A sort of sequel to The Smile of the Stranger, but twice as long and about half as delightful; Aiken attempts a big, double-barreled saga here—absolutely the wrong format for her tart, airy storytelling style. In 1797, 16-year-old Fanny is married off to 48-year-old press-ganger Thomas Paget, an unspeakable brute who drags her with his three lumpy daughters to a country house (on loan from Thomas' cousin Juliana, star of Smile of the Stranger). . . and he proceeds to make her life totally miserable—loveless sex and cruel repression. And after Fanny bears the son that Thomas wants so much, he responds to her few attempts at freedom (chatting with kindly neighbor Lord Egremont and his lovable mistress) by forcing her to wear a straitjacket/chastity-belt. Will Fanny ever get free and get together with gentle, virile gardener Andrew? Will Thomas' evil past (he was responsible for the deaths of his first wife and his half-brother) catch up with him? These are perfectly fine questions, but they're answered, alas, very slowly. Why? Because Aiken alternates Fanny's chapters with the adventures of Thomas' illegitimate India-born cousin Scylla (beauteous palace governess for a Maharajah) and her brother Carloman (a dark poet): when the Maharajah's son stages a bloody coup, Scylla and Carloman rescue the Maharajah's youngest baby and escape, trekking their way towards England to take their rightful Paget family place. Not only is this mountain trek romantic adventure of the most routine sort (harems, beys, rape, escape, a crusty American guide who may be in love with Scylla); it also hurts Fanny's strong but small-scale story—interrupting it, stretching it out, weighing it down with pseudo-seriousness (Carloman and Fanny are linked by the cosmic image of the weeping ash). And when Carloman and Scylla finally do arrive at Fanny's unhappy house, Aiken must lay on too much implausible last-act melodrama (Thomas, Carloman, and Fanny's baby will all die) to clear the way for a neat, happy, two-couple ending. Often very entertaining, then—but the cheery, even slightly goofy Aiken brushwork (her 18th-century patois gets dippier all the time) is not at its best on such a big, busy canvas.
Pub Date: May 9, 1980
ISBN: 0446906816
Page Count: 576
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: April 12, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1980
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
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
A thoughtful and pensive tale with intelligent characters and a satisfying romance.
A promise to his best friend leads an Army serviceman to a family in need and a chance at true love in this novel.
Beckett Gentry is surprised when his Army buddy Ryan MacKenzie gives him a letter from Ryan’s sister, Ella. Abandoned by his mother, Beckett grew up in a series of foster homes. He is wary of attachments until he reads Ella’s letter. A single mother, Ella lives with her twins, Maisie and Colt, at Solitude, the resort she operates in Telluride, Colorado. They begin a correspondence, although Beckett can only identify himself by his call sign, Chaos. After Ryan’s death during a mission, Beckett travels to Telluride as his friend had requested. He bonds with the twins while falling deeply in love with Ella. Reluctant to reveal details of Ryan’s death and risk causing her pain, Beckett declines to disclose to Ella that he is Chaos. Maisie needs treatment for neuroblastoma, and Beckett formally adopts the twins as a sign of his commitment to support Ella and her children. He and Ella pursue a romance, but when an insurance investigator questions the adoption, Beckett is faced with revealing the truth about the letters and Ryan’s death, risking losing the family he loves. Yarros’ (Wilder, 2016, etc.) novel is a deeply felt and emotionally nuanced contemporary romance bolstered by well-drawn characters and strong, confident storytelling. Beckett and Ella are sympathetic protagonists whose past experiences leave them cautious when it comes to love. Beckett never knew the security of a stable home life. Ella impulsively married her high school boyfriend, but the marriage ended when he discovered she was pregnant. The author is especially adept at developing the characters through subtle but significant details, like Beckett’s aversion to swearing. Beckett and Ella’s romance unfolds slowly in chapters that alternate between their first-person viewpoints. The letters they exchanged are pivotal to their connection, and almost every chapter opens with one. Yarros’ writing is crisp and sharp, with passages that are poetic without being florid. For example, in a letter to Beckett, Ella writes of motherhood: “But I’m not the center of their universe. I’m more like their gravity.” While the love story is the book’s focus, the subplot involving Maisie’s illness is equally well-developed, and the link between Beckett and the twins is heartfelt and sincere.
A thoughtful and pensive tale with intelligent characters and a satisfying romance.Pub Date: Feb. 26, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-64063-533-3
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Entangled: Amara
Review Posted Online: Jan. 2, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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