An enticing tale that presents a complex British period just prior to a coming storm.
A historical novel focuses on a hangman’s son who becomes a spy in 17th-century England.
Wilson’s story begins in 1605. Prince Charles, the future king of England, is doing his best to walk unassisted in the Great Hall of Dunfermline Palace. Charles is the second son of King James I of England. When he does become king, the state in which his father left the country is less than ideal. The infamous Gunpowder Plot was stopped, yet tensions between Roman Catholics and Protestants are strained throughout Europe. Charles I also inherits his father’s adviser (and lover), George “Steenie” Villiers, known as the Duke of Buckingham. Buckingham is a foppish figure who looks out, first and foremost, for himself. Money will always be a problem for Charles. His love of fine art and his desire for war both require spending. For such extensive funding, he must ask Parliament. That is where men like John Pym come in. Pym is a member of the House of Commons. Although Parliament can deny the king’s request for money, it has little power against him. Any statements deemed as treasonous can guarantee a stay in the Tower of London. Caught up in this world is Nicholas Bainbridge. Nicholas, whose father was the hangman assigned to Guy Fawkes (who chose suicide), works his way from manor servant to Whitehall Palace. While at Whitehall, Nicholas serves as a spy for Pym with a front-row seat to the building turmoil.
Wilson’s engaging narrative covers events during Charles’ reign up to 1629. The story is not, in other words, about the War of the Roses but rather about many of the tensions leading up to it. The tale deftly illustrates the powerlessness many faced against incompetent rulers. Order an ill-conceived attack on the citadel of St. Martin on the Ile de Ré? Why not? The point is driven home when Buckingham, lacking any military experience, is put in command of the Ré invasion. So what if those sent to capture a fort are given siege ladders that are too short? Better luck next time. Of course, much of the conflict stems from religious disagreements. Pym, without really knowing why, declares himself a staunch anti-papist. Calvinists are mentioned, though where they fit into the broader political picture is largely unexplored. Readers never really get a grip on where such divisions come from. For all the talk characters do about the “whoreson” in Rome, they never dig deeply into what is so dangerous about this figure. Instead, conversations often include the obvious. Characters are prone to banal comments like “That’s a very handsome ring, Bridget,” and “I have some sad news.” They may ask simple questions, like “Is the Prince here?” Such moments aside, the text skillfully explores a volatile and retrospectively bizarre time in English history. Is it any wonder that a civil war lay just around the corner?
An enticing tale that presents a complex British period just prior to a coming storm.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 638
Publisher: Manuscript
Review Posted Online: Nov. 8, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
Still, a respectful and absorbing page-turner.
Hannah’s new novel is an homage to the extraordinary courage and endurance of Frenchwomen during World War II.
In 1995, an elderly unnamed widow is moving into an Oregon nursing home on the urging of her controlling son, Julien, a surgeon. This trajectory is interrupted when she receives an invitation to return to France to attend a ceremony honoring passeurs: people who aided the escape of others during the war. Cut to spring, 1940: Viann has said goodbye to husband Antoine, who's off to hold the Maginot line against invading Germans. She returns to tending her small farm, Le Jardin, in the Loire Valley, teaching at the local school and coping with daughter Sophie’s adolescent rebellion. Soon, that world is upended: The Germans march into Paris and refugees flee south, overrunning Viann’s land. Her long-estranged younger sister, Isabelle, who has been kicked out of multiple convent schools, is sent to Le Jardin by Julien, their father in Paris, a drunken, decidedly unpaternal Great War veteran. As the depredations increase in the occupied zone—food rationing, systematic looting, and the billeting of a German officer, Capt. Beck, at Le Jardin—Isabelle’s outspokenness is a liability. She joins the Resistance, volunteering for dangerous duty: shepherding downed Allied airmen across the Pyrenees to Spain. Code-named the Nightingale, Isabelle will rescue many before she's captured. Meanwhile, Viann’s journey from passive to active resistance is less dramatic but no less wrenching. Hannah vividly demonstrates how the Nazis, through starvation, intimidation and barbarity both casual and calculated, demoralized the French, engineering a community collapse that enabled the deportations and deaths of more than 70,000 Jews. Hannah’s proven storytelling skills are ideally suited to depicting such cataclysmic events, but her tendency to sentimentalize undermines the gravitas of this tale.
Still, a respectful and absorbing page-turner.Pub Date: Feb. 3, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-312-57722-3
Page Count: 448
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: Nov. 19, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2014
BOOK TO SCREEN
SEEN & HEARD
This luxurious novel is set to take the world by storm.
The true story of Axis diplomats detained in the U.S. at the start of World War II is transformed into a dazzling historical novel set at a sumptuous West Virginia hotel.
Bestselling YA fantasy author Stiefvater’s adult debut introduces a writer whose prodigious imagination and distinctive prose style have combined to create a novel that will remind readers of why they fell in love with reading in the first place. At its center is the captivating June Hudson, an erstwhile Appalachian orphan who was taken in by the wealthy Gilfoyle family, owners of the Avallon Hotel & Spa, a high-society retreat built over underground mineral springs. At his death, the patriarch bequeathed ownership to his playboy son, Edgar, but made June the general manager, as she had spent her life learning the business—and also shared with Gilfoyle Sr. a rare gift relating to the “sweetwater” springs, a fantastical element of this otherwise realistic novel. Aside from the magical waters and a few other fanciful details, Stiefvater’s fictional world is based on extensive research into high-end hotels of the period, creating a version of luxury so appealing that readers will wish they could check into the Avallon and stay on indefinitely. In fact, the novel revolves around the true meaning of luxury. To June, it has nothing to do with wealth; it is more connected to joy, and to the book’s title: “June had long ago discovered that most people were bad listeners; they thought listening was synonymous with hearing. But the spoken was only half a conversation. True needs, wants, fears, and hopes hid not in the words that were said, but in the ones that weren’t, and all these formed the core of luxury.” Also brilliantly managed is the rest of the ensemble cast: sexy FBI agents; June’s inimitable staff; the delegations of Japanese, Germans, and Italians detained at the hotel, some quite nasty, but among them a strange, special, totally silent child. And on top of all this, a delicious love story!
This luxurious novel is set to take the world by storm.Pub Date: June 3, 2025
ISBN: 9780593655504
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: April 19, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2025
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
