A historically informative but also entertaining novel.
In Ashby’s historical novel, a Black British officer—a formerly enslaved person—is sent undercover in preparation for the monumental Battle of New Orleans.
In 1814, Maj. Alexander Charteris, British Adjutant of His Majesty’s 1st West India Regiment of Foot, leads a West Indian regiment of soldiers against the Americans in Washington, D.C. and watches with some satisfaction as the White House is engulfed in flames. Immediately after, Charteris is tasked with a clandestine mission of immense importance, he will travel to New Orleans, posing as a “gens de couleur libre” (“free people of color”) refugee to gather military intelligence and foment rebellion among the considerable Black population there. The British plan is to take New Orleans, permitting them to effectively block the westward expansion of the nation and hamper its growth into a rival empire. Charteris is perfect for the job—a Black man born in Grenada, he speaks fluent French, as does his aide on the mission, Sgt. Major Sori, who was also formerly enslaved. The task is a perilous one and has a personal dimension: Julien Fédon, the leader of a violent uprising in Grenada from 1795 to 1796—and the man who once enslaved Charteris—is living in New Orleans under an assumed name. Charteris’ contact in New Orleans is Jocasta Cameron, described as a “hard-edged businesswoman” and a “lascivious courtesan.” Further complicating matters, he begins to fall in love with her and discovers that she’s enslaved by Fédon.
Ashby’s command of the historical material is authoritative—he brings to life the politics and culture of the times and vividly portrays the 1815 Battle of New Orleans, one of the worst defeats the British military suffered in the 19th century. Charteris is a unique protagonist who knows what it’s like to be enslaved and the son of an aristocrat—his father was an English baronet, and Charteris was given an education befitting his pedigree. Experiencing extraordinary racism has left him both cynical and filled with an “omnipresent despair,” a complex psychological profile deftly drawn by the author: He is an “outcast, forever caught between two worlds because of the stigma of his mixed race.” Ashby’s writing can be overwrought and sentimental—he sometimes hits notes a touch formulaic and more than a touch melodramatic, as when Jocasta fears permitting herself to be emotionally vulnerable to any man, and she expresses her trepidation about her feelings for Charteris: “I can’t, cannot, fall for this man…When he leaves, as he will, it will just be one more ache to add to the shards of my heart that I have glued together like a shattered porcelain plate. No man can help me; I can only fend for myself if I am to rescue the one person deserving of my love.” Likewise, the author describes their lovemaking as “as much a melding of beleaguered hearts and minds as a rapturous connection of their bodies.” Fortunately, these stylistic missteps don’t keep the novel from being thoroughly enjoyable.
Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Manuscript
Review Posted Online: Feb. 23, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A pleasant if not entirely convincing tribute to the power of art.
A French art historian’s English-language fiction debut combines the story of a loving relationship between a grandfather and granddaughter with an enlightening discussion of art.
One day, when 10-year-old Mona removes the necklace given to her by her now-dead grandmother, she experiences a frightening, hour-long bout of blindness. Her parents take her to the doctor, who gives her a variety of tests and also advises that she see a psychiatrist. Her grandfather Henry tells her parents that he will take care of that assignment, but instead, he takes Mona on weekly visits to either the Louvre, the Musée d’Orsay, or the Centre Pompidou, where each week they study a single work of art, gazing at it deeply and then discussing its impact and history and the biography of its maker. For the reader’s benefit, Schlesser also describes each of the works in scrupulous detail. As the year goes on, Mona faces the usual challenges of elementary school life and the experiences of being an only child, and slowly begins to understand the causes of her temporary blindness. Primarily an amble through a few dozen of Schlesser’s favorite works of art—some well known and others less so, from Botticelli and da Vinci through Basquiat and Bourgeois—the novel would probably benefit from being read at a leisurely pace. While the dialogue between Henry and the preternaturally patient and precocious Mona sometimes strains credulity, readers who don’t have easy access to the museums of Paris may enjoy this vicarious trip in the company of a guide who focuses equally on that which can be seen and the context that can’t be. Come for the novel, stay for the introductory art history course.
A pleasant if not entirely convincing tribute to the power of art.Pub Date: Aug. 26, 2025
ISBN: 9798889661115
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Europa Editions
Review Posted Online: June 7, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2025
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
An affecting portrait of a prickly woman.
A lifetime’s worth of letters combine to portray a singular character.
Sybil Van Antwerp, a cantankerous but exceedingly well-mannered septuagenarian, is the titular correspondent in Evans’ debut novel. Sybil has retired from a beloved job as chief clerk to a judge with whom she had previously been in private legal practice. She is the divorced mother of two living adult children and one who died when he was 8. She is a reader of novels, a gardener, and a keen observer of human nature. But the most distinguishing thing about Sybil is her lifelong practice of letter writing. As advancing vision problems threaten Sybil’s carefully constructed way of life—in which letters take the place of personal contact and engagement—she must reckon with unaddressed issues from her past that threaten the house of cards (letters, really) she has built around herself. Sybil’s relationships are gradually revealed in the series of letters sent to and received from, among others, her brother, sister-in-law, children, former work associates, and, intriguingly, literary icons including Joan Didion and Larry McMurtry. Perhaps most affecting is the series of missives Sybil writes but never mails to a shadowy figure from her past. Thoughtful musings on the value and immortal quality of letters and the written word populate one of Sybil’s notes to a young correspondent while other messages are laugh-out-loud funny, tinged with her characteristic blunt tartness. Evans has created a brusque and quirky yet endearing main character with no shortage of opinions and advice for others but who fails to excavate the knotty difficulties of her own life. As Sybil grows into a delayed self-awareness, her letters serve as a chronicle of fitful growth.
An affecting portrait of a prickly woman.Pub Date: May 6, 2025
ISBN: 9780593798430
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2025
SEEN & HEARD
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