A measured but fascinating story of love, tenacity, and the astonishing things that the past can harbor.
In Stollenwerck’s YA novel, a teenager digging into her great-grandfather’s complicated history may not like what she finds.
In the author’s previous novel, Hello, Goodbye (2022), Texan Hailey Rogers learned surprising details about her great-grandparents; for instance, her great-grandfather, Jack Weber, was a Nazi hunter who left behind a collection of Nazi-stolen paintings he’d recovered. While in Jerusalem to speak about her ancestors at a Holocaust memorial, Hailey gets a cryptic note implying Jack wasn’t alone in scouring for art that the Nazis pilfered. This leads Hailey and her boyfriend Blake to an evasive woman who promises that answers regarding Jack await them in Paris. Hailey and Blake find a helping hand and a traveling companion in Blake’s wealthy grandfather Alan Alexander. Sadly, the clandestine group they meet up with in France initially offers little information and seems more interested in a rare book of Jack’s that Hailey now has. Alexander’s longtime friends aid in investigating Jack’s past, which teems with atrocities that rattle Hailey. The growing cast in Stollenwerck’s sequel adds welcome intrigue (the widowed Alexander has for decades avoided an old flame in Paris, and his friend’s 19-year-old son Julian has a certain charm Hailey can’t ignore). In vivid prose (“The enormous entryway is bathed in sunlight that flashes over a soaring geometric, multi-dimensional brushed gold chandelier”), the author delivers a narrative rich in historical details, from various artworks Hitler desired to particulars on CIA-precursor the OSS. All of this background nearly eclipses the mystery, which unfolds in bits and pieces as Hailey picks up more about Jack’s Nazi-hunting days and unearths the occasional clue. Still, the resplendent, compassionate young hero consistently acknowledges her own flaws and works at bettering an already impressive self.
A measured but fascinating story of love, tenacity, and the astonishing things that the past can harbor.Pub Date: Oct. 22, 2024
ISBN: 9798991076203
Page Count: 344
Publisher: Iceblink Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 23, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
An ode to the children of migrants who have been taken away.
A Mexican American boy takes on heavy responsibilities when his family is torn apart.
Mateo’s life is turned upside down the day U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents show up unsuccessfully seeking his Pa at his New York City bodega. The Garcias live in fear until the day both parents are picked up; his Pa is taken to jail and his Ma to a detention center. The adults around Mateo offer support to him and his 7-year-old sister, Sophie, however, he knows he is now responsible for caring for her and the bodega as well as trying to survive junior year—that is, if he wants to fulfill his dream to enter the drama program at the Tisch School of the Arts and become an actor. Mateo’s relationships with his friends Kimmie and Adam (a potential love interest) also suffer repercussions as he keeps his situation a secret. Kimmie is half Korean (her other half is unspecified) and Adam is Italian American; Mateo feels disconnected from them, less American, and with worries they can’t understand. He talks himself out of choosing a safer course of action, a decision that deepens the story. Mateo’s self-awareness and inner monologue at times make him seem older than 16, and, with significant turmoil in the main plot, some side elements feel underdeveloped. Aleman’s narrative joins the ranks of heart-wrenching stories of migrant families who have been separated.
An ode to the children of migrants who have been taken away. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: May 4, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-7595-5605-8
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Feb. 22, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Immersive and engaging, despite some flaws, and destined to capture imaginations.
Magic, mystery, and love intertwine and invite in this newest take on the “enchanted circus” trope.
Sisters raised by their abusive father, a governor of a colonial backwater in a world vaguely reminiscent of the late 18th century, Scarlett and Donatella each long for something more. Scarlett, olive-skinned, dark of hair and attitude, longs for Caraval, the fabled, magical circus helmed by the possibly evil Master Legend Santos, while blonde, sunny Tella finds comfort in drink and the embraces of various men. A slightly awkward start, with inconsistencies of attitude and setting, rapidly smooths out when they, along with handsome “golden-brown” sailor Julian, flee to Caraval on the eve of Scarlett’s arranged marriage. Tella disappears, and Scarlett must navigate a nighttime world of magic to find her. Caraval delights the senses: beautiful and scary, described in luscious prose, this is a show readers will wish they could enter. Dresses can be purchased for secrets or days of life; clocks can become doors; bridges move: this is an inventive and original circus, laced with an edge of horror. A double love story, one sensual romance and the other sisterly loyalty, anchors the plot, but the real star here is Caraval and its secrets.
Immersive and engaging, despite some flaws, and destined to capture imaginations. (Fantasy. 14 & up)Pub Date: Jan. 31, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-250-09525-1
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Review Posted Online: Sept. 18, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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