A perennial tale of a woman fighting for her place in a man’s world.
A fictionalized telling of the life of American art collector Isabella Stewart Gardner, whose story resounds with contemporary themes.
Despite her efforts, recently married Isabella can’t fit into Boston’s high society. Her humor is too brash, her fashion is never au courant, and, most damnable of all, she’s not content to sit around with the ladies while the men get to discuss literature and art. Isabella’s early married life is marked by tragedy—first she takes a long time to conceive, then she loses her 2-year-old to pneumonia and, shortly after, suffers a miscarriage that leaves her permanently unable to get pregnant. These compounding tragedies push Isabella even further out from Boston’s elite inner circle—after all, how can a woman in the mid-1800s hope to belong to high society if she's not even a mother? But in spite of these tragedies (or, perhaps, because of them?), Isabella is more determined than ever to find her place. With her husband, Jack, Isabella sets off on a European voyage during which she meets a host of famous artists and authors, thus launching her life’s passion: collecting people and their work. Isabella’s correspondence with those we now know as greats (Henry James, John Singer Sargent, and Oscar Wilde, to name a few) are delightfully sprinkled throughout the novel. Historians may bristle at Franklin’s choice to present as true aspects of Isabella’s life that others have merely speculated about, such as her possible affair with author F. Marion Crawford. Nonetheless, Franklin paints an engaging portrait of a bold yet vulnerable woman whose feminist determination will certainly appeal to contemporary readers, as will her desires for belonging, acceptance, and the often elusive quest to lead a life of purpose: “Is it wrong for a woman to want more?…Oh, how I want and want and want—to study the library arches and entertain and feel myself integral to the world as though I am the walls of a house.”
A perennial tale of a woman fighting for her place in a man’s world.Pub Date: April 11, 2023
ISBN: 9781567927405
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Godine
Review Posted Online: Feb. 23, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
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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