A sharp, media-centric satire set in a rebellious America.
A comic historical novel chronicles the adventures of an 18th-century printer.
Boston, 1773. War with Britain is brewing in the Colonies, but that’s the last thing London-born Leeds Merriweather wants. Though his pride and joy is his newspaper, the New England News-Journal, most of the printer’s income actually comes from contracts he has with the British-appointed governor. When his partner gambles away a controlling share in the paper to the powerful Tory Clinton Murdoch, Leeds is pressured to turn his neutral News-Journal into a full-throated supporter of British rule. Just as he’s learning about his imminent editorial shift, he meets—and completely falls for—the beautiful Sally Hughes. The sex worker and patriot uses her position at the Flagg Alley Bordello to learn compromising tidbits about members of the British military and government. Sally and Leeds decide to hatch a scheme together. Using Sally’s contacts and Leeds’ press, they publish the anonymous Watertown Times-Forger, a tabloid airing the dirty secrets of Britain’s agents in Massachusetts. Leeds soon finds himself working both sides of the propaganda war, a member of the governor’s advisory committee by day and a rebel pamphleteer by night. It’s all well and good until the British decide to root out the culprits behind the publication—and hang them for treason. From the Boston Tea Party to the Battles of Lexington and Concord, Leeds finds himself at the center of the tensions between the British government and the rebellious colonists. He and Sally must play their cards exactly right to help the American cause without giving themselves away. Luckily, Leeds is a newsman of extraordinary cunning and flexibility, but whether that’s enough to capture the hearts and minds of the reading public—or the affections of the feisty woman he’s working beside—remains to be seen.
Brill’s prose, as narrated by Leeds, is nimble and witty, revealing the opportunistic contradictions at work in the hungry journalist: “I didn’t mind Hancock’s politics for they made for good copy. But to describe…one of the richest and most politically active members of Boston” being “led to jail in irons would be something for which I would sacrifice my left pinky—my right pinky being needed to work the printing press.” This sequel to The Patterer (2013) is filled with the sort of cameos and alternate history tales that one expects from such a novel, and they are done well. But the real accomplishment is the way the author re-creates the media concerns of the audience’s own day—issues of bias, control, fake news, and sensationalism—within the context of events leading up to the American Revolution. Leeds tends to look after his own self-interest most of all, which both contributes to readers’ enjoyment and makes a compelling statement about freedom of the press. There are a few moments that are perhaps a bit too self-aware—Leeds ends up composing a rough draft of America’s founding document—but overall the book is a fun and satisfying read.
A sharp, media-centric satire set in a rebellious America.Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-9960834-4-7
Page Count: 276
Publisher: Black Tie Books
Review Posted Online: Dec. 2, 2020
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
Uneven but fitfully amusing.
Betrayed by her husband, a severely depressed young woman gets drawn into the over-the-top festivities at a lavish wedding.
Phoebe Stone, who teaches English literature at a St. Louis college, is plotting her own demise. Her husband, Matt, has left her for another woman, and Phoebe is taking it hard. Indeed, she's determined just where and how she will end it all: at an oceanfront hotel in Newport, where she will lie on a king-sized canopy bed and take a bottle of her cat’s painkillers. At the hotel, Phoebe meets bride-to-be Lila, a headstrong rich girl presiding over her own extravagant six-day wedding celebration. Lila thought she had booked every room in the hotel, and learning of Phoebe's suicidal intentions, she forbids this stray guest from disrupting the nuptials: “No. You definitely can’t kill yourself. This is my wedding week.” After the punchy opening, a grim flashback to the meltdown of Phoebe's marriage temporarily darkens the mood, but things pick up when spoiled Lila interrupts Phoebe's preparations and sweeps her up in the wedding juggernaut. The slide from earnest drama to broad farce is somewhat jarring, but from this point on, Espach crafts an enjoyable—if overstuffed—comedy of manners. When the original maid of honor drops out, Phoebe is persuaded, against her better judgment, to take her place. There’s some fun to be had here: The wedding party—including groom-to-be Gary, a widower, and his 11-year-old daughter—takes surfing lessons; the women in the group have a session with a Sex Woman. But it all goes on too long, and the humor can seem forced, reaching a low point when someone has sex with the vintage wedding car (you don’t want to know the details). Later, when two characters have a meet-cute in a hot tub, readers will guess exactly how the marriage plot resolves.
Uneven but fitfully amusing.Pub Date: July 30, 2024
ISBN: 9781250899576
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: Sept. 13, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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