An engrossing novel that challenges stale narratives of colonial America.
In Rader’s 17th-century-set drama, an English settler in the New World attempts to rescue his wife, who has been kidnapped by Indigenous people.
In the 1670s, war breaks out between English settlers who are arriving in the New World in increasing number and the River Indians who have been dispossessed of their land, led by Metacomet, whom the English dub King Philip. Benjamin Waite, who lives in Hatfield (part of the Massachusetts Bay Colony) with his wife Martha and his three daughters, is reluctantly drawn into the conflict and marches off to attack a neighboring Indian village—to his great horror, his band massacres the mostly defenseless natives, including women and children, in a grotesque slaughter chillingly captured by the author. “I wiped away hot tears and sweat from my face with my gloved hand. Men torched wigwams and watched them burn. The mighty river swept people and canoes over the falls, and the white water sparkled in the sun, mocking the horror.” In a cataclysm of retaliation, the River Indians raid Hatfield while the men are working in the fields and kidnap Martha and her daughters. Overwhelmed by fear and grief, and not even sure who is responsible, Ben attempts to organize a search party and retrieve his family before it is too late. Rader paints a stirring picture with the subtlest of brush strokes—this is no simplistic struggle between good and evil. Both sides have earned the right to some grievances, and both commit unspeakable atrocities. Martha, in particular, is an impressively drawn character, deep and complex; she is horrified, even while in captivity, by the terrible things Ben has done to her captors. The conclusion of the book may strike some readers as a bit tidy and even sentimental, but, overall, this is a moving work, dramatically compelling and historically searching.
An engrossing novel that challenges stale narratives of colonial America.Pub Date: May 21, 2024
ISBN: 9798885280778
Page Count: 394
Publisher: Acorn Publishing
Review Posted Online: July 15, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A pleasant if not entirely convincing tribute to the power of art.
A French art historian’s English-language fiction debut combines the story of a loving relationship between a grandfather and granddaughter with an enlightening discussion of art.
One day, when 10-year-old Mona removes the necklace given to her by her now-dead grandmother, she experiences a frightening, hour-long bout of blindness. Her parents take her to the doctor, who gives her a variety of tests and also advises that she see a psychiatrist. Her grandfather Henry tells her parents that he will take care of that assignment, but instead, he takes Mona on weekly visits to either the Louvre, the Musée d’Orsay, or the Centre Pompidou, where each week they study a single work of art, gazing at it deeply and then discussing its impact and history and the biography of its maker. For the reader’s benefit, Schlesser also describes each of the works in scrupulous detail. As the year goes on, Mona faces the usual challenges of elementary school life and the experiences of being an only child, and slowly begins to understand the causes of her temporary blindness. Primarily an amble through a few dozen of Schlesser’s favorite works of art—some well known and others less so, from Botticelli and da Vinci through Basquiat and Bourgeois—the novel would probably benefit from being read at a leisurely pace. While the dialogue between Henry and the preternaturally patient and precocious Mona sometimes strains credulity, readers who don’t have easy access to the museums of Paris may enjoy this vicarious trip in the company of a guide who focuses equally on that which can be seen and the context that can’t be. Come for the novel, stay for the introductory art history course.
A pleasant if not entirely convincing tribute to the power of art.Pub Date: Aug. 26, 2025
ISBN: 9798889661115
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Europa Editions
Review Posted Online: June 7, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2025
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
An affecting portrait of a prickly woman.
A lifetime’s worth of letters combine to portray a singular character.
Sybil Van Antwerp, a cantankerous but exceedingly well-mannered septuagenarian, is the titular correspondent in Evans’ debut novel. Sybil has retired from a beloved job as chief clerk to a judge with whom she had previously been in private legal practice. She is the divorced mother of two living adult children and one who died when he was 8. She is a reader of novels, a gardener, and a keen observer of human nature. But the most distinguishing thing about Sybil is her lifelong practice of letter writing. As advancing vision problems threaten Sybil’s carefully constructed way of life—in which letters take the place of personal contact and engagement—she must reckon with unaddressed issues from her past that threaten the house of cards (letters, really) she has built around herself. Sybil’s relationships are gradually revealed in the series of letters sent to and received from, among others, her brother, sister-in-law, children, former work associates, and, intriguingly, literary icons including Joan Didion and Larry McMurtry. Perhaps most affecting is the series of missives Sybil writes but never mails to a shadowy figure from her past. Thoughtful musings on the value and immortal quality of letters and the written word populate one of Sybil’s notes to a young correspondent while other messages are laugh-out-loud funny, tinged with her characteristic blunt tartness. Evans has created a brusque and quirky yet endearing main character with no shortage of opinions and advice for others but who fails to excavate the knotty difficulties of her own life. As Sybil grows into a delayed self-awareness, her letters serve as a chronicle of fitful growth.
An affecting portrait of a prickly woman.Pub Date: May 6, 2025
ISBN: 9780593798430
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2025
SEEN & HEARD
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