Eighteenth-century morals are at issue in this hotblooded tale of sweet reason at odds with fleshly delights: an elegant US debut from British novelist and yacht designer Collins. In a power play vaguely reminiscent of Les Liaisons Dangereuses, a young, studious physician is the prize contested by an enigmatic widow and his closest friend, the country town's only other doctor. Silas Grange is meticulous and efficient at his work, whether it be lopping off the mangled arm of a sailor, without an anesthetic, or contemplating the sinuous designs of his favorite philosopher, David Hume, but his cool reserve proves inadequate when Mrs. Quill presents him with an immodest proposal one afternoon. Asked to ``awaken'' various unhappy women in her acquaintance through his attentions, he acquiesces, beginning with his soft-spoken, strong-willed hostess. A night of passion with her is followed by an even more pleasant interlude with her married daughter, and his services are required yet again by the free- spirited wife of a prominent mine-owner. Meanwhile, Mr. Hargood, himself a lusty man of healthy appetites, concerned that Grange has ignored his warnings about the widow, tells his friend what he has heard of her: She departed London in disgrace after her high-class brothel, distinguished by the same pattern of manipulation used on him, was exposed. Undone by this proof that his liberated, rational worldview has served only to turn him into a gigolo, he slowly recovers his wits—but suspects that the widow cared more for him than she dared admit. Titillating and richly evocative of its time and place: a well-crafted, subtle probe of refined men and women called by their sensuality to rebel against convention—at their peril. (Film rights to Kenneth Branagh & Emma Thompson)
Pub Date: Jan. 1, 1994
ISBN: 0-671-86939-6
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 1993
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
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
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
APPRECIATIONS
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