A poignant story of loss, love and family.
Two people broken by World War I look to start over and take refuge in each other in this unique historical romance.
Williams’ debut tells the story of Francesca Sittoni, an Austrian turned Italian by the war, who immigrates to America with her husband, Cesare. He paid a dowry to Francesca’s father for the marriage, but he is unloving toward Francesca and her young daughter from her first marriage, Elena. When Cesare dies working in a coal mine, Francesca is understandably determined to stay in America since her family is too poor to care for her and Elena should they return to northern Italy. She answers an ad for a housekeeper on Kent Reed’s ranch in Willow Valley, Wyo. Despite Francesca’s pregnancy and child in tow, Kent agrees to hire her for one year, and he gets much more than he ever expected or wanted. As they raise Elena together amid hardships, they form a strong bond; affection inevitably develops between them. Francesca and Kent’s equally stubborn attitudes keep them apart romantically, even though they are forced to live in close quarters in the small house they share. The characters come from extremely different backgrounds, but as Williams skillfully weaves their lives together, they begin to see that they have much more in common than they originally believed. Kent is resistant to officially making Francesca and Elena his family; he feels unworthy and has struggled with emasculation after he was wounded in the war and his wife left him. Francesca thinks Kent only sees her as a live-in maid and cook—a poor Tyrolean woman set in the ways of the old country. It takes the neighbors’ help for them to see the life they have already created together and how much they care for one another. Williams writes with familiarity, easily transporting the reader back to the 1920s. Despite the technological, economical and social differences between then and now, the heart of the story is timeless. Beautiful imagery accentuates the compelling narrative that depicts an era gone but not forgotten.
A poignant story of loss, love and family.Pub Date: Jan. 3, 2012
ISBN: 978-0982557419
Page Count: 162
Publisher: Jargon Media
Review Posted Online: March 8, 2012
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The phrase “tour de force” could have been invented for this audacious novel.
Four men who meet as college roommates move to New York and spend the next three decades gaining renown in their professions—as an architect, painter, actor and lawyer—and struggling with demons in their intertwined personal lives.
Yanagihara (The People in the Trees, 2013) takes the still-bold leap of writing about characters who don’t share her background; in addition to being male, JB is African-American, Malcolm has a black father and white mother, Willem is white, and “Jude’s race was undetermined”—deserted at birth, he was raised in a monastery and had an unspeakably traumatic childhood that’s revealed slowly over the course of the book. Two of them are gay, one straight and one bisexual. There isn’t a single significant female character, and for a long novel, there isn’t much plot. There aren’t even many markers of what’s happening in the outside world; Jude moves to a loft in SoHo as a young man, but we don’t see the neighborhood change from gritty artists’ enclave to glitzy tourist destination. What we get instead is an intensely interior look at the friends’ psyches and relationships, and it’s utterly enthralling. The four men think about work and creativity and success and failure; they cook for each other, compete with each other and jostle for each other’s affection. JB bases his entire artistic career on painting portraits of his friends, while Malcolm takes care of them by designing their apartments and houses. When Jude, as an adult, is adopted by his favorite Harvard law professor, his friends join him for Thanksgiving in Cambridge every year. And when Willem becomes a movie star, they all bask in his glow. Eventually, the tone darkens and the story narrows to focus on Jude as the pain of his past cuts deep into his carefully constructed life.
The phrase “tour de force” could have been invented for this audacious novel.Pub Date: March 10, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-385-53925-8
Page Count: 720
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: Dec. 21, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
PROFILES
PERSPECTIVES
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
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