More than a decade after the publication of the first books in this trilogy (Which Way Freedom, 1986; Out From This Place 1988), Hansen completes her story of Obi and Easter, two escaped slaves from South Carolina, who become separated during the Civil War. After leaving the army, Obi searches for Easter, learning that she has moved to Philadelphia to become a teacher, but intends to establish her home in the black settlement of New Canaan. While awaiting her return, Obi struggles to care for Grace, Scipio, and Araba, three orphans who fled a massacre in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, a black town destroyed by whites. Much of the story is told in letters between Obi and Easter, as Obi fights storms, disease, and bigotry while he builds a carpentry business. His love for Easter and her determination to help build New Canaan finally leads Obi to find his place in life. While the earlier novels set forth the romance more clearly, this one is just as strong in its enlivening depiction of African-American history. Hansen deftly weaves real historical events into the novel, presenting a vivid account of a budding black settlement during Reconstruction. (Fiction. 12-14)
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-8027-8636-7
Page Count: 174
Publisher: Walker
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1999
This sequel to The Squire’s Tale (1998) finds Morris’s affable young hero, Terence, still serving the legendary Sir Gawain. The kingdom of Camelot, where they are living, is in despair over Queen Guinevere’s affair with Sir Lancelot; when Gawain is challenged to meet the Knight of the Green they set off on a new quest. Terence is still young, but he is no longer the novice of the previous novel; when Gawain is imprisoned by the treacherous Marquis of Alva and scheduled for execution, it’s up to Terence to save not only his knight, but the beautiful and spirited Lady Eileen. The three of them come upon an enchanted castle, where the lord of the realm turns out to be the Green Knight in disguise: Gawain is forced to pass two additional challenges in order to regain face. There is a well-crafted but tumultuous unfolding of events, and an author’s note in which Morris explains his abiding affection and respect for Gawain; this personal touch may send readers straight off to Chaucer. Even Arthur and Guinevere make up in this engaging adventure, an ideal follow-up to the first book and just as full of characters who are brave, loyal, and admirably human. (Fiction. 12-14)
Pub Date: April 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-395-91211-3
Page Count: 232
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1999
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A girl’s interest in family history overlaps a coming-of-age story about her vestigial understanding of her mother after death, and her own awareness of self and place in the world. Junior high-school student Carrie Schmidt identifies strongly with the missing girls of 1967’s headlines about runaways. Carrie’s mother is dead and she has just moved in with her grandmother, Mutti, who embarrasses her with her foreign accent and ways. Carrie’s ideal is her friend Mona’s mother, a “professional” who dresses properly, smells good, and knows how to set out a table; readers will grasp the mother’s superficiality, even though Carrie, at first, does not. Mutti has terror in her past, and tells Carrie stories of the Jews in WWII Vienna, and of subsequent events in nine concentration camps; these are mined under the premise that Carrie needs stories for “dream” material and her interest in so-called lucid dreaming, a diverting backdrop that deepens the story without overwhelming it. Mutti’s gripping, terrible tales and the return of an old friend who raised Carrie’s mother when she was sent to Scotland at age nine awaken in Carrie a connection to her current family, to her ancestry, and, ultimately, to a stronger sense of self. This uncommon novel from Metzger (Ellen’s Case, 1995, etc.) steps out of the genre of historical fiction to tell a story as significant to contemporary readers as to the inhabitants of the era it evokes. (Fiction. 10-14)
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-670-87777-8
Page Count: 194
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1999
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