A fascinating historical drama.
A witch hunter must come to terms with the repercussions of his actions in Fearns’ historical novel.
In 1545, Geneva city magistrate Henry Aubert—a deeply religious man who lost his entire family to the plague—is summoned by John Calvin and tasked with trying witches in a small community. On his way to the assignment, Henry encounters Louise de Peney; she is a pretty young woman and a former nun, now a healer. Henry is intrigued by her. He begins investigating witchcraft, and, via torture, he manages to get a confession from the husband of an accused woman, but injures him so badly he must send for Louise. Louise doesn’t think much of his interrogation methods; still, she believes he is a good man and tries to warn him off his quest (“How many witches can there be? It is a sorry business, and it will destroy you. There can be no happy ending to this, whatever the truth”). The plot thickens when several women in town are accused of participating in a satanic ritual and arrested. As Henry continues with his work, Louise challenges his worldview, arguing that the women he is accusing of witchcraft are no more guilty of heresy than he is. Henry cares for her, but has trouble agreeing. When Louise is inevitably accused of witchcraft, everything Henry believes is thrown into question. There is a compelling tension in Henry between his desire for sex and his piety that, in his eyes, casts any interest in women as sinful. But his absolutism is constantly challenged as he struggles to fulfill his mission and questions whether he should adhere to his faith or adjust based on what he has learned. Louise is a fascinating character, too; she’s smart and well read (better read than Henry). Louise understands what is happening better than Henry does—she knows the accused women are only guilty of being women. Henry is a bit naïve, and although that changes as the novel progresses, he also remains anchored in Calvinist thinking, leading to a tragic ending. The narrative provides a deep look into the fear of witchcraft, underscoring how gender and sex were at the heart of it.
A fascinating historical drama.Pub Date: Oct. 20, 2023
ISBN: 978-1958228272
Page Count: 214
Publisher: Quill & Crow Publishing House
Review Posted Online: Aug. 3, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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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