuck by him even when he was a struggling has-been. And won’t it seem hypocritical if he fools around with his sexy assistant while he does in-depth reporting on a rape case involving a famous basketball center? Well, he fools around anyway. Elizabeth, nicknamed Birdie, knows nothing of this, but she withdraws from Jack when her hard-drinking, salt-of-the-earth father has a stroke and dies. Now no one will call her “sugar beet” ever again. Time to return home to Tennessee and contend with Anita, the sort-of-evil stepmother so trashy she wears pink puffy slippers all day long. Naturally, it turns out that Anita actually has a heart of gold and knows a few things about Birdie’s dead mother that were hushed up for years. Mom was an artist, just like Birdie, and an old scandal comes to light as Anita unrolls a vibrant canvas that portrays her secret lover. Perhaps, Birdie muses, her mother died of heartbreak, never having followed her true love or developed her talent. Has she, too, compromised everything she holds dear? Hoping to find out, Birdie joins a support group that promises to reconnect confused women with their passion. She and Jack separate, prompting a how-dare-you fit from their grown daughters. Will Birdie fly her empty nest? Will she go back to college for a degree in art? Will her brooding watercolors ever sell?
Soft-focus story moves right along with few surprises. This time around, Hannah avoids the soap-opera complications of her previous tales (Summer Island, 2001, etc.).Pub Date: July 1, 2002
ISBN: 0-345-45071-X
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2002
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