An entertaining interpretation of a cataclysmic event in Canadian history—saddled with timeworn characterization.
A female cub reporter chases her first big story in Dupuis’ historical novel about an astonishing, lesser-known disaster that nearly obliterated a Canadian town.
On December 6, 1917, two ships made a catastrophic collision in Nova Scotia’s Halifax Harbour. One was the SS Mont-Blanc, a French cargo ship toting 3,000 tons of explosives from New York to Bordeaux. The resulting blast, which killed nearly 1,800 people and left scores of others injured and displaced, was the largest human-made explosion before the atomic bomb. Here, the story unfolds in the immediate aftermath of the disaster and tracks the journalists who covered it. The titular “woman reporter” is the adventurous yet proper Kate Dawson, a young staffer at the Toronto Advocate with a personal connection to Halifax. Was the explosion an accident? Part of a German spy plan? Equipped with a reporter’s pad and an ivory comb, she plans to do whatever’s necessary to get the facts, encountering her fair share of sexism and adversity along the way. Stenographic illustrations and an adventure-driven plot give the book an accessible feel that YA readers might particularly enjoy. Straightforward, if occasionally dialogue-heavy, prose (“I have never accepted the belief that men do what they want, and women do what they are told”) also make this an easy read. Dupuis’ thoughtful research of the disaster and its repercussions is apparent throughout, including the real dispatches from Halifax reporters. His protagonist, on the other hand, is less meticulously crafted. With her “tall, slim-waisted figure,” “deep blue eyes,” “firm sensual mouth,” and “ready smile,” Kate is a Hollywood archetype in a whale bone blouse who’s just bold enough to stand up to her male counterparts without sacrificing her feminine charm. If readers can look past the clichéd character choices, there’s a fun read in store.
An entertaining interpretation of a cataclysmic event in Canadian history—saddled with timeworn characterization.Pub Date: May 16, 2024
ISBN: 9781038306647
Page Count: 282
Publisher: FriesenPress
Review Posted Online: July 4, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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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