A fun, frothy read bolstered by a likable heroine and a snappy, fast-paced narrative.
A single mother embarks on an unconventional business venture in Doyle’s debut novel.
Amanda Keane loves her life in Chicago and her career as an editor at Fixtures magazine. For her 30th birthday, her friends treat her to an evening at Daly’s, a local bar and restaurant, with a blind date. However, the sparks truly fly when she meets Eamonn, the restaurant owner’s nephew. He’s an aspiring musician from Ireland who’s spending several months in the Windy City. But when Amanda discovers she’s pregnant with Eamonn’s child, he disappears from her life. Shortly after the birth of their daughter, Maddie, she loses her job at the magazine. When her friend Joy, a gynecologist, suggests that she try working as a wet nurse for wealthy mothers, she’s initially skeptical. However, with a baby to support and bills to pay, she does so, working on a contract basis for some of the most powerful women in town. Because of the sensitive nature of her services, Amanda keeps the true nature of her job a secret from her new boyfriend, Dan, a handsome single father she met at Maddie’s day care. Amanda’s attempts to balance her work and her blossoming romance are soon complicated by the demands of her job and the reappearance of a person from her past. Doyle brings a quirky premise to life with colorful characters and a brisk pace. The bright Amanda is the strongest player here; although she’s occasionally naïve when it comes to romance, her resourcefulness enables her to navigate the secret lives of Chicago’s elite. Doyle also establishes a nice contrast between the men in Amanda’s life: Eamonn is a charming louse who appeals to Amanda’s fantasy of dating a sensitive musician, while Dan and his son, Lucas, provide a strong sense of stability. Amanda’s employers all come from diverse backgrounds, but each harbors intriguing secrets. As Amanda’s journey takes her from the world of magazine journalism to the world of wealth, Doyle’s pacing never misses a beat.
A fun, frothy read bolstered by a likable heroine and a snappy, fast-paced narrative.Pub Date: Nov. 21, 2014
ISBN: 978-0985352080
Page Count: 308
Publisher: Simon and Fig
Review Posted Online: Feb. 27, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2015
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A first novel, this is also a first person account of Scout's (Jean Louise) recall of the years that led to the ending of a mystery, the breaking of her brother Jem's elbow, the death of her father's enemy — and the close of childhood years. A widower, Atticus raises his children with legal dispassion and paternal intelligence, and is ably abetted by Calpurnia, the colored cook, while the Alabama town of Maycomb, in the 1930's, remains aloof to their divergence from its tribal patterns. Scout and Jem, with their summer-time companion, Dill, find their paths free from interference — but not from dangers; their curiosity about the imprisoned Boo, whose miserable past is incorporated in their play, results in a tentative friendliness; their fears of Atticus' lack of distinction is dissipated when he shoots a mad dog; his defense of a Negro accused of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell, is followed with avid interest and turns the rabble whites against him. Scout is the means of averting an attack on Atticus but when he loses the case it is Boo who saves Jem and Scout by killing Mayella's father when he attempts to murder them. The shadows of a beginning for black-white understanding, the persistent fight that Scout carries on against school, Jem's emergence into adulthood, Calpurnia's quiet power, and all the incidents touching on the children's "growing outward" have an attractive starchiness that keeps this southern picture pert and provocative. There is much advance interest in this book; it has been selected by the Literary Guild and Reader's Digest; it should win many friends.
Pub Date: July 11, 1960
ISBN: 0060935464
Page Count: 323
Publisher: Lippincott
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1960
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
Coelho's placebo has racked up impressive sales in Brazil and Europe. Americans should flock to it like gulls.
Coelho is a Brazilian writer with four books to his credit. Following Diary of a Magus (1992—not reviewed) came this book, published in Brazil in 1988: it's an interdenominational, transcendental, inspirational fable—in other words, a bag of wind.
The story is about a youth empowered to follow his dream. Santiago is an Andalusian shepherd boy who learns through a dream of a treasure in the Egyptian pyramids. An old man, the king of Salem, the first of various spiritual guides, tells the boy that he has discovered his destiny: "to realize one's destiny is a person's only real obligation." So Santiago sells his sheep, sails to Tangier, is tricked out of his money, regains it through hard work, crosses the desert with a caravan, stops at an oasis long enough to fall in love, escapes from warring tribesmen by performing a miracle, reaches the pyramids, and eventually gets both the gold and the girl. Along the way he meets an Englishman who describes the Soul of the World; the desert woman Fatima, who teaches him the Language of the World; and an alchemist who says, "Listen to your heart" A message clings like ivy to every encounter; everyone, but everyone, has to put in their two cents' worth, from the crystal merchant to the camel driver ("concentrate always on the present, you'll be a happy man"). The absence of characterization and overall blandness suggest authorship by a committee of self-improvement pundits—a far cry from Saint- Exupery's The Little Prince: that flagship of the genre was a genuine charmer because it clearly derived from a quirky, individual sensibility.
Coelho's placebo has racked up impressive sales in Brazil and Europe. Americans should flock to it like gulls.Pub Date: July 1, 1993
ISBN: 0-06-250217-4
Page Count: 192
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1993
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
BOOK TO SCREEN
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