An addictive and frequently painful drama with a strong female lead who shines with resilience.
A young girl makes her way in America after emigrating from Ireland in Sweeney’s historical novel.
It is October of 1886 when 13-year-old Mary Agnes (called Mary A.) Coyne gives her beloved grandfather, Festus Laffey, a tearful goodbye hug and kiss. She is on her way to America—alone, frightened, and excited. Although she had dreamed of seeing the world beyond western Ireland, she had not expected to leave on her own at such a young age. But her mother throws her out of the house after her 15-year-old half-brother Fiach attempts to rape her, blaming Mary A. for the attack. Her grandparents offer her sanctuary from her violent father and vengeful mother, but her grandmother grows ill and can no longer care for her. Her grandparents arrange for Mary A.’s maternal uncle and his family, living in Chicago, to provide a home for her. Arriving in Manhattan, she goes to the church that is supposed to send her on to Chicago and learns that she must live with and work for an Irish family in New York before the priest will pay for her train ticket. One month later, Mary A. heads west. After a warm and effusive welcome, her uncle makes it clear she must find a live-in service job in one of Chicago’s prominent houses. Joy and sorrow await her. The poignant narrative is helmed by a sturdy young protagonist who faces a series of obstacles and injustices with courage, picking herself up after each emotionally challenging (and sometimes tragic) setback and pushing forward with determination. Sweeney imbues her prose with a gentle Irish lilt: “a beauty she were, that Laffey girl, when she were young; such a shame what happened to her, do you think it could have been her—no, no, best not to say, best not to say.” Her depictions of life in Ireland, the tortuous journey across the Atlantic, and Mary A.’s experiences as a young immigrant, complete with the rampant bigotry and misogyny of the era, are always vivid and compelling.
An addictive and frequently painful drama with a strong female lead who shines with resilience.Pub Date: Dec. 10, 2024
ISBN: 9781647427764
Page Count: 344
Publisher: She Writes Press
Review Posted Online: Sept. 13, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A dramatic, vividly detailed reconstruction of a little-known aspect of the Vietnam War.
A young woman’s experience as a nurse in Vietnam casts a deep shadow over her life.
When we learn that the farewell party in the opening scene is for Frances “Frankie” McGrath’s older brother—“a golden boy, a wild child who could make the hardest heart soften”—who is leaving to serve in Vietnam in 1966, we feel pretty certain that poor Finley McGrath is marked for death. Still, it’s a surprise when the fateful doorbell rings less than 20 pages later. His death inspires his sister to enlist as an Army nurse, and this turn of events is just the beginning of a roller coaster of a plot that’s impressive and engrossing if at times a bit formulaic. Hannah renders the experiences of the young women who served in Vietnam in all-encompassing detail. The first half of the book, set in gore-drenched hospital wards, mildewed dorm rooms, and boozy officers’ clubs, is an exciting read, tracking the transformation of virginal, uptight Frankie into a crack surgical nurse and woman of the world. Her tensely platonic romance with a married surgeon ends when his broken, unbreathing body is airlifted out by helicopter; she throws her pent-up passion into a wild affair with a soldier who happens to be her dead brother’s best friend. In the second part of the book, after the war, Frankie seems to experience every possible bad break. A drawback of the story is that none of the secondary characters in her life are fully three-dimensional: Her dismissive, chauvinistic father and tight-lipped, pill-popping mother, her fellow nurses, and her various love interests are more plot devices than people. You’ll wish you could have gone to Vegas and placed a bet on the ending—while it’s against all the odds, you’ll see it coming from a mile away.
A dramatic, vividly detailed reconstruction of a little-known aspect of the Vietnam War.Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024
ISBN: 9781250178633
Page Count: 480
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: Nov. 4, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2023
PERSPECTIVES
BOOK TO SCREEN
SEEN & HEARD
Through palpable tension balanced with glimmers of hope, Hoover beautifully captures the heartbreak and joy of starting over.
The sequel to It Ends With Us (2016) shows the aftermath of domestic violence through the eyes of a single mother.
Lily Bloom is still running a flower shop; her abusive ex-husband, Ryle Kincaid, is still a surgeon. But now they’re co-parenting a daughter, Emerson, who's almost a year old. Lily won’t send Emerson to her father’s house overnight until she’s old enough to talk—“So she can tell me if something happens”—but she doesn’t want to fight for full custody lest it become an expensive legal drama or, worse, a physical fight. When Lily runs into Atlas Corrigan, a childhood friend who also came from an abusive family, she hopes their friendship can blossom into love. (For new readers, their history unfolds in heartfelt diary entries that Lily addresses to Finding Nemo star Ellen DeGeneres as she considers how Atlas was a calming presence during her turbulent childhood.) Atlas, who is single and running a restaurant, feels the same way. But even though she’s divorced, Lily isn’t exactly free. Behind Ryle’s veneer of civility are his jealousy and resentment. Lily has to plan her dates carefully to avoid a confrontation. Meanwhile, Atlas’ mother returns with shocking news. In between, Lily and Atlas steal away for romantic moments that are even sweeter for their authenticity as Lily struggles with child care, breastfeeding, and running a business while trying to find time for herself.
Through palpable tension balanced with glimmers of hope, Hoover beautifully captures the heartbreak and joy of starting over.Pub Date: Oct. 18, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-668-00122-6
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2022
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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