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jhscolloquium's reviews
904 reviews
The Personal Assistant by Kimberly Belle
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Author Kimberly Belle describes The Personal Assistant as a story about happens "when online threats turn real" and says her inspiration for the story came from her experiences as an author. "One of the job requirements is to put myself out there on social media," she notes, "which means I’m constantly walking a fine line between sharing snippets of my life and holding back on personal, private moments." It is impossible to predict with certainty how followers will react to photographs and captions. "One wrong word can blow up in ways you don’t always anticipate which got me thinking," Belle observes. "What if the people on the receiving end of these posts don’t have the best of intentions? What if the animosity on Instagram and Facebook turns all too real?"
Indeed, as The Personal Assistant opens, Alex has an unbelievably bad morning. She has a raging hangover after spending the prior evening celebrating a significant milestone with tequila shots: one million followers on her Instagram account, @UnapologeticallyAlex. Admittedly, she developed her online persona accidentally. One post urging women to "live unapologetically" went viral and other women began looking to her as an example of living live one's own way instead of striving to be a perfect wife, mother, friend, lover, hostess, etc. After that, Alex "wanted a piece of the Instagram pie" and secured it by monetizing her account. Ad placements, brand ambassadorships, and an auction for a book proposal rendered her devoted husband, Patrick, amazed and somewhat perplexed by the power of social media. After years as a single mother, struggling to raise her twelve-year-old twin daughters, Gigi and Penelope, without any support from their father, Alex met and married, Patrick, the money guru of Atlanta, Georgia. On a local television station, he dispenses financial advice, assuring viewers that, like him, they can become financially independent. A self-made millionaire since he was in his 20's, Patrick is generous, loving, and adores the girls as though they were his own biological daughters. Alex and her family live happily in a stately, historic home with Patrick and the twins starring, along with Alex, in carefully curated Instagram posts about creating and maintaining a perfect life.
But with internet fame comes at least a few trolls who spew negativity on Alex's account. She is accustomed to the occasional naysayer who criticizes Alex's posts. But as she peruses the notifications popping up on her phone, she is horrified to see many hate-filled comments originating from account names she recognizes. Alex has a hard-and-fast rule: she does not post until her trusted personal assistant, AC, has reviewed a draft. And she never posts when she has been drinking. She has no recollection of posting a video to her account the previous night, but . . . A video was reposted to her Unapologetically Alex account from the account of an actress, accompanied by commentary from Alex critiquing the young woman's appearance, partying, and talent (or lack thereof), and calling her vile names. The message is wholly inconsistent with Alex's brand and philosophy, and her followers are quick to deem her a hypocrite. Even though Alex is confident "there's not enough tequila in the world to make me upload a post that damning," it is rapidly going viral. And the vitriolic post sounds eerily like the opinion Alex actually voiced . . . within the privacy of her own home. Did AC surreptitiously record Alex's commentary and post it? Why would she sabotage her employer? Or could Alex's account have been hacked? Her career is evaporating as quickly as the number of views of the video climb and many of those one million followers abandon her. Patrick advises her to simply delete the post, but Alex knows the damage cannot be repaired that easily because posts can be downloaded and preserved via screenshots. "Perception is reality, Patrick. No one understands this better than an influencer."
"Mayday, mayday," Alex texts to AC. But she neither responds nor appears, and hours tick by during which Alex's unanswered messages become more desperate. After hiring AC, Alex quickly became dependent upon her to manage nearly every aspect of Alex and her family's lives. Alex granted her unfettered access to their home, electronic devices, and digital accounts, even though Patrick has never been fond of AC but has never explained why in terms that make sense to Alex. Patrick insists that the last time he saw AC was the prior night when she left in the Uber her summoned for her. But disturbing footage of Patrick and AC arguing was captured by a security camera on the property.
Alex's fast-paced first-person narrative is one of several, including that of Anna Claire, a young woman employed as a hotel maid in rural southern Georgia. When a truck forces her dilapidated Honda off a narrow country road onto the narrow shoulder, shredding one of the car's rear tires. She has no spare tire, so her only option is to begin walking the five miles between her and the hotel, upset that she will not only be extremely late to work. She cannot afford a new tire because she has not finished paying the local junk yard for the last used tire she purchased. Just then, her savior appears in a sleek black sedan, handsome and about twenty years older than her. He offers her a ride to the hotel . . . and much more. Is she AC? If not, who is she? How is her story connected to what is happening to Alex?
Belle quickly reveals that Patrick has secrets and they involve AC. In his first-person narrative, he frets, "I can't think of anything but AC. what she's doing here, how she found me, how to get rid of her when she's attached herself to my wife like a barnacle." Was Patrick the handsome older man who offered Anna Claire a lift?
The Personal Assistant is a compulsive and very cleverly imagined mystery populated with fully developed and fascinating characters. At the center of the story is Alex, a woman who is devoted to her children and determined to protect them. She is also very much in love with her husband, Patrick, as well as their success, the opportunities they have been afforded, and the life they have created. When AC does not materialize -- and Alex discovers the body of a murdered woman in the cottage that serves as her office -- Alex gradually realizes that she and her family are in danger. She is determined to discover the source of the threats, the truth about AC and how she came to apply for the job as Alex's assistant, and the real reasons why Patrick has always been uncomfortable around her. She wants to salvage her career as an influencer but learns that exposing the details about her own life, and her family's, is a risky endeavor and once information has been disseminated, security measures are of limited value. She will not be deterred, however, until she not only understands all of the events and players that led her to this point in her life, and once all secrets are revealed, she exhibits tenacity and courage. Patrick is a complicated and somewhat ambiguous character. Belle wisely leaves it to readers to draw their own conclusions about his motivations, ethics, and emotions. Belle's depiction of prepubescent Gigi and Penelope, and their angst about being unwilling inhabitants of their mother's online universe, as well their fear about the fallout from the unfortunate viral video, is credible, believable, and at times heartbreaking.
Belle deftly injects clues about Anna Claire's identity, as well as how and when her path intersected with Alex's family, at judiciously timed junctures. But she keeps readers guessing, slyly withholding key pieces of the mesmerizing puzzle, as she accelerates the narratives' pace and the dramatic tension, right up to the shocking conclusion of her tautly constructed and engaging story.
Unlike My Darling Husband, which Belle drafted during the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic, she recalls having a tough time drafting The Personnel Assistant because she found it difficult to concentrate on a tale about an Instagram influencer while the world was shut down and the virus continued claiming victims. Because she grew up in a small Tennessee town, Belle says Anna Claire's voice came to her the most naturally. So even though her aspect of the story is the most tragic and wrenching, Belle found it the most enjoyable to write. The rest of the book fell into place once Belle conceptualized the moral of her characters' struggles, "the whole point of the story. When Alex’s world becomes a dumpster fire, it puts things for her into perspective. It forces her to stop and adjust, to reassess her priorities. People. Her family. As Alex learned in her story -- as we learned in ours -- the rest is just noise and fluff." Belle's telling of Alex's journey to that realization is riveting, entertaining, and emotionally compelling. It is also likely to make readers -- especially parents -- think carefully and consider the potential consequences of sharing personal information on social media.
Thanks to NetGalley for an Advance Reader's Copy of the book.
Indeed, as The Personal Assistant opens, Alex has an unbelievably bad morning. She has a raging hangover after spending the prior evening celebrating a significant milestone with tequila shots: one million followers on her Instagram account, @UnapologeticallyAlex. Admittedly, she developed her online persona accidentally. One post urging women to "live unapologetically" went viral and other women began looking to her as an example of living live one's own way instead of striving to be a perfect wife, mother, friend, lover, hostess, etc. After that, Alex "wanted a piece of the Instagram pie" and secured it by monetizing her account. Ad placements, brand ambassadorships, and an auction for a book proposal rendered her devoted husband, Patrick, amazed and somewhat perplexed by the power of social media. After years as a single mother, struggling to raise her twelve-year-old twin daughters, Gigi and Penelope, without any support from their father, Alex met and married, Patrick, the money guru of Atlanta, Georgia. On a local television station, he dispenses financial advice, assuring viewers that, like him, they can become financially independent. A self-made millionaire since he was in his 20's, Patrick is generous, loving, and adores the girls as though they were his own biological daughters. Alex and her family live happily in a stately, historic home with Patrick and the twins starring, along with Alex, in carefully curated Instagram posts about creating and maintaining a perfect life.
But with internet fame comes at least a few trolls who spew negativity on Alex's account. She is accustomed to the occasional naysayer who criticizes Alex's posts. But as she peruses the notifications popping up on her phone, she is horrified to see many hate-filled comments originating from account names she recognizes. Alex has a hard-and-fast rule: she does not post until her trusted personal assistant, AC, has reviewed a draft. And she never posts when she has been drinking. She has no recollection of posting a video to her account the previous night, but . . . A video was reposted to her Unapologetically Alex account from the account of an actress, accompanied by commentary from Alex critiquing the young woman's appearance, partying, and talent (or lack thereof), and calling her vile names. The message is wholly inconsistent with Alex's brand and philosophy, and her followers are quick to deem her a hypocrite. Even though Alex is confident "there's not enough tequila in the world to make me upload a post that damning," it is rapidly going viral. And the vitriolic post sounds eerily like the opinion Alex actually voiced . . . within the privacy of her own home. Did AC surreptitiously record Alex's commentary and post it? Why would she sabotage her employer? Or could Alex's account have been hacked? Her career is evaporating as quickly as the number of views of the video climb and many of those one million followers abandon her. Patrick advises her to simply delete the post, but Alex knows the damage cannot be repaired that easily because posts can be downloaded and preserved via screenshots. "Perception is reality, Patrick. No one understands this better than an influencer."
"Mayday, mayday," Alex texts to AC. But she neither responds nor appears, and hours tick by during which Alex's unanswered messages become more desperate. After hiring AC, Alex quickly became dependent upon her to manage nearly every aspect of Alex and her family's lives. Alex granted her unfettered access to their home, electronic devices, and digital accounts, even though Patrick has never been fond of AC but has never explained why in terms that make sense to Alex. Patrick insists that the last time he saw AC was the prior night when she left in the Uber her summoned for her. But disturbing footage of Patrick and AC arguing was captured by a security camera on the property.
Alex's fast-paced first-person narrative is one of several, including that of Anna Claire, a young woman employed as a hotel maid in rural southern Georgia. When a truck forces her dilapidated Honda off a narrow country road onto the narrow shoulder, shredding one of the car's rear tires. She has no spare tire, so her only option is to begin walking the five miles between her and the hotel, upset that she will not only be extremely late to work. She cannot afford a new tire because she has not finished paying the local junk yard for the last used tire she purchased. Just then, her savior appears in a sleek black sedan, handsome and about twenty years older than her. He offers her a ride to the hotel . . . and much more. Is she AC? If not, who is she? How is her story connected to what is happening to Alex?
Belle quickly reveals that Patrick has secrets and they involve AC. In his first-person narrative, he frets, "I can't think of anything but AC. what she's doing here, how she found me, how to get rid of her when she's attached herself to my wife like a barnacle." Was Patrick the handsome older man who offered Anna Claire a lift?
The Personal Assistant is a compulsive and very cleverly imagined mystery populated with fully developed and fascinating characters. At the center of the story is Alex, a woman who is devoted to her children and determined to protect them. She is also very much in love with her husband, Patrick, as well as their success, the opportunities they have been afforded, and the life they have created. When AC does not materialize -- and Alex discovers the body of a murdered woman in the cottage that serves as her office -- Alex gradually realizes that she and her family are in danger. She is determined to discover the source of the threats, the truth about AC and how she came to apply for the job as Alex's assistant, and the real reasons why Patrick has always been uncomfortable around her. She wants to salvage her career as an influencer but learns that exposing the details about her own life, and her family's, is a risky endeavor and once information has been disseminated, security measures are of limited value. She will not be deterred, however, until she not only understands all of the events and players that led her to this point in her life, and once all secrets are revealed, she exhibits tenacity and courage. Patrick is a complicated and somewhat ambiguous character. Belle wisely leaves it to readers to draw their own conclusions about his motivations, ethics, and emotions. Belle's depiction of prepubescent Gigi and Penelope, and their angst about being unwilling inhabitants of their mother's online universe, as well their fear about the fallout from the unfortunate viral video, is credible, believable, and at times heartbreaking.
Belle deftly injects clues about Anna Claire's identity, as well as how and when her path intersected with Alex's family, at judiciously timed junctures. But she keeps readers guessing, slyly withholding key pieces of the mesmerizing puzzle, as she accelerates the narratives' pace and the dramatic tension, right up to the shocking conclusion of her tautly constructed and engaging story.
Unlike My Darling Husband, which Belle drafted during the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic, she recalls having a tough time drafting The Personnel Assistant because she found it difficult to concentrate on a tale about an Instagram influencer while the world was shut down and the virus continued claiming victims. Because she grew up in a small Tennessee town, Belle says Anna Claire's voice came to her the most naturally. So even though her aspect of the story is the most tragic and wrenching, Belle found it the most enjoyable to write. The rest of the book fell into place once Belle conceptualized the moral of her characters' struggles, "the whole point of the story. When Alex’s world becomes a dumpster fire, it puts things for her into perspective. It forces her to stop and adjust, to reassess her priorities. People. Her family. As Alex learned in her story -- as we learned in ours -- the rest is just noise and fluff." Belle's telling of Alex's journey to that realization is riveting, entertaining, and emotionally compelling. It is also likely to make readers -- especially parents -- think carefully and consider the potential consequences of sharing personal information on social media.
Thanks to NetGalley for an Advance Reader's Copy of the book.
The Silent Woman by Minka Kent
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
4.0
In The Silent Woman, author Jade Westmore describes, through a first-person narrative, her initial meeting with her new husband, Wells. He was anxious to authorize a biography of his late grandmother, Viviette Westmore, a renowned actress, but hadn’t been impressed by any of the writing samples he perused. Until he happened upon one of Jade’s books in an airport bookstore. A week later, they met for dinner to discuss the potential project and “hit it off.” Jade already possessed a wealth of knowledge about Viviette, which impressed Wells. And she was immediately attracted to him. As a result of that first meeting, Jade got everything she dreamed of. A contract to pen Viviette’s biography (containing a stipulation that Wells can terminate the project at any time before the manuscript is submitting to the publisher for editing), a six-figure advance, a husband, and a new home. When the story opens, Jade and Wells have been married just one month and Jade has taken up residence with Wells in Westhaven, Viviette’s stately home. With the exception of the remodeled kitchen, everything is as Viviette left it and all of her belongings remain in the house. Jade has been given access to her journals, as well, in order to complete the research necessary to draft her book. Wells hopes to one day transform the estate into a museum in tribute to his grandmother’s work, legacy, and the Golden Age of Hollywood. For now, Jade is hoping Westhaven will eventually feel like her home. “Most days I still feel like a visitor. Or a vacationer.”
Westhaven has another resident. Sylvie, Wells’ first wife, resides in a cottage on-grounds where she receives round-the-clock care. Sylvie was a beautiful philanthropist who was adopted as a teenager by a wealthy family. “She was as broken as she was beautiful. Obsessed with saving the world one unwanted soul at a time.” But three years ago, Wells discovered her face-down in the pool. She had a gaping wound on the side of her head and was not breathing. Although he began lifesaving measures before paramedics arrived on scene, Sylvie apparently suffered an anoxic brain injury due to oxygen deprivation and has not communicated since that night. Wells consulted with world-class specialists, but Sylvie remains in a near-catatonic state. Rather than institutionalize her, he brought her back to Westhaven and shoulders the costs of her care. He did, however, divorce her, making him free to marry again.
Jade was, of course aware of the unconventional arrangement when she agreed to marry Wells, as well as the fact that Wells was initially deemed a suspect by the police, who were never able to establish precisely how Sylvie ended up in the pool. Or whether her injuries were accidentally or intentionally inflicted. In fact, one of the conditions of their marriage is that Jade is to play no role in Sylvie’s care and maintenance. Because her physicians are not sure how much of the world around her Sylvie is able to comprehend. She has overheard Wells use words like “manic, catatonic, physical outbursts, lethargic, unstable, mood stabilizers, appetite stimulants” in conversation with Sylvie’s caregivers. Also, Wells wants to avoid burdening Jade with any responsibilities concerning Sylvie. Thus, Jade is to keep her distance and never enter the cottage in which Sylvie now lives.
Except that one morning, Sylvie’s nurse is suddenly called away to attend to an emergency and until another can be dispatched, Sylvie is alone in the cottage. The nurse has been unable to reach Wells, who is away on business, by telephone. So Jade agrees to remain with Sylvie for a short while and dispense her medications with breakfast. “I shut my eyes draw in a long, slow breath, and convince myself that helping her is the right thing to do, that no matter what happens, Wells will understand. He’ll be grateful, I’m sure.”
However, the women’s first meeting is jarring. With a wildness in her eyes, Sylvia grabs Jade’s wrist and examines the wedding ring on her finger. She appears to be trying to speak. Jade recognizes that her offer to help was a mistake, but the replacement nurse has, thankfully, arrived. Before Jade can escape, however, she is shocked to her core as she watches Sylvie tear a piece of paper from a small notepad, pick up a pen, and scribble something on it before pressing the page into Jade’s hand. Knowing that she is going to have to inform Wells about the morning’s events, she rushes back to the main house and looks at the three letters scrawled on the paper in shaky black ink: R – U – N.
“Run . . . Her? Or me? From whom? And why?”
Jade soon meets Portia, her next-door neighbor. Craving companionship, the women begin spending time together, getting acquainted. Portia is the mother of a teenage son, Olly, and infant Lily. She is the fourth wife of Lee Soldano, a fifty-year-old entertainment lawyer who never wanted children, but is compete smitten with Lily. Portia likes to drink wine and is very chatty. She openly shares details with Jade about Wells, Sylvie, and their marriage. Which proves problematic and perplexing for Jade because Portia’s recollections differ dramatically from the way Wells described their marriage. And Portia paints a portrait of Wells as a husband that is dramatically divergent from the man Jade fell in love with.
Jade has already figured out that Sylvie is far from catatonic and is, contrary to Wells’ representations, capable of communicating. And armed with the stories related by Portia, Jade begins investigating. She has to know what Sylvie tried to tell her . . . and why.
The Silent Woman is an imaginative, fast-paced mystery at the center of which are two women who loved and married the same man. Jade is intelligent, intuitive, and skilled at conducting research. Her investigative efforts are, at times, thwarted, forcing her to devise alternate means to determine if her almost saint-like husband and fairy tale marriage are both, in fact, too good to be true. Admirably, she does not shy away from uncomfortable realities. Rather, the story zips along at a steady pace as she pursues clues to the truth about Wells’ history, his relationship with Sylvie, and what really happened on that fateful night three years ago when Sylvie’s life changed forever. Those portions of the story are related in a first-person narrative from Sylvie, giving them authenticity and context. Admirably, Jade is a woman who knows she made have made a mistake and is willing to take responsibility for her choices, as well as hold others accountable for their actions, even if that means dismantling the life she has only begun creating with Wells. “I should’ve known fairy tales only exist in fiction books and imaginations,” she laments.
Kent holds readers’ interest by deftly timing critical revelations that propel the story forward and cleverly makes nearly every character except Jade a suspect who may have harbored a motive to harm Sylvie. That includes the charming Wells, who may or may not actually be slippery, devious, and obsessed with controlling the women in his life. Or his mother, Mary Claire, with whom he has always had a difficult relationship. She relinquished custody to her mother, Viviette, the vain and narcissistic star who desperately needed fame and validation. She explains to Jade, “My mother sheltered Wells from the real world, from anything that could remotely disappoint him. . . . For herself, no question.” Still, Mary Claire acknowledges that Viviette gave Wells everything she could not: stability, discipline, devotion, and advantages. “He feels like I abandoned him, when really I saved him from me. The last thing he needed was my influence in his life.” Even the friendly, over-sharing Portia falls under a cloud of suspicion as a result of Kent’s capable storytelling. As does the sullen Olly.
Kent keeps readers guessing about what heppend to Sylvie and why, accelerating the pace of the narratives as Jade pulls the pieces of Kent’s smartly constructed puzzle together, and appreciates that her sleuthing has placed her and others in danger. But, to her credit, she will neither remain a silent woman herself nor permit any other woman’s voice to be silenced. Because Jade is likable and sympathetic -- after all, who doesn't want to live in a fairy tale if it's not actually too good to be true? -- readers will cheer for her and hope that her bravery does not result in her demise . . . or that of any other female character. The Silent Woman is an enjoyable, engrossing thriller.
Thanks to author Minka Kent for an electronic copy of the book to review.
Westhaven has another resident. Sylvie, Wells’ first wife, resides in a cottage on-grounds where she receives round-the-clock care. Sylvie was a beautiful philanthropist who was adopted as a teenager by a wealthy family. “She was as broken as she was beautiful. Obsessed with saving the world one unwanted soul at a time.” But three years ago, Wells discovered her face-down in the pool. She had a gaping wound on the side of her head and was not breathing. Although he began lifesaving measures before paramedics arrived on scene, Sylvie apparently suffered an anoxic brain injury due to oxygen deprivation and has not communicated since that night. Wells consulted with world-class specialists, but Sylvie remains in a near-catatonic state. Rather than institutionalize her, he brought her back to Westhaven and shoulders the costs of her care. He did, however, divorce her, making him free to marry again.
Jade was, of course aware of the unconventional arrangement when she agreed to marry Wells, as well as the fact that Wells was initially deemed a suspect by the police, who were never able to establish precisely how Sylvie ended up in the pool. Or whether her injuries were accidentally or intentionally inflicted. In fact, one of the conditions of their marriage is that Jade is to play no role in Sylvie’s care and maintenance. Because her physicians are not sure how much of the world around her Sylvie is able to comprehend. She has overheard Wells use words like “manic, catatonic, physical outbursts, lethargic, unstable, mood stabilizers, appetite stimulants” in conversation with Sylvie’s caregivers. Also, Wells wants to avoid burdening Jade with any responsibilities concerning Sylvie. Thus, Jade is to keep her distance and never enter the cottage in which Sylvie now lives.
Except that one morning, Sylvie’s nurse is suddenly called away to attend to an emergency and until another can be dispatched, Sylvie is alone in the cottage. The nurse has been unable to reach Wells, who is away on business, by telephone. So Jade agrees to remain with Sylvie for a short while and dispense her medications with breakfast. “I shut my eyes draw in a long, slow breath, and convince myself that helping her is the right thing to do, that no matter what happens, Wells will understand. He’ll be grateful, I’m sure.”
However, the women’s first meeting is jarring. With a wildness in her eyes, Sylvia grabs Jade’s wrist and examines the wedding ring on her finger. She appears to be trying to speak. Jade recognizes that her offer to help was a mistake, but the replacement nurse has, thankfully, arrived. Before Jade can escape, however, she is shocked to her core as she watches Sylvie tear a piece of paper from a small notepad, pick up a pen, and scribble something on it before pressing the page into Jade’s hand. Knowing that she is going to have to inform Wells about the morning’s events, she rushes back to the main house and looks at the three letters scrawled on the paper in shaky black ink: R – U – N.
“Run . . . Her? Or me? From whom? And why?”
Jade soon meets Portia, her next-door neighbor. Craving companionship, the women begin spending time together, getting acquainted. Portia is the mother of a teenage son, Olly, and infant Lily. She is the fourth wife of Lee Soldano, a fifty-year-old entertainment lawyer who never wanted children, but is compete smitten with Lily. Portia likes to drink wine and is very chatty. She openly shares details with Jade about Wells, Sylvie, and their marriage. Which proves problematic and perplexing for Jade because Portia’s recollections differ dramatically from the way Wells described their marriage. And Portia paints a portrait of Wells as a husband that is dramatically divergent from the man Jade fell in love with.
Jade has already figured out that Sylvie is far from catatonic and is, contrary to Wells’ representations, capable of communicating. And armed with the stories related by Portia, Jade begins investigating. She has to know what Sylvie tried to tell her . . . and why.
The Silent Woman is an imaginative, fast-paced mystery at the center of which are two women who loved and married the same man. Jade is intelligent, intuitive, and skilled at conducting research. Her investigative efforts are, at times, thwarted, forcing her to devise alternate means to determine if her almost saint-like husband and fairy tale marriage are both, in fact, too good to be true. Admirably, she does not shy away from uncomfortable realities. Rather, the story zips along at a steady pace as she pursues clues to the truth about Wells’ history, his relationship with Sylvie, and what really happened on that fateful night three years ago when Sylvie’s life changed forever. Those portions of the story are related in a first-person narrative from Sylvie, giving them authenticity and context. Admirably, Jade is a woman who knows she made have made a mistake and is willing to take responsibility for her choices, as well as hold others accountable for their actions, even if that means dismantling the life she has only begun creating with Wells. “I should’ve known fairy tales only exist in fiction books and imaginations,” she laments.
Kent holds readers’ interest by deftly timing critical revelations that propel the story forward and cleverly makes nearly every character except Jade a suspect who may have harbored a motive to harm Sylvie. That includes the charming Wells, who may or may not actually be slippery, devious, and obsessed with controlling the women in his life. Or his mother, Mary Claire, with whom he has always had a difficult relationship. She relinquished custody to her mother, Viviette, the vain and narcissistic star who desperately needed fame and validation. She explains to Jade, “My mother sheltered Wells from the real world, from anything that could remotely disappoint him. . . . For herself, no question.” Still, Mary Claire acknowledges that Viviette gave Wells everything she could not: stability, discipline, devotion, and advantages. “He feels like I abandoned him, when really I saved him from me. The last thing he needed was my influence in his life.” Even the friendly, over-sharing Portia falls under a cloud of suspicion as a result of Kent’s capable storytelling. As does the sullen Olly.
Kent keeps readers guessing about what heppend to Sylvie and why, accelerating the pace of the narratives as Jade pulls the pieces of Kent’s smartly constructed puzzle together, and appreciates that her sleuthing has placed her and others in danger. But, to her credit, she will neither remain a silent woman herself nor permit any other woman’s voice to be silenced. Because Jade is likable and sympathetic -- after all, who doesn't want to live in a fairy tale if it's not actually too good to be true? -- readers will cheer for her and hope that her bravery does not result in her demise . . . or that of any other female character. The Silent Woman is an enjoyable, engrossing thriller.
Thanks to author Minka Kent for an electronic copy of the book to review.
So Long, Chester Wheeler by Catherine Ryan Hyde
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.0
Bestselling author Catherine Ryan Hyde hails from Buffalo, New York, the setting of her latest book, So Long, Chester Wheeler. She describes her family as “full of well-meaning individuals,” as well as “heartache and chaos.” She says hers was an “unhappy childhood. Everybody seemed quite busy with the problems at hand (I was the third of three), so I became the disappearing child. I amused myself by making up stories in my head, and tried not to need anything from the people around me.” Which, of course, did not work out very well.
Hyde published her first book when she was in her mid-thirties. She held many jobs over the years, but at that juncture was working as a baker and pastry chef in a restaurant situated in a tourist town. The business closed in January, and she knew that the cliché about writing a novel when she had the time “was either true in that moment or it never would be.” Her goal was to simply make enough money to keep writing. She has never looked back. So Long, Chester Wheeler is her forty-third published book.
In her writing, Hyde often explores what she refers to as “found families.” She explains, “When I was thirty-three, I got involved in twelve-step recovery, and now that’s my found family. I think the reason I like to write about redemption is because of my background as a practicing addict and alcoholic. In a society of throw-away people, I would have been thrown away.” Leading a clean and sober life in the ensuring years has inspired her to “tirelessly defend the idea that no one is beyond redemption.”
And redemption is yet another theme that she examines frequently in her novels, including So Long, Chester Wheeler. The story opens with Lewis having the worst day of his life. A twenty-four-year-old software developer in Buffalo, Lewis has been promised a significant raise that will take his income into the six-figure range. And when he opens the envelope containing his first paycheck reflecting his new salary, he is initially pleased. Then he notices something pink inside the envelope. It is the proverbial "pink slip." Economic conditions have forced the company to lay off Lewis, as well as several of his colleagues. And those economic conditions make it a very bad time to re-enter the job market.
Making matters worse, when Lewis gets home, he finds his live-in boyfriend, Tim, loading boxes into his car. Tim has decided to move to California alone, instead of with Lewis, as they had planned. Lewis is flabbergasted -- he had no idea Tim was unhappy in their relationship. He soon also learns that Tim emptied the jointly titled bank account in which they were pooling their savings to make the move.
Chester Wheeler, Lewis’s next-door neighbor, watches the break-up play out from his front porch. And can’t resist commenting. Chester is about 70 years old and in poor health, although Lewis does not yet know the extent of Chester’s medical issues. His home health aid announces it is her last day on the job. “The agency has no one left to send. He drove every last one of us away. . . . They can’t pay me enough to make it worth it. I’d rather starve.”
Chester’s daughter, Ellie, arrives when another health-care worker cannot be enlisted. She learns that Lewis has just become unemployed and tries to convince him to take the job. She assures Lewis that experience is not necessary. “At this point any sentient human being will do,” she sighs. Although Lewis’s proximity is a distinct advantage, he is adamant that “life is too short for Chester Wheeler.” But Ellie needs to get back home to be present for the birth of her first grandchild. And her two brothers refuse to help in any way. By generously offering Lewis nearly the same amount of money he was making as a software developer, she convinces him to fill in for just a week. He reluctantly agrees so that he will be able to pay his rent while he continues looking for suitable employment. And because agreeing makes him feel that he has Ellie very happy, even if he has made himself quite miserable in the bargain.
So Chester and Lewis begin settling into a tenuous, never-wanted partnership. Lewis learns that Chester is suffering from cancer that began in his lungs but has metastasized. Chester has refused further treatment and will be lucky to live another three months. He is largely immobile and dependent upon Lewis to assist him with his needs, including toileting, which causes them both consternation and embarrassment. The situation is only made worse when Chester flings crude and hurtful homophobic remarks at Lewis, who quickly realizes that he must set boundaries in order to survive a week of caring for Chester.
Ellie has an intercom installed that functions like a baby monitor. At night, both men can sleep in their own home, but Lewis can hear if Chester needs assistance and respond. As he adjusts to the new arrangement, Lewis is shocked to hear Chester talking in his sleep. But he doesn’t sound like Chester. Rather, his voice exudes kindness and concern, as though he is talking with his wife about their child. At one point, he hears Chester say, “I found the letters he wrote you,” which stirs Lewis's curiosity.
One morning Chester announces that he wants Lewis to do him a favor. He wants him to drive him somewhere. Arizona, to be exact. He owns an old Winnebago into which he had a new engine installed just before being diagnosed with cancer. Lewis initially dismisses the idea, but Chester knows exactly which buttons to push with Lewis, announcing, “It sucks that I don’t even get a last wish.” It seems he wants to surprise his ex-wife, Sue, and have a final conversation with her. One they should have had thirty-two years earlier. When Ellie agrees to cover the cost of the trip, Lewis relents because he fears that when Chester is gone, he will feel guilty for having denied a dying man his last wish.
As Lewis and Chester embark on their journey to Arizona, they must find inventive ways to tolerate each other and co-exist in the motor home. Lewis has to devise safe ways to transport Lewis in and out of the Winnebago, and take care of his hygiene requirements. All without losing his own sanity. Not to mention the matter of how they will approach Sue once they arrive, unannounced, at her home.
The tale is related through Lewis’s first-person narrative and entirely from his perspective. It is at times hilarious, and often heartbreakingly thought-provoking, as Lewis relates cringe-worthy but realistic details of how he figures out the best ways to provide Chester the care he needs while compassionately protecting the older man’s remaining dignity. He candidly admits there are moments when he finds it “disturbing to be so completely in tune with the likes of Chester Wheeler.”
Hyde is a master at creating believable, credible dialogue and the story is given life and meaning through the men’s conversations, as well as the things they do not say to each other. She employs her deceptively straight-forward storytelling style to relate the deep emotional issues with which Lewis grapples and, through his observations and perceptions of Chester, pulls readers along into his consideration of the older man’s internal life and the disappointments, disillusionments, and pain that have resulted in his current predicament. He is facing certain death but, over the years, has somehow managed to push away the very people who should be surrounding him and easing his transition. Tragically, those people aren’t just absent. They don’t care about Chester or his impending demise.
With Chester unabashedly mean-spirited and surly, Lewis finds his own strength and voice as he works to balance his self-respect and dedication to the job he has promised to perform against his need to be treated respectfully by Chester. He concludes that he cannot be a monster who hates an embittered old man who is dying, but must confront Chester's cruelty, harsh criticisms, and homophobia. Chester insists that he and Lewis are very much the same – hateful – which strikes a nerve with Lewis. “Even if we do both hate, you hate me for what I am. I hate you for the things you say and do. Huge difference.” Hyde challenges readers to ponder if that is true as they come to know both Lewis and Chester better, and understand their fears and motivations.
As in many of her other novels, Hyde explores both the fragility and strength of familial bonds, as well as the importance of communication. She illustrates how unexpected revelations disrupt long-held assumptions and create emotional disequilibrium. And there’s that matter of redemption, and whether Chester will find it. Hyde keeps the character-drive story interesting with Lewis’s discovery of shocking details about Chester’s relationships not just with his children and ex-wife, but also his beloved friend, Mike, with whom he served in Vietnam. Chester has also been estranged for more than thirty years from the man that everybody loved. Will bringing closure to their fractured friendship also help Chester find peace? Hyde’s restrained approach to that aspect of the saga, particularly with respect to the choices Lewis makes, enhance its poignancy and emotional resonance, again revealing her to be one of America’s most gifted contemporary storytellers.
So Long, Chester Wheeler is about two men who journey together toward different destinations. Chester’s final days are spent with Lewis in pursuit of resolution of old hurts and resentments that will lead, hopefully, to a peaceful death for him and lessen the regrets and, perhaps, guilt felt by those he leaves behind.
But Lewis is on the brink of new beginnings and wondering why he is so committed to helping Chester find closure when he barely understands his own past or why his relationship with Tim failed. As he heads home, he recognizes that he is not “exactly the same person I’d been when I first drove that land boat out of Buffalo.” Spending time in the presence of Chester Wheeler turns out to be a profoundly life-changing experience for him, and reading about what he learns is a moving experience for readers.
Once again, Hyde delivers a slyly insightful and wise meditation on finding human connection in the most unexpected places and ways, and how we carry the spirits of those we encounter with us, in various ways and degrees, for the rest of our lives.
Thanks to NetGalley for an Advance Reader's Copy of the book.
Hyde published her first book when she was in her mid-thirties. She held many jobs over the years, but at that juncture was working as a baker and pastry chef in a restaurant situated in a tourist town. The business closed in January, and she knew that the cliché about writing a novel when she had the time “was either true in that moment or it never would be.” Her goal was to simply make enough money to keep writing. She has never looked back. So Long, Chester Wheeler is her forty-third published book.
In her writing, Hyde often explores what she refers to as “found families.” She explains, “When I was thirty-three, I got involved in twelve-step recovery, and now that’s my found family. I think the reason I like to write about redemption is because of my background as a practicing addict and alcoholic. In a society of throw-away people, I would have been thrown away.” Leading a clean and sober life in the ensuring years has inspired her to “tirelessly defend the idea that no one is beyond redemption.”
And redemption is yet another theme that she examines frequently in her novels, including So Long, Chester Wheeler. The story opens with Lewis having the worst day of his life. A twenty-four-year-old software developer in Buffalo, Lewis has been promised a significant raise that will take his income into the six-figure range. And when he opens the envelope containing his first paycheck reflecting his new salary, he is initially pleased. Then he notices something pink inside the envelope. It is the proverbial "pink slip." Economic conditions have forced the company to lay off Lewis, as well as several of his colleagues. And those economic conditions make it a very bad time to re-enter the job market.
Making matters worse, when Lewis gets home, he finds his live-in boyfriend, Tim, loading boxes into his car. Tim has decided to move to California alone, instead of with Lewis, as they had planned. Lewis is flabbergasted -- he had no idea Tim was unhappy in their relationship. He soon also learns that Tim emptied the jointly titled bank account in which they were pooling their savings to make the move.
Chester Wheeler, Lewis’s next-door neighbor, watches the break-up play out from his front porch. And can’t resist commenting. Chester is about 70 years old and in poor health, although Lewis does not yet know the extent of Chester’s medical issues. His home health aid announces it is her last day on the job. “The agency has no one left to send. He drove every last one of us away. . . . They can’t pay me enough to make it worth it. I’d rather starve.”
Chester’s daughter, Ellie, arrives when another health-care worker cannot be enlisted. She learns that Lewis has just become unemployed and tries to convince him to take the job. She assures Lewis that experience is not necessary. “At this point any sentient human being will do,” she sighs. Although Lewis’s proximity is a distinct advantage, he is adamant that “life is too short for Chester Wheeler.” But Ellie needs to get back home to be present for the birth of her first grandchild. And her two brothers refuse to help in any way. By generously offering Lewis nearly the same amount of money he was making as a software developer, she convinces him to fill in for just a week. He reluctantly agrees so that he will be able to pay his rent while he continues looking for suitable employment. And because agreeing makes him feel that he has Ellie very happy, even if he has made himself quite miserable in the bargain.
So Chester and Lewis begin settling into a tenuous, never-wanted partnership. Lewis learns that Chester is suffering from cancer that began in his lungs but has metastasized. Chester has refused further treatment and will be lucky to live another three months. He is largely immobile and dependent upon Lewis to assist him with his needs, including toileting, which causes them both consternation and embarrassment. The situation is only made worse when Chester flings crude and hurtful homophobic remarks at Lewis, who quickly realizes that he must set boundaries in order to survive a week of caring for Chester.
Ellie has an intercom installed that functions like a baby monitor. At night, both men can sleep in their own home, but Lewis can hear if Chester needs assistance and respond. As he adjusts to the new arrangement, Lewis is shocked to hear Chester talking in his sleep. But he doesn’t sound like Chester. Rather, his voice exudes kindness and concern, as though he is talking with his wife about their child. At one point, he hears Chester say, “I found the letters he wrote you,” which stirs Lewis's curiosity.
One morning Chester announces that he wants Lewis to do him a favor. He wants him to drive him somewhere. Arizona, to be exact. He owns an old Winnebago into which he had a new engine installed just before being diagnosed with cancer. Lewis initially dismisses the idea, but Chester knows exactly which buttons to push with Lewis, announcing, “It sucks that I don’t even get a last wish.” It seems he wants to surprise his ex-wife, Sue, and have a final conversation with her. One they should have had thirty-two years earlier. When Ellie agrees to cover the cost of the trip, Lewis relents because he fears that when Chester is gone, he will feel guilty for having denied a dying man his last wish.
As Lewis and Chester embark on their journey to Arizona, they must find inventive ways to tolerate each other and co-exist in the motor home. Lewis has to devise safe ways to transport Lewis in and out of the Winnebago, and take care of his hygiene requirements. All without losing his own sanity. Not to mention the matter of how they will approach Sue once they arrive, unannounced, at her home.
The tale is related through Lewis’s first-person narrative and entirely from his perspective. It is at times hilarious, and often heartbreakingly thought-provoking, as Lewis relates cringe-worthy but realistic details of how he figures out the best ways to provide Chester the care he needs while compassionately protecting the older man’s remaining dignity. He candidly admits there are moments when he finds it “disturbing to be so completely in tune with the likes of Chester Wheeler.”
Hyde is a master at creating believable, credible dialogue and the story is given life and meaning through the men’s conversations, as well as the things they do not say to each other. She employs her deceptively straight-forward storytelling style to relate the deep emotional issues with which Lewis grapples and, through his observations and perceptions of Chester, pulls readers along into his consideration of the older man’s internal life and the disappointments, disillusionments, and pain that have resulted in his current predicament. He is facing certain death but, over the years, has somehow managed to push away the very people who should be surrounding him and easing his transition. Tragically, those people aren’t just absent. They don’t care about Chester or his impending demise.
With Chester unabashedly mean-spirited and surly, Lewis finds his own strength and voice as he works to balance his self-respect and dedication to the job he has promised to perform against his need to be treated respectfully by Chester. He concludes that he cannot be a monster who hates an embittered old man who is dying, but must confront Chester's cruelty, harsh criticisms, and homophobia. Chester insists that he and Lewis are very much the same – hateful – which strikes a nerve with Lewis. “Even if we do both hate, you hate me for what I am. I hate you for the things you say and do. Huge difference.” Hyde challenges readers to ponder if that is true as they come to know both Lewis and Chester better, and understand their fears and motivations.
As in many of her other novels, Hyde explores both the fragility and strength of familial bonds, as well as the importance of communication. She illustrates how unexpected revelations disrupt long-held assumptions and create emotional disequilibrium. And there’s that matter of redemption, and whether Chester will find it. Hyde keeps the character-drive story interesting with Lewis’s discovery of shocking details about Chester’s relationships not just with his children and ex-wife, but also his beloved friend, Mike, with whom he served in Vietnam. Chester has also been estranged for more than thirty years from the man that everybody loved. Will bringing closure to their fractured friendship also help Chester find peace? Hyde’s restrained approach to that aspect of the saga, particularly with respect to the choices Lewis makes, enhance its poignancy and emotional resonance, again revealing her to be one of America’s most gifted contemporary storytellers.
So Long, Chester Wheeler is about two men who journey together toward different destinations. Chester’s final days are spent with Lewis in pursuit of resolution of old hurts and resentments that will lead, hopefully, to a peaceful death for him and lessen the regrets and, perhaps, guilt felt by those he leaves behind.
But Lewis is on the brink of new beginnings and wondering why he is so committed to helping Chester find closure when he barely understands his own past or why his relationship with Tim failed. As he heads home, he recognizes that he is not “exactly the same person I’d been when I first drove that land boat out of Buffalo.” Spending time in the presence of Chester Wheeler turns out to be a profoundly life-changing experience for him, and reading about what he learns is a moving experience for readers.
Once again, Hyde delivers a slyly insightful and wise meditation on finding human connection in the most unexpected places and ways, and how we carry the spirits of those we encounter with us, in various ways and degrees, for the rest of our lives.
Thanks to NetGalley for an Advance Reader's Copy of the book.
Before You Knew My Name by Jacqueline Bublitz
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Author Jacqueline Bublitz wrote Before You Knew My Name, her debut novel, after spending a summer in New York City where she "hung around morgues and the dark corners of city parks (and the human psyche) far too often." Her manuscript was rejected many times during a more than five-year journey to publication, but the book is now receiving stellar reviews and numerous awards.
Bublitz says she drafted the ending of the book first, and continued penning the narrative in reverse chronological order, which made sense because on the first page she reveals that " our narrator has not survived." She crafted the book's propulsive opening later -- it came to her "really strongly" when she had become "intimately acquainted with Alice Lee, one of our two storytellers in the book, so intimately connected to her voice." She kept hearing, "If I tell you my story . . . and it wouldn't leave me alone," so she sat down and wrote the opening in just two or three minutes.
The second narrator is Ruby Jones, who arrives in New York City from Melbourne on the same day as Alice arrives from the Midwest. Ruby is twice Alice's age -- 36. "She knows what she's getting away from but she doesn't know what she's going to." She chose New York from an "if I can make it there" unrealistic, from Bublitz's perspective, outlook. She's "a bit of a romantic and a hot mess as well." She's escaping a toxic romantic relationship -- her lover is engaged to marry another woman but continues his dalliance with her as she hopes against hope that he will finally choose her. Bublitz says "she's absolutely aimless and she knows it," and while jogging early one morning in New York, she discovers Alice's body.
Bublitz was inspired by an actual case in Melbourne. A young woman was chased into the Tenant Gardens around 5:00 a.m. and murdered in an area that was considered safe. "I could identify with this young woman," Bublitz says. Her body was discovered by a jogger. A jogger herself, Bublitz could not stop wondering, "What if that had been me? I could not get that trauma out of that mind." She researched the impact upon people who happen upon bodies under similar circumstances, but she could only locate one archived article discussing how a gentleman was so effected by the experience that he returned to the scene every year to commemorate the victim's death. That's when Bublitz knew she was "on to something" because no one had ever told the story of the connection between the person who found the body and the victim. She felt she could craft the “very human” tale.
She tells the story beautifully. From the very first page, when Alice begins relating her experiences, Bublitz endears readers to the dead girl who came to New York in search of a fresh start after enduring poverty, the death of her mother, being foisted on various relatives, and, eventually, an inappropriate relationship with one of her teachers. When he realizes how reckless and potentially destructive his behavior has been, Alice flees. She boards a bus from Milwaukee to New York City, taking with her a small amount of cash and his cherished antique camera. It is a Leica from the 1930s that belonged to his mother and she steals it from him because she knows losing it will cause him pain. “I am a survivor. I will turn eighteen years old tomorrow, and I am leaving on my own terms. Nothing – no one – can hold me back now,” she declares.
Alice finds a room for rent in the home of an older man named Noah. She has no job and her money won’t last long, but she works out an arrangement with Noah, who is clearly lonely. Is he a kind-hearted person who feels genuine fondness for Alice and wants to help and protect her by providing her a safe place to stay? Or is he a predator? Alice enjoys living in his beautiful apartment and working for him in exchange for room and board. Their arrangement ensures she can remain there. She walks and walks, learning her way around the city and snapping photographs, and begins to believe that perhaps dreams can come true. But her life ends abruptly and violently. Senselessly. Alice explains that a man murdered her in the park by the river. Is Noah her killer? Readers will find themselves hoping Noah is the kind-hearted man he initially appears to be, and not a cold-blooded murderer.
Simultaneously, Ruby, who is “approximately three years past pretty,” drinks heavily when she first arrives in New York. She stays in the dreary little room she has rented, staring at the ceiling, considering the choices she has made and her feelings for Ash, the man she loves more than she respects herself. She knew he was planning to marry another woman when she got involved with him, but believed that over time he would change his mind. He didn’t. So she escaped to New York for a sabbatical. After she wallows for a week, she finally decides to get up and moving, her anger inspiring her to go for a jog even though it is raining. She feels better, realizing “there is a whole world outside” the brick walls of the apartment building, and “she’s finally ready to crash her way through.”
But as Ruby approaches the marina, she steps on a plastic object – it is round and black, and now shattered. She notices something on the rocks, and quickly realizes she is looking at fingernails and blond hair. Comprehending that she has happened upon the body of a young woman, she summons help. Indeed, she has found Alice’s mangled body. “Ruby Jones is my only witness,” Alice explains. From the waterfront path, Ruby can’t get to Alice, but Alice is able to “make my way to her” but is dismayed to find that Ruby “can only see the husk of me, left down on the rocks.” But her spirit has aligned with and will remain with Ruby as the police search for Alice’s killer and a traumatized Ruby tries to understand the ways in which her life is forever changed that morning.
Before You Knew My Name is a unique and inventive tale, related from the perspective of a young woman whose life ends tragically and wants justice because she has been robbed of the future she was just beginning to envision and create for herself. “I really fought hard to stay in my body. I tried my best, but I just couldn’t hold on. I did not want to die.” At first, the police are unable to identify Alice because she had no wallet or form of identification with her, so she becomes yet another “Jane Doe” whose plight will fade from the headlines quickly. The media dubs her “Riverside Jane” but she wants to be identified so that she can be remembered and mourned by her best friend back at home, and her killer can be prevented from murdering again, even though she acknowledges that when the man who murdered her is identified, “he’ll be the one they want to now, the one who takes over the narrative.” When no one comes to the morgue to claim her body, she fears no one will care about her because she will be classified as “the wrong kind of victim.” Meaning, the kind who remain invisible. Alice looks to Ruby to ensure that she is not forgotten, whispering to Ruby, “I’m Alice,” again and again. But Ruby cannot hear her over the din of the city noises.
Ruby recognizes that she can never go back to being the woman she was before that morning. The media reports that Alice’s body was discovered by a jogger, but “why did they never say what happened to the jogger after that?” She wants to help. She wonders why only some victims’ stories are deemed worthy of being told. She can’t stop thinking about Alice; she feels connected to her. She seeks out other “finders of the dead” and discovers a small group who call themselves the Death Club. Led by a mortician, the members include Josh, who survived a near-death experience and suffers from survivor’s guilt, and a grieving mother. They are an eclectic and fascinating group of supporting characters who reveal their own tragic stories and the personal demons they are striving to overcome. Their ponderings about death are absorbing.
Fortunately, the detective assigned to Alice’s case is seasoned, and determined to solve it. As Alice remains beside Ruby, Bublitz takes readers on their journey of discovery. It is poignant, frequently heartbreaking, and powerful as a result of the achingly simple yet captivating way in which Bublitz describes Ruby’s encounters with the members of the Death Club, the relationships she forms with them, and the myriad ways in which she grows and matures, unwilling to be aimless any longer. At the center of the story is a cleverly-imagined mystery and the believable procedural tale about how Detective O’Bryne follows sometimes obscure clues that would be missed by a less diligent investigator.
But the real power of Before You Know My Name is the way in which Bublitz examines female empowerment from the perspectives of her two female protagonists. As noted, for Alice, it is about being valued. Even though her life was short, she wants to ensure that it was not without merit and meaning, and that she will be remembered as a person who mattered. The same things are important to Ruby, but from the perspective of her continuing life. Bublitz makes a strong statement about the importance of safety to women in New York City, in particular, but wherever they find themselves, and the vast power imbalance that still leaves women vulnerable and too often victimized.
Bublitz explores, from a decidedly feminist and fresh vantage point, the often surprising and frequently profound ways in which people’s lives intersect and become intertwined, and how those connections impact not just emotions, but decision-making, and shape the future. She also offers a sly indictment of the ways in which the media sensationalize crime, especially crimes against women. And the shamefully fleeting and superficial attention paid to cases that lack “legs,” meaning the ones the public grows tired of hearing about because they are not flashy or titillating enough to sustain interest from an industry focused on soundbites rather than substance. Bublitz makes clear that Alice’s killer should never overtake the narrative or overshadow the significance of the life he stole from her. Bublitz also challenges readers to consider their beliefs about the afterlife. Could those nudges and urgings we all feel emanate from spirits of the dead who remain with us and, as Alice struggles to communicate with Ruby, whisper to us?
Before You Knew My Name is a richly emotional, riveting, and thought-provoking debut from a talented and promising new thriller writer. It is a hauntingly tragic, yet life-affirming story of two women readers will not soon forget. And it is one of the best books of 2022.
Thanks to NetGalley for an Advance Reader's Copy of the book.
Bublitz says she drafted the ending of the book first, and continued penning the narrative in reverse chronological order, which made sense because on the first page she reveals that " our narrator has not survived." She crafted the book's propulsive opening later -- it came to her "really strongly" when she had become "intimately acquainted with Alice Lee, one of our two storytellers in the book, so intimately connected to her voice." She kept hearing, "If I tell you my story . . . and it wouldn't leave me alone," so she sat down and wrote the opening in just two or three minutes.
The second narrator is Ruby Jones, who arrives in New York City from Melbourne on the same day as Alice arrives from the Midwest. Ruby is twice Alice's age -- 36. "She knows what she's getting away from but she doesn't know what she's going to." She chose New York from an "if I can make it there" unrealistic, from Bublitz's perspective, outlook. She's "a bit of a romantic and a hot mess as well." She's escaping a toxic romantic relationship -- her lover is engaged to marry another woman but continues his dalliance with her as she hopes against hope that he will finally choose her. Bublitz says "she's absolutely aimless and she knows it," and while jogging early one morning in New York, she discovers Alice's body.
Bublitz was inspired by an actual case in Melbourne. A young woman was chased into the Tenant Gardens around 5:00 a.m. and murdered in an area that was considered safe. "I could identify with this young woman," Bublitz says. Her body was discovered by a jogger. A jogger herself, Bublitz could not stop wondering, "What if that had been me? I could not get that trauma out of that mind." She researched the impact upon people who happen upon bodies under similar circumstances, but she could only locate one archived article discussing how a gentleman was so effected by the experience that he returned to the scene every year to commemorate the victim's death. That's when Bublitz knew she was "on to something" because no one had ever told the story of the connection between the person who found the body and the victim. She felt she could craft the “very human” tale.
She tells the story beautifully. From the very first page, when Alice begins relating her experiences, Bublitz endears readers to the dead girl who came to New York in search of a fresh start after enduring poverty, the death of her mother, being foisted on various relatives, and, eventually, an inappropriate relationship with one of her teachers. When he realizes how reckless and potentially destructive his behavior has been, Alice flees. She boards a bus from Milwaukee to New York City, taking with her a small amount of cash and his cherished antique camera. It is a Leica from the 1930s that belonged to his mother and she steals it from him because she knows losing it will cause him pain. “I am a survivor. I will turn eighteen years old tomorrow, and I am leaving on my own terms. Nothing – no one – can hold me back now,” she declares.
Alice finds a room for rent in the home of an older man named Noah. She has no job and her money won’t last long, but she works out an arrangement with Noah, who is clearly lonely. Is he a kind-hearted person who feels genuine fondness for Alice and wants to help and protect her by providing her a safe place to stay? Or is he a predator? Alice enjoys living in his beautiful apartment and working for him in exchange for room and board. Their arrangement ensures she can remain there. She walks and walks, learning her way around the city and snapping photographs, and begins to believe that perhaps dreams can come true. But her life ends abruptly and violently. Senselessly. Alice explains that a man murdered her in the park by the river. Is Noah her killer? Readers will find themselves hoping Noah is the kind-hearted man he initially appears to be, and not a cold-blooded murderer.
Simultaneously, Ruby, who is “approximately three years past pretty,” drinks heavily when she first arrives in New York. She stays in the dreary little room she has rented, staring at the ceiling, considering the choices she has made and her feelings for Ash, the man she loves more than she respects herself. She knew he was planning to marry another woman when she got involved with him, but believed that over time he would change his mind. He didn’t. So she escaped to New York for a sabbatical. After she wallows for a week, she finally decides to get up and moving, her anger inspiring her to go for a jog even though it is raining. She feels better, realizing “there is a whole world outside” the brick walls of the apartment building, and “she’s finally ready to crash her way through.”
But as Ruby approaches the marina, she steps on a plastic object – it is round and black, and now shattered. She notices something on the rocks, and quickly realizes she is looking at fingernails and blond hair. Comprehending that she has happened upon the body of a young woman, she summons help. Indeed, she has found Alice’s mangled body. “Ruby Jones is my only witness,” Alice explains. From the waterfront path, Ruby can’t get to Alice, but Alice is able to “make my way to her” but is dismayed to find that Ruby “can only see the husk of me, left down on the rocks.” But her spirit has aligned with and will remain with Ruby as the police search for Alice’s killer and a traumatized Ruby tries to understand the ways in which her life is forever changed that morning.
Before You Knew My Name is a unique and inventive tale, related from the perspective of a young woman whose life ends tragically and wants justice because she has been robbed of the future she was just beginning to envision and create for herself. “I really fought hard to stay in my body. I tried my best, but I just couldn’t hold on. I did not want to die.” At first, the police are unable to identify Alice because she had no wallet or form of identification with her, so she becomes yet another “Jane Doe” whose plight will fade from the headlines quickly. The media dubs her “Riverside Jane” but she wants to be identified so that she can be remembered and mourned by her best friend back at home, and her killer can be prevented from murdering again, even though she acknowledges that when the man who murdered her is identified, “he’ll be the one they want to now, the one who takes over the narrative.” When no one comes to the morgue to claim her body, she fears no one will care about her because she will be classified as “the wrong kind of victim.” Meaning, the kind who remain invisible. Alice looks to Ruby to ensure that she is not forgotten, whispering to Ruby, “I’m Alice,” again and again. But Ruby cannot hear her over the din of the city noises.
Ruby recognizes that she can never go back to being the woman she was before that morning. The media reports that Alice’s body was discovered by a jogger, but “why did they never say what happened to the jogger after that?” She wants to help. She wonders why only some victims’ stories are deemed worthy of being told. She can’t stop thinking about Alice; she feels connected to her. She seeks out other “finders of the dead” and discovers a small group who call themselves the Death Club. Led by a mortician, the members include Josh, who survived a near-death experience and suffers from survivor’s guilt, and a grieving mother. They are an eclectic and fascinating group of supporting characters who reveal their own tragic stories and the personal demons they are striving to overcome. Their ponderings about death are absorbing.
Fortunately, the detective assigned to Alice’s case is seasoned, and determined to solve it. As Alice remains beside Ruby, Bublitz takes readers on their journey of discovery. It is poignant, frequently heartbreaking, and powerful as a result of the achingly simple yet captivating way in which Bublitz describes Ruby’s encounters with the members of the Death Club, the relationships she forms with them, and the myriad ways in which she grows and matures, unwilling to be aimless any longer. At the center of the story is a cleverly-imagined mystery and the believable procedural tale about how Detective O’Bryne follows sometimes obscure clues that would be missed by a less diligent investigator.
But the real power of Before You Know My Name is the way in which Bublitz examines female empowerment from the perspectives of her two female protagonists. As noted, for Alice, it is about being valued. Even though her life was short, she wants to ensure that it was not without merit and meaning, and that she will be remembered as a person who mattered. The same things are important to Ruby, but from the perspective of her continuing life. Bublitz makes a strong statement about the importance of safety to women in New York City, in particular, but wherever they find themselves, and the vast power imbalance that still leaves women vulnerable and too often victimized.
Bublitz explores, from a decidedly feminist and fresh vantage point, the often surprising and frequently profound ways in which people’s lives intersect and become intertwined, and how those connections impact not just emotions, but decision-making, and shape the future. She also offers a sly indictment of the ways in which the media sensationalize crime, especially crimes against women. And the shamefully fleeting and superficial attention paid to cases that lack “legs,” meaning the ones the public grows tired of hearing about because they are not flashy or titillating enough to sustain interest from an industry focused on soundbites rather than substance. Bublitz makes clear that Alice’s killer should never overtake the narrative or overshadow the significance of the life he stole from her. Bublitz also challenges readers to consider their beliefs about the afterlife. Could those nudges and urgings we all feel emanate from spirits of the dead who remain with us and, as Alice struggles to communicate with Ruby, whisper to us?
Before You Knew My Name is a richly emotional, riveting, and thought-provoking debut from a talented and promising new thriller writer. It is a hauntingly tragic, yet life-affirming story of two women readers will not soon forget. And it is one of the best books of 2022.
Thanks to NetGalley for an Advance Reader's Copy of the book.
The German Wife by Kelly Rimmer
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Author Kelly Rimmer says that inspiration for her books often strikes when she least expects it. In the case of The German Wife, the idea for the story came to her in 2019 when she visited an exhibit about the history of the U.S. space program at the Parkes Observatory, the site of the radio telescope that assisted in the broadcasts from the Apollo 11 moon landing in 1969. She noted a reference to the contributions of German scientists, beginning in 1950, to development of the rockets that powered the spacecraft. She was “immediately struck by how unlikely” it was that German and U.S. scientists worked side by side so soon after the end of World War II. Her research soon revealed Operation Paperclip. Under the terms of the program, more than 1,600 German scientists and engineers from a variety of disciplines (chemistry, physics, architecture, medicine, rocketry, etc.) were brought to America and employed by the federal government. The truth about their pasts was obliterated, their stories rewritten. “Many were complicit in war crimes. Others were complicit through their silence.” Nonetheless, they were granted a fresh start courtesy of the U.S. government.
Thus, The German Wife opens in 1950 with the first-person narrative of Sofie von Meyer Rhodes, a German aristocrat who has just arrived in Huntsville, Alabama, with her two youngest children, Gisela and Felix. They will join her husband, Jürgen, a scientist and former professor who has been living and working in America for five years. Their older son, Georg, would be twenty years old had he lived, and Laura, their older daughter, was lost to them when she remained loyal to the Nazi regime. At last, Sofie will attempt to forge a new life with her family alongside other Germans granted a second chance by the U.S. government. Sofie is aware that Jürgen came to America as a prisoner of war but does not know the details surrounding his freedom and job at Fort Bliss. And soon Sofie will learn that many of her new American neighbors are neither forgiving nor welcoming. Adapting to life in a new country with unfamiliar customs among resentful residents will prove difficult.
But, of course, Sofie is a survivor. In a dual narrative beginning in 1930, Sofie relates her experiences in Germany as the Nazis come to power and increasingly impose their will upon stunned citizens. Having only married Jürgen a year earlier, Sofie is expecting their first child. But the results of the recent election have proven shocking and frightening, especially for Sofie’s Jewish best friend, Mayim, and her family, who have lost everything as a result of inflation and the 1929 stock market crash. Neither woman realizes how much more will be lost when war breaks out. Mayim and her family will be forced into hiding. And in order to protect them, as well as her own family, it will be necessary for Sofie to at least appear to shun her. Moreover, Jürgen will be conscripted into joining the Nazi party, and utilizing his knowledge and skills in a morally repugnant mission . . . or face the consequences.
Also commencing in 1930 is another first-person narrative. Lizzie and her brother, Henry, live in Dallam County, Texas, but times are hard. The rain has not come, but brutal dust storms have. Eventually, Lizzie and Henry also make their way to Huntsville. Lizzie describes her journey, including how she meets and marries her husband, Calvin Miller, who has transferred from El Paso and serves as the general manager of the rocket program. He refers to his coworkers as “our Germans,” a term that makes Lizzie want “to scream.” Henry served in Europe during World War II, but never speaks about it. Lizzie notes that he returned from the war -- at a time well before Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) was a recognized and treated condition -- “a broken man. And now my brother did not need to be living in a town lousy with Germans.” Henry sees the influx of German citizens as a threat and, although he seems to be doing well, Lizzie worries about him. For good reason, it turns out.
The male German and American scientists have been working together for some time and have developed collegial relationships. Oblivious to history, the children immediately begin playing together. But as the German and American wives are introduced to each other for the first time, tensions are high. Many of the American women are only in attendance at the gathering because their husbands have demanded their presence, and they are stubbornly standoffish instead of welcoming, further bewildering the German wives who do not yet speak English. Lizzie is one of the most outspoken, her outrage on full display. “These people should probably be on trial at Nuremberg, not sipping champagne in Huntsville. . . . We don’t have to welcome them. We can take a stand. I mean, for God’s sakes, someone has to.” Lizzie expresses what so many Americans felt after the war: German citizens who stood by as atrocities were committed and “did nothing” were as guilty as the members of the Nazi party who ordered and carried out unthinkable deeds. But Sofie protests, arguing it is unfair to assume that all Germans knew what was happening or were members of the Nazi party. What she does not verbalize is that she and Jürgen did, in fact, know what was happening . . . but were helpless to stop it.
The German Wife is a riveting, often heartbreaking and infuriating modern morality play. Through her compelling and fully developed characters, Rimmer explores the complexities of war, particularly the most heinous conflict in history. She uses the four narratives to illustrate her characters’ experiences and reactions to events, many of which are beyond their control. In Germany, Sofie and Jürgen are horrified by the abuse of power and crimes being committed, and seek ways to evade being swept up into the Nazi party. But Jürgen possesses unique skills, and the party leaders are intent upon using his talents in ways that are repulsive and abhorrent to him and Sofie. They are determined to keep their family safe, and soon learn the cost of resistance. As violence escalates, Jews are rounded up and sent to concentration camps, and the government takes control of the press, spewing propaganda, it becomes evident that "the Nazi party had gone too far. But no one said it. No one could say it. We had so long been afraid of the consequences of dissent that even as the nation descended into madness, any moral call to rise up against the chaos went unheeded." Out of options, Jürgen tries to shield Sofie from the truth, but it haunts him. He knows the ways in which Hitler plans to use the rockets being developed. He also knows about the camps, the gas, and the certain fate of those who attempt to resist. "Those men buid rockets according to my instructions," he confesses to Sofie. "When the story of the war is written, the pages will be full of men saying 'I was only following orders' and the world will know that is fiction. Every single time I opted not to take a stand, I was taking a stand -- for the wrong side." Their story is absorbing, terrifying, and deeply moving.
Lizzie’s early life is beset by hardships and tragedy, and Rimmer describes how she ultimately resolves to forge a life that is solid and dependable, if not founded upon love and passion. She cares for and protects Henry who, as Rimmer demonstrates, is indisputably a victim of war. Her bitterness is credible and understandable, as is Calvin’s patient longing to soften her heart. As the narratives advance and readers attain knowledge about the characters’ histories and emotions, Rimmer accelerates the story’s pace and heightens the dramatic tension that results in a shocking and violent event. In the aftermath, her characters must come to terms with their pasts in order to face the future. Will they be able to finally see each other as human beings, rather than "Germans" and "Americans" on opposite sides of a war that has already ended?
Through the lives of her characters, Rimmer deftly examines PTSD and survivor’s guilt, the life-altering and lasting impacts of war, prejudice and bigotry, whether healing is possible, and, if so, how it can come about. The German Wife is a unique work of historical fiction in that Rimmer presents the troubling story of a German family who strive to escape being caught up in the evil and corrupt agenda of a madman and his followers. Rimmer challenges readers to ponder, along with Sofie and Jürgen, whether, in light of all they endure, they did enough. “Is there a point where we are morally obliged to take a stand, whatever the cost?” Rimmer asks.
Rimmer poses similar questions about Operation Paperclip. Her characters reference the Space Race between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. As the two nations fought for superiority in spaceflight and to be the first to send an astronaut to the moon, that competition provided the impetus for the U.S. to overlook war crimes committed – often involuntarily – by German scientists in order to utilize their talents. America won the Space Race. But did the ends justify the means? Rimmer makes clear that Operation Paperclip was fraught from its conception and nothing about it “was simple – not the politics, the mechanics, or even the ethics.”
For fans of World War-era historical fiction, The German Wife is a must-read volume. Rimmer’s expertly crafted and thoroughly researched story is touching, complex, thought-provoking, and thoroughly engrossing, as well as remarkably contemporary and timely, given the current state of American politics.
Thanks to NetGalley for an Advance Reader's Copy of the book.
Thus, The German Wife opens in 1950 with the first-person narrative of Sofie von Meyer Rhodes, a German aristocrat who has just arrived in Huntsville, Alabama, with her two youngest children, Gisela and Felix. They will join her husband, Jürgen, a scientist and former professor who has been living and working in America for five years. Their older son, Georg, would be twenty years old had he lived, and Laura, their older daughter, was lost to them when she remained loyal to the Nazi regime. At last, Sofie will attempt to forge a new life with her family alongside other Germans granted a second chance by the U.S. government. Sofie is aware that Jürgen came to America as a prisoner of war but does not know the details surrounding his freedom and job at Fort Bliss. And soon Sofie will learn that many of her new American neighbors are neither forgiving nor welcoming. Adapting to life in a new country with unfamiliar customs among resentful residents will prove difficult.
But, of course, Sofie is a survivor. In a dual narrative beginning in 1930, Sofie relates her experiences in Germany as the Nazis come to power and increasingly impose their will upon stunned citizens. Having only married Jürgen a year earlier, Sofie is expecting their first child. But the results of the recent election have proven shocking and frightening, especially for Sofie’s Jewish best friend, Mayim, and her family, who have lost everything as a result of inflation and the 1929 stock market crash. Neither woman realizes how much more will be lost when war breaks out. Mayim and her family will be forced into hiding. And in order to protect them, as well as her own family, it will be necessary for Sofie to at least appear to shun her. Moreover, Jürgen will be conscripted into joining the Nazi party, and utilizing his knowledge and skills in a morally repugnant mission . . . or face the consequences.
Also commencing in 1930 is another first-person narrative. Lizzie and her brother, Henry, live in Dallam County, Texas, but times are hard. The rain has not come, but brutal dust storms have. Eventually, Lizzie and Henry also make their way to Huntsville. Lizzie describes her journey, including how she meets and marries her husband, Calvin Miller, who has transferred from El Paso and serves as the general manager of the rocket program. He refers to his coworkers as “our Germans,” a term that makes Lizzie want “to scream.” Henry served in Europe during World War II, but never speaks about it. Lizzie notes that he returned from the war -- at a time well before Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) was a recognized and treated condition -- “a broken man. And now my brother did not need to be living in a town lousy with Germans.” Henry sees the influx of German citizens as a threat and, although he seems to be doing well, Lizzie worries about him. For good reason, it turns out.
The male German and American scientists have been working together for some time and have developed collegial relationships. Oblivious to history, the children immediately begin playing together. But as the German and American wives are introduced to each other for the first time, tensions are high. Many of the American women are only in attendance at the gathering because their husbands have demanded their presence, and they are stubbornly standoffish instead of welcoming, further bewildering the German wives who do not yet speak English. Lizzie is one of the most outspoken, her outrage on full display. “These people should probably be on trial at Nuremberg, not sipping champagne in Huntsville. . . . We don’t have to welcome them. We can take a stand. I mean, for God’s sakes, someone has to.” Lizzie expresses what so many Americans felt after the war: German citizens who stood by as atrocities were committed and “did nothing” were as guilty as the members of the Nazi party who ordered and carried out unthinkable deeds. But Sofie protests, arguing it is unfair to assume that all Germans knew what was happening or were members of the Nazi party. What she does not verbalize is that she and Jürgen did, in fact, know what was happening . . . but were helpless to stop it.
The German Wife is a riveting, often heartbreaking and infuriating modern morality play. Through her compelling and fully developed characters, Rimmer explores the complexities of war, particularly the most heinous conflict in history. She uses the four narratives to illustrate her characters’ experiences and reactions to events, many of which are beyond their control. In Germany, Sofie and Jürgen are horrified by the abuse of power and crimes being committed, and seek ways to evade being swept up into the Nazi party. But Jürgen possesses unique skills, and the party leaders are intent upon using his talents in ways that are repulsive and abhorrent to him and Sofie. They are determined to keep their family safe, and soon learn the cost of resistance. As violence escalates, Jews are rounded up and sent to concentration camps, and the government takes control of the press, spewing propaganda, it becomes evident that "the Nazi party had gone too far. But no one said it. No one could say it. We had so long been afraid of the consequences of dissent that even as the nation descended into madness, any moral call to rise up against the chaos went unheeded." Out of options, Jürgen tries to shield Sofie from the truth, but it haunts him. He knows the ways in which Hitler plans to use the rockets being developed. He also knows about the camps, the gas, and the certain fate of those who attempt to resist. "Those men buid rockets according to my instructions," he confesses to Sofie. "When the story of the war is written, the pages will be full of men saying 'I was only following orders' and the world will know that is fiction. Every single time I opted not to take a stand, I was taking a stand -- for the wrong side." Their story is absorbing, terrifying, and deeply moving.
Lizzie’s early life is beset by hardships and tragedy, and Rimmer describes how she ultimately resolves to forge a life that is solid and dependable, if not founded upon love and passion. She cares for and protects Henry who, as Rimmer demonstrates, is indisputably a victim of war. Her bitterness is credible and understandable, as is Calvin’s patient longing to soften her heart. As the narratives advance and readers attain knowledge about the characters’ histories and emotions, Rimmer accelerates the story’s pace and heightens the dramatic tension that results in a shocking and violent event. In the aftermath, her characters must come to terms with their pasts in order to face the future. Will they be able to finally see each other as human beings, rather than "Germans" and "Americans" on opposite sides of a war that has already ended?
Through the lives of her characters, Rimmer deftly examines PTSD and survivor’s guilt, the life-altering and lasting impacts of war, prejudice and bigotry, whether healing is possible, and, if so, how it can come about. The German Wife is a unique work of historical fiction in that Rimmer presents the troubling story of a German family who strive to escape being caught up in the evil and corrupt agenda of a madman and his followers. Rimmer challenges readers to ponder, along with Sofie and Jürgen, whether, in light of all they endure, they did enough. “Is there a point where we are morally obliged to take a stand, whatever the cost?” Rimmer asks.
Rimmer poses similar questions about Operation Paperclip. Her characters reference the Space Race between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. As the two nations fought for superiority in spaceflight and to be the first to send an astronaut to the moon, that competition provided the impetus for the U.S. to overlook war crimes committed – often involuntarily – by German scientists in order to utilize their talents. America won the Space Race. But did the ends justify the means? Rimmer makes clear that Operation Paperclip was fraught from its conception and nothing about it “was simple – not the politics, the mechanics, or even the ethics.”
For fans of World War-era historical fiction, The German Wife is a must-read volume. Rimmer’s expertly crafted and thoroughly researched story is touching, complex, thought-provoking, and thoroughly engrossing, as well as remarkably contemporary and timely, given the current state of American politics.
Thanks to NetGalley for an Advance Reader's Copy of the book.
The Rewind by Allison Winn Scotch
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
During the COVID-19 pandemic, bestselling author Allison Winn Scotch was sheltering in her Los Angeles home with her husband and two children. She hadn’t written a word for nine months, and was “listless and depleted,” evaluating ideas for books that failed to resonate with her during “endless quarantine walks.” She recalls she was “just spit balling” because “I felt like I needed to start writing something. She recalls taking one “long walk up my neighborhood hill because I was desperate to get out of the house” during which “a spark of any idea” came to her. A man and woman whose college romance did not work out are reunited when they attend a mutual friend’s wedding. They wake up in bed together with no memory of how they ended up there but have to figure it out quickly because it is New Year’s Eve 1999. She instantly knew that drafting the book would be difficult and says, “indeed, it was very, very hard.” She credits her agent with making her continue writing “when I endlessly complained I couldn’t do it.” It’s a good thing she did, because The Rewind is arguably Scotch’s best work to date.
Frankie Harriman has made a name for herself in the music business, primarily for managing the most successful female band. At thirty-three, she lives in Los Angeles, but travels extensively with the acts she manages, and has not been involved in a serious relationship since she and Ezra Jones broke on the day of their college graduation. When she was just five years old, her parents discovered she was a talented musician with perfect pitch when she played “Bridge Over Troubled Water” after hearing the tune emanating from the record player. Frankie didn’t understand how she did it. She just knew that she saw the notes in front of her the same way she saw colors. And she instinctively knew what key she was playing in. She spent her New York City childhood practicing the piano four hours per day to prepare for competitions, learning to master her nerves and perform with confidence. Her parents fully expected her to enroll in a college with a prestigious music program, but by the age of seventeen she was done. She simply did not want to pursue being a pianist any longer, even though she knew her parents and teachers would be devastated. She wants to at last control her own life and destiny. Her parents only acceded to her wish to attend quaint Middleton University because the Steinway family had recently underwritten the cost of the school’s new auditorium. Frankie kept her musical past from her college friends, instead choosing to pursue a career helping other artists succeed in the music business. But recently she impulsively purchased an upright piano and had it delivered to her apartment. She has not played it . . . yet.
Ezra’s father abandoned his wife and two sons, and his brother, Henry, was much older and left home when Ezra was very young. So growing up, it was just Henry and his mother on their own. Ezra cared for her as she battled ovarian cancer, a fight she lost after graduation. He was a studious, rule-follower destined for law school. But he ended up making a lot of money in the tech industry. Now he has come back to Middleton for their friends’ wedding, intent on proposing to his perfect girlfriend, Mimi, who works for a dating start-up (Datify.com) and loves grand gestures as much as he does, before the stroke of midnight. He even had “12/31/99” engraved in the ring that once belonged to his grandmother.
Frankie and Ezra have checked into their respective hotel rooms and steeled themselves for their inevitable reunion at the rehearsal dinner to which Ezra is headed when the elevator stops. The doors open and there is Frankie in the hotel hallway.
The next thing they know, it is the morning of December 31. Frankie awakens with a splitting headache next to a naked man in a room she doesn’t recognize (which, truthfully, isn’t all that unusual for her which is one of the reasons she quit drinking two months earlier). She screams when she realizes that she is in bed with Ezra and they are in the dorm room in which he resided during their freshman year – before they met. Ezra’s grandmother’s ring is stuck on Frankie’s finger and Ezra is wearing a wedding band on his left right finger.
Why? What happened last night and how did they end up sleeping in a dorm room another student now occupies? Did Mimi ever arrive, as planned? About they only think they agree on is that they have to find out what happened. So they embark on a frequently hilarious quest back to the bar where they both apparently had drinks and various campus locations, gathering clues about the prior evening’s events. Along the way, they argue and fret about the best approach and what steps they should take in search of answers. First, they have to evacuate the dorm room when its very angry current resident returns and finds they slept in her bed. As the day wears on, they trek to the school library, gymnasium, and Steiner Auditorium, discussing their relationship in the process. Their banter is believable, funny, and, as the story proceeds, touching.
Scotch deftly transports readers back to 1999, a time when cell phone functionality was limited to actually making calls and texting. So even if they could find their cell phones, Frankie and Ezra can’t just Google the name of the bar to find out what time it opens. They have to walk there. And Ezra has to deal with the slow dial-up connection to the internet in order to check the airline’s schedule and learn if Mimi’s flight was delayed or canceled. Frankie finds herself negotiating with that dorm resident to get her Walkman back because it contains the rough cut CD of her girl band’s new album. And, of course, there are references to fashion (Frankie wears Doc Martens, of course).
And as Frankie and Ezra gather clues, Scotch reveals their relationship history and what propelled them to break up in such a spectacularly final fashion. She also examines all the ways in which their personalities and quirks differed, how they responded to those differences and supported each other during their relationship, and, most importantly, how they have matured and grown in the years since.
Frankie always reminded Ezra “of a tornado: always in motion, occasionally a thing of beauty too often destructive.” They were “combustible.” Still, they never fought. Ezra suffered from panic attacks that Frankie was able to help him through – although, coincidentally, he has not had one since he and Frankie broke up -- and never had a one-night stand because he believed in monogamy and commitment, and wanted a relationship, not just sex. Ezra unexpectedly finds himself re-evaluating his relationship with Mimi as he is reminded of all the reasons why he loved Frankie so much. He is stunned to find that he has loved “two women so wildly different.” He always avoided confrontation and let Frankie make choices for him. He has been enjoying a “seamless life, one uninterrupted by drama” with Mimi. But is it really enough?
Franke never mourned losing Ezra, their relationship and the possibilities it held, or making music. Rather, she graduated, moved to Los Angeles, and got busy with her career. “It was easier to move on, to force her way through.” Her life has been a whirlwind, but now she realizes that unresolved pain remains until it is confronted. She is shocked by the real reasons he never practiced law because they seem out of character but observes changes in him that remind her their relationship “was the most solid thing that she’d ever held on to her whole life through.”
The Rewind moves along at an unrelenting pace as Frankie and Ezra confront both last night and the things that tore them apart a decade ago. Scotch finds just the right balance of hilarity and poignancy as her two relatable and likable lead characters unexpectedly find themselves on a journey of reflection and self-examination. The histories Scotch has concocted for them seamlessly and credibly inform the two people in their early thirties who need to solve a mystery – and quickly – if so that they can get on with their lives and all that they have planned. Or . . . maybe not? Perhaps after all that they have learned about each other and themselves in the process of finding out what mischief they got into last night, their futures might look very different.
Scotch says she enjoys “capturing that time in your life when you were on the open road and anything was possible. I love exploring that and the dichotomy of getting older.” With The Rewinds, she again proves how adept she is at melding comedy with introspection into a thoroughly entertaining, enjoyable, and, ultimately, heart-tugging and thought-provoking story. She obviously worked through any difficulties or complications she encountered while crafting the story about two people who are presented with an unexpected second chance at love and happiness. The narrative zips along seemingly effortlessly to a thoroughly satisfying and not entirely predictable conclusion.
Thanks to NetGalley for an Advance Reader's Copy of the book.
Frankie Harriman has made a name for herself in the music business, primarily for managing the most successful female band. At thirty-three, she lives in Los Angeles, but travels extensively with the acts she manages, and has not been involved in a serious relationship since she and Ezra Jones broke on the day of their college graduation. When she was just five years old, her parents discovered she was a talented musician with perfect pitch when she played “Bridge Over Troubled Water” after hearing the tune emanating from the record player. Frankie didn’t understand how she did it. She just knew that she saw the notes in front of her the same way she saw colors. And she instinctively knew what key she was playing in. She spent her New York City childhood practicing the piano four hours per day to prepare for competitions, learning to master her nerves and perform with confidence. Her parents fully expected her to enroll in a college with a prestigious music program, but by the age of seventeen she was done. She simply did not want to pursue being a pianist any longer, even though she knew her parents and teachers would be devastated. She wants to at last control her own life and destiny. Her parents only acceded to her wish to attend quaint Middleton University because the Steinway family had recently underwritten the cost of the school’s new auditorium. Frankie kept her musical past from her college friends, instead choosing to pursue a career helping other artists succeed in the music business. But recently she impulsively purchased an upright piano and had it delivered to her apartment. She has not played it . . . yet.
Ezra’s father abandoned his wife and two sons, and his brother, Henry, was much older and left home when Ezra was very young. So growing up, it was just Henry and his mother on their own. Ezra cared for her as she battled ovarian cancer, a fight she lost after graduation. He was a studious, rule-follower destined for law school. But he ended up making a lot of money in the tech industry. Now he has come back to Middleton for their friends’ wedding, intent on proposing to his perfect girlfriend, Mimi, who works for a dating start-up (Datify.com) and loves grand gestures as much as he does, before the stroke of midnight. He even had “12/31/99” engraved in the ring that once belonged to his grandmother.
Frankie and Ezra have checked into their respective hotel rooms and steeled themselves for their inevitable reunion at the rehearsal dinner to which Ezra is headed when the elevator stops. The doors open and there is Frankie in the hotel hallway.
The next thing they know, it is the morning of December 31. Frankie awakens with a splitting headache next to a naked man in a room she doesn’t recognize (which, truthfully, isn’t all that unusual for her which is one of the reasons she quit drinking two months earlier). She screams when she realizes that she is in bed with Ezra and they are in the dorm room in which he resided during their freshman year – before they met. Ezra’s grandmother’s ring is stuck on Frankie’s finger and Ezra is wearing a wedding band on his left right finger.
Why? What happened last night and how did they end up sleeping in a dorm room another student now occupies? Did Mimi ever arrive, as planned? About they only think they agree on is that they have to find out what happened. So they embark on a frequently hilarious quest back to the bar where they both apparently had drinks and various campus locations, gathering clues about the prior evening’s events. Along the way, they argue and fret about the best approach and what steps they should take in search of answers. First, they have to evacuate the dorm room when its very angry current resident returns and finds they slept in her bed. As the day wears on, they trek to the school library, gymnasium, and Steiner Auditorium, discussing their relationship in the process. Their banter is believable, funny, and, as the story proceeds, touching.
Scotch deftly transports readers back to 1999, a time when cell phone functionality was limited to actually making calls and texting. So even if they could find their cell phones, Frankie and Ezra can’t just Google the name of the bar to find out what time it opens. They have to walk there. And Ezra has to deal with the slow dial-up connection to the internet in order to check the airline’s schedule and learn if Mimi’s flight was delayed or canceled. Frankie finds herself negotiating with that dorm resident to get her Walkman back because it contains the rough cut CD of her girl band’s new album. And, of course, there are references to fashion (Frankie wears Doc Martens, of course).
And as Frankie and Ezra gather clues, Scotch reveals their relationship history and what propelled them to break up in such a spectacularly final fashion. She also examines all the ways in which their personalities and quirks differed, how they responded to those differences and supported each other during their relationship, and, most importantly, how they have matured and grown in the years since.
Frankie always reminded Ezra “of a tornado: always in motion, occasionally a thing of beauty too often destructive.” They were “combustible.” Still, they never fought. Ezra suffered from panic attacks that Frankie was able to help him through – although, coincidentally, he has not had one since he and Frankie broke up -- and never had a one-night stand because he believed in monogamy and commitment, and wanted a relationship, not just sex. Ezra unexpectedly finds himself re-evaluating his relationship with Mimi as he is reminded of all the reasons why he loved Frankie so much. He is stunned to find that he has loved “two women so wildly different.” He always avoided confrontation and let Frankie make choices for him. He has been enjoying a “seamless life, one uninterrupted by drama” with Mimi. But is it really enough?
Franke never mourned losing Ezra, their relationship and the possibilities it held, or making music. Rather, she graduated, moved to Los Angeles, and got busy with her career. “It was easier to move on, to force her way through.” Her life has been a whirlwind, but now she realizes that unresolved pain remains until it is confronted. She is shocked by the real reasons he never practiced law because they seem out of character but observes changes in him that remind her their relationship “was the most solid thing that she’d ever held on to her whole life through.”
The Rewind moves along at an unrelenting pace as Frankie and Ezra confront both last night and the things that tore them apart a decade ago. Scotch finds just the right balance of hilarity and poignancy as her two relatable and likable lead characters unexpectedly find themselves on a journey of reflection and self-examination. The histories Scotch has concocted for them seamlessly and credibly inform the two people in their early thirties who need to solve a mystery – and quickly – if so that they can get on with their lives and all that they have planned. Or . . . maybe not? Perhaps after all that they have learned about each other and themselves in the process of finding out what mischief they got into last night, their futures might look very different.
Scotch says she enjoys “capturing that time in your life when you were on the open road and anything was possible. I love exploring that and the dichotomy of getting older.” With The Rewinds, she again proves how adept she is at melding comedy with introspection into a thoroughly entertaining, enjoyable, and, ultimately, heart-tugging and thought-provoking story. She obviously worked through any difficulties or complications she encountered while crafting the story about two people who are presented with an unexpected second chance at love and happiness. The narrative zips along seemingly effortlessly to a thoroughly satisfying and not entirely predictable conclusion.
Thanks to NetGalley for an Advance Reader's Copy of the book.
Eyes Turned Skyward by Alena Dillon
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Pilot Jacqueline “Jackie” Cochran had an idea as the world was poised on the brink of war in 1939. If women were recruited and trained to serve as pilots flying non-combat missions, more male pilots would be available for combat missions and to perform other necessary duties. The Woman Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs) ultimately boasted 1,074 members who tested, trained, and flew a whopping sixty million miles. But efforts to grant them military status were defeated in Congress, and all remained civilians lacking the recognition and benefits conferred upon veterans.
As Alena Dillon’s Eyes Turned Skyward opens in 2009, Kathy Begley has secured a position as a nurse in a busy obstetrics-gynecology practice. Although she has been out of the workforce for twenty years, during which she raised a son and daughter, she maintained her licensure and kept up to date on medical advancements. Her husband, Neil, is a victim of America’s economic crisis. Having been laid off his job, he is moping around the house and growing more despondent as his prospects for another high-paying job dim. More than his personal hygiene is suffering. The stress is pushing the couple apart. Kathy is growing tired of Neil’s surprisingly chauvinistic attitude about money and her return to work, something she is looking forward to after spending two decades as a homemaker and mother. Neil is uncharacteristically resentful, which Kathy chalks up to pride and frustration that he has been unable to secure a job comparable to the one he lost.
Kathy’s three brothers all moved away, making her the primary caregiver for their mother, Peggy Mayfield, who is now eight-seven years old. Because their father, William, who died fifteen years ago, was a colonel, they moved numerous times growing up. Kathy marveled at how Peggy kept the family on track, setting up households in varied locales and getting the kids settled into new schools, in addition to being a gregarious hostess. But Peggy also had a dark side, and sometimes disappeared. To Kathy, her mother frequently seemed haunted. She “often looked at Kathy as if she saw somebody else and spoke to her as if she hoped a different voice might respond,” but Kathy never understood why.
Now Peggy is unable to continue living alone, and one of Kathy’s brothers pulls strings to secure a spot for her in an assisted living facility. The brothers insist that Kathy be the one to break the news to Peggy, but when she finally finds the courage, Peggy predictably, and vociferously, refuses to go. She also declines to undergo life-saving surgery, a decision that will eventually prove fatal. In a moment of weakness, Kathy agrees that Peggy can live with her and Neil, intending it to be a temporary arrangement.
Suddenly, Kathy finds herself trying to balance her responsibilities, including the demands of a new job, including her immediate realization that she is working for a man who engages in inappropriate commentary in the workplace related to both age and gender. With Neil unemployed, Kathy needs to work, and the combination of her age and having been out of the workforce for two decades make the prospect of finding another position especially challenging. She is also trying to hold onto her marriage and restrain her resentment about Neil’s reluctance to help more with household tasks now that she is working full-time while he remains at home. Still, she is happy that he has returned to woodworking, a hobby he enjoys and she encourages. She feels alone and isolated when navigating and responding to her mother’s needs, as well as the demands of her pushy, know-it-all brothers who want to manage the situation from a distance rather than show up and help in person.
In a dual narrative, Dillon takes readers back to 1943. Peggy Lewis was just eight years old when her father, who ran a crop-dusting service, began teaching her to fly. So she was an experienced pilot when she learned that women were being trained to fly military aircraft. “She was called to higher altitude, where she could look down at the world where she never quite belonged” and determined to join the WASP, even if it meant going to Sweetwater, Texas, seven hundred miles from home and her beloved parents, for the seven-month training. Only eight percent of the applicants were accepted, but Peggy met all of the qualifications. She struggles to reach the one-hundred-pound weight requirement, but with clever assistance from Georgia, a fellow applicant, she barely manages to tip the scale at ninety-nine point seven pounds and convince the doctor to round it up to one hundred. She passes the written examination and the interview with Jackie Cochran herself, and is accepted into the program. She and the other young women study weather, aerodynamics, principles of flight, military courtesy, engines, navigation, Morse code, first aid, and instruments under the command of William Mayfield, a tough, no-nonsense leader. Peggy and Georgia quickly become best friends and confidantes, supporting each other and their fellow cadets during the intense program.
When Peggy receives an invitation to attend a Congressional Gold Medal Ceremony honoring the WASPs, Kathy is certain it was misdirected because she has no knowledge of her mother’s service. Returning to her mother’s home, she searches through Peggy’s belongings and is stunned when she finds evidence that Peggy was, in fact, a member of the elite corps. Why did Peggy keep her history as a pilot a secret from her children? Kathy is determined to find out.
Dillon’s characters are believable and their stories engrossing. Young Peggy and Georgia, in particular, are endearing as they meet and embark upon a mission that will change them forever. Like so many of the cadets, Peggy is away from home for the first time and discovers a sisterhood she has never previously experienced. Flying military bombers is vastly different than operating a crop-dusting plane, and Peggy finds it challenging, terrifying, and invigorating. She is determined to succeed and, along with the other women, is hopeful that the U.S. Government will acknowledge their service, but the WASP militarization bill is ultimately defeated in Congress by just nineteen votes. Readers accompany Peggy on a journey of accomplishment – after graduating, she is assigned to test repaired aircraft and sends three hundred and twenty planes back into combat – as well as heartbreak when a tragedy leaves her guilt-ridden. Another gut-punch is delivered in October 1944 when Peggy is informed the WASP program will be deactivated on December 20 of that year because the women’s “volunteered services are no longer needed. The situation is that if you continue in service, you will be replacing instead of releasing our young men.” The dismantling of the program, along with the lack of recognition of the WASP's contributions, make Peggy bitter and her guilt about a tragic event during training inspires her silence about that part of her life. She marries her commanding officer and becomes a traditional housewife, supporting him in his military career. But "Peggy never learned how to fold her grief . . . and her revoked purpose into her life." Nothing could change how hurt, angry, and frustrated she felt in those moments when she read the letter announcing the termination of the WASP program and her service. “They were civilian castoffs, chewed up and spit out. They were just women.” Looking into the future, “she saw down the narrowed corridor of her life all that she was allowed to be and all she wasn’t.”
Like her mother, Kathy is relatable and credible. She is a woman juggling numerous responsibilities while feeling unappreciated and undervalued. Dillon crafts a portrait of a woman at a cross-road. She knows that her mother’s life expectancy is shortened by her refusal to have surgery, and her steadfast refusal to attend the ceremony is Washington, D.C. confuses and aggravates Kathy until Peggy finally discloses what transpired all those years ago. Kathy of course understands her mother’s reticence to accept belated recognition (it “wouldn’t undo all the casseroles she’d baked and put her back in military uniform”) but insists that she will go to the ceremony, even if Peggy refuses and the acknowledgment of the WASP is inexcusably overdue.
With the truth revealed and Peggy living with Kathy and Neil, Kathy finally has the chance to get to know her mother for the first time and is determined to make the most of the opportunity while there is still time. In the process, she also gets to know herself better and becomes empowered in ways she has never been before. She finds the courage to assert herself in her relationship with Peggy, as well as demonstrate compassion to the mother she has always loved, but never understood. With knowledge comes an appreciation of her mother’s legacy and forgiveness for the times Peggy was emotionally distant and judgmental. Kathy realizes that Peggy was hardest on herself. She also summons the strength to speak up at work on behalf of herself and her female colleagues, and finds new satisfaction in her marriage.
Eyes Turned Skyward is a fast-paced, absorbing, and emotionally riveting story about a mother and daughter who are able to repair the fissures in their relationship as, individually, they attain an enhanced sense of self-worth, accomplishment, and place in the world. For Peggy, reckoning the emotional traumas of her past frees her to heal her relationship with her only daughter, while Kathy finds her voice and learns to express her desires and feelings, and insist upon being treated with respect. Dillon presents the story from an unabashedly feminist viewpoint, but never permits her narrative to lapse into a heavy-handed tone. Rather, she effectively explores her themes through the experiences of and challenges her characters face, allowing plot developments and her characters’ reactions to them to illustrate the various ways in which they are subjected to sexism and misogyny.
Ultimately, Eyes Turned Skyward is an homage to the brave women of the WASP who served their country selflessly on a volunteer basis, contributing to America’s victory. Because of outdated notions about the role of women in the military, and society as a whole, they were denied the recognition they deserved alongside male pilots. The WASP were finally granted military status when President Jimmy Carter signed the G.I. Bill Improvements Act of 1977, which even he initially opposed. Still, few people know that the WASP, culled from a candidate pool of 25,000 and an entering class of 1,830, flew a total of sixty million miles in seventy-eight different types of aircraft, delivering over 12,000 planes. “They towed, transported, tested, and taught. They broke barriers. . . . But they had been the ones to demonstrate possibility.” At the age of fifty-five, the fictional character of Peggy Mayfield and the real, heroic WASP finally, “quietly became war veterans.” And now, thanks to Dillon, more people know about their sacrifice and achievements.
Thanks to NetGalley for an Advance Reader's Copy of the book, and to William Morrow Books and Bibliolifestyle for a paperback copy.
As Alena Dillon’s Eyes Turned Skyward opens in 2009, Kathy Begley has secured a position as a nurse in a busy obstetrics-gynecology practice. Although she has been out of the workforce for twenty years, during which she raised a son and daughter, she maintained her licensure and kept up to date on medical advancements. Her husband, Neil, is a victim of America’s economic crisis. Having been laid off his job, he is moping around the house and growing more despondent as his prospects for another high-paying job dim. More than his personal hygiene is suffering. The stress is pushing the couple apart. Kathy is growing tired of Neil’s surprisingly chauvinistic attitude about money and her return to work, something she is looking forward to after spending two decades as a homemaker and mother. Neil is uncharacteristically resentful, which Kathy chalks up to pride and frustration that he has been unable to secure a job comparable to the one he lost.
Kathy’s three brothers all moved away, making her the primary caregiver for their mother, Peggy Mayfield, who is now eight-seven years old. Because their father, William, who died fifteen years ago, was a colonel, they moved numerous times growing up. Kathy marveled at how Peggy kept the family on track, setting up households in varied locales and getting the kids settled into new schools, in addition to being a gregarious hostess. But Peggy also had a dark side, and sometimes disappeared. To Kathy, her mother frequently seemed haunted. She “often looked at Kathy as if she saw somebody else and spoke to her as if she hoped a different voice might respond,” but Kathy never understood why.
Now Peggy is unable to continue living alone, and one of Kathy’s brothers pulls strings to secure a spot for her in an assisted living facility. The brothers insist that Kathy be the one to break the news to Peggy, but when she finally finds the courage, Peggy predictably, and vociferously, refuses to go. She also declines to undergo life-saving surgery, a decision that will eventually prove fatal. In a moment of weakness, Kathy agrees that Peggy can live with her and Neil, intending it to be a temporary arrangement.
Suddenly, Kathy finds herself trying to balance her responsibilities, including the demands of a new job, including her immediate realization that she is working for a man who engages in inappropriate commentary in the workplace related to both age and gender. With Neil unemployed, Kathy needs to work, and the combination of her age and having been out of the workforce for two decades make the prospect of finding another position especially challenging. She is also trying to hold onto her marriage and restrain her resentment about Neil’s reluctance to help more with household tasks now that she is working full-time while he remains at home. Still, she is happy that he has returned to woodworking, a hobby he enjoys and she encourages. She feels alone and isolated when navigating and responding to her mother’s needs, as well as the demands of her pushy, know-it-all brothers who want to manage the situation from a distance rather than show up and help in person.
In a dual narrative, Dillon takes readers back to 1943. Peggy Lewis was just eight years old when her father, who ran a crop-dusting service, began teaching her to fly. So she was an experienced pilot when she learned that women were being trained to fly military aircraft. “She was called to higher altitude, where she could look down at the world where she never quite belonged” and determined to join the WASP, even if it meant going to Sweetwater, Texas, seven hundred miles from home and her beloved parents, for the seven-month training. Only eight percent of the applicants were accepted, but Peggy met all of the qualifications. She struggles to reach the one-hundred-pound weight requirement, but with clever assistance from Georgia, a fellow applicant, she barely manages to tip the scale at ninety-nine point seven pounds and convince the doctor to round it up to one hundred. She passes the written examination and the interview with Jackie Cochran herself, and is accepted into the program. She and the other young women study weather, aerodynamics, principles of flight, military courtesy, engines, navigation, Morse code, first aid, and instruments under the command of William Mayfield, a tough, no-nonsense leader. Peggy and Georgia quickly become best friends and confidantes, supporting each other and their fellow cadets during the intense program.
When Peggy receives an invitation to attend a Congressional Gold Medal Ceremony honoring the WASPs, Kathy is certain it was misdirected because she has no knowledge of her mother’s service. Returning to her mother’s home, she searches through Peggy’s belongings and is stunned when she finds evidence that Peggy was, in fact, a member of the elite corps. Why did Peggy keep her history as a pilot a secret from her children? Kathy is determined to find out.
Dillon’s characters are believable and their stories engrossing. Young Peggy and Georgia, in particular, are endearing as they meet and embark upon a mission that will change them forever. Like so many of the cadets, Peggy is away from home for the first time and discovers a sisterhood she has never previously experienced. Flying military bombers is vastly different than operating a crop-dusting plane, and Peggy finds it challenging, terrifying, and invigorating. She is determined to succeed and, along with the other women, is hopeful that the U.S. Government will acknowledge their service, but the WASP militarization bill is ultimately defeated in Congress by just nineteen votes. Readers accompany Peggy on a journey of accomplishment – after graduating, she is assigned to test repaired aircraft and sends three hundred and twenty planes back into combat – as well as heartbreak when a tragedy leaves her guilt-ridden. Another gut-punch is delivered in October 1944 when Peggy is informed the WASP program will be deactivated on December 20 of that year because the women’s “volunteered services are no longer needed. The situation is that if you continue in service, you will be replacing instead of releasing our young men.” The dismantling of the program, along with the lack of recognition of the WASP's contributions, make Peggy bitter and her guilt about a tragic event during training inspires her silence about that part of her life. She marries her commanding officer and becomes a traditional housewife, supporting him in his military career. But "Peggy never learned how to fold her grief . . . and her revoked purpose into her life." Nothing could change how hurt, angry, and frustrated she felt in those moments when she read the letter announcing the termination of the WASP program and her service. “They were civilian castoffs, chewed up and spit out. They were just women.” Looking into the future, “she saw down the narrowed corridor of her life all that she was allowed to be and all she wasn’t.”
Like her mother, Kathy is relatable and credible. She is a woman juggling numerous responsibilities while feeling unappreciated and undervalued. Dillon crafts a portrait of a woman at a cross-road. She knows that her mother’s life expectancy is shortened by her refusal to have surgery, and her steadfast refusal to attend the ceremony is Washington, D.C. confuses and aggravates Kathy until Peggy finally discloses what transpired all those years ago. Kathy of course understands her mother’s reticence to accept belated recognition (it “wouldn’t undo all the casseroles she’d baked and put her back in military uniform”) but insists that she will go to the ceremony, even if Peggy refuses and the acknowledgment of the WASP is inexcusably overdue.
With the truth revealed and Peggy living with Kathy and Neil, Kathy finally has the chance to get to know her mother for the first time and is determined to make the most of the opportunity while there is still time. In the process, she also gets to know herself better and becomes empowered in ways she has never been before. She finds the courage to assert herself in her relationship with Peggy, as well as demonstrate compassion to the mother she has always loved, but never understood. With knowledge comes an appreciation of her mother’s legacy and forgiveness for the times Peggy was emotionally distant and judgmental. Kathy realizes that Peggy was hardest on herself. She also summons the strength to speak up at work on behalf of herself and her female colleagues, and finds new satisfaction in her marriage.
Eyes Turned Skyward is a fast-paced, absorbing, and emotionally riveting story about a mother and daughter who are able to repair the fissures in their relationship as, individually, they attain an enhanced sense of self-worth, accomplishment, and place in the world. For Peggy, reckoning the emotional traumas of her past frees her to heal her relationship with her only daughter, while Kathy finds her voice and learns to express her desires and feelings, and insist upon being treated with respect. Dillon presents the story from an unabashedly feminist viewpoint, but never permits her narrative to lapse into a heavy-handed tone. Rather, she effectively explores her themes through the experiences of and challenges her characters face, allowing plot developments and her characters’ reactions to them to illustrate the various ways in which they are subjected to sexism and misogyny.
Ultimately, Eyes Turned Skyward is an homage to the brave women of the WASP who served their country selflessly on a volunteer basis, contributing to America’s victory. Because of outdated notions about the role of women in the military, and society as a whole, they were denied the recognition they deserved alongside male pilots. The WASP were finally granted military status when President Jimmy Carter signed the G.I. Bill Improvements Act of 1977, which even he initially opposed. Still, few people know that the WASP, culled from a candidate pool of 25,000 and an entering class of 1,830, flew a total of sixty million miles in seventy-eight different types of aircraft, delivering over 12,000 planes. “They towed, transported, tested, and taught. They broke barriers. . . . But they had been the ones to demonstrate possibility.” At the age of fifty-five, the fictional character of Peggy Mayfield and the real, heroic WASP finally, “quietly became war veterans.” And now, thanks to Dillon, more people know about their sacrifice and achievements.
Thanks to NetGalley for an Advance Reader's Copy of the book, and to William Morrow Books and Bibliolifestyle for a paperback copy.
The Hero of This Book by Elizabeth McCracken
emotional
funny
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Is The Hero of This Book a work of fiction, a memoir, or a treatise on writing? It doesn't matter because it is an engaging, heartfelt tribute to a mother from the daughter who loved, admired, and was bemused by her. McCracken’s narrator considers various literary styles, insisting she is not a memoirist, and is not even sure about the difference between fiction and memoir. “Permission to lie; permission to cast aside worries about plausibility.” To her “emotionally autobiographical” fiction, the narrator has lent her secrets, but never her identity, out of fear of being found. Now she claims to have perhaps lost her inhibitions. Or not. (She equivocates about various topics throughout the narrative.) Her mother hated graves and therapy, and viewed memoirs with contempt, especially those replete with complaints about parents. But was fun-loving, adventurous, and “loved to tell stories about herself.”
The fictional narrator remains anonymous throughout the book, but acknowledges that the “actual me is the author.” She describes how she wandered the streets of London during a return visit in August 2019, "the summer before the world stopped," feeling every bit the motherless child she became ten months earlier when her mother died. Yet she neither grieved nor mourned the mother whose name she also conceals until late in the story. She rejects the words "grief" and "mourning," finding both terms "melodramatic. . . . I just missed her. I hated to see her go." Back in Boston, her parents' belongings had been sold during an estate sale, and their house was being readied to be put on the market. "In London, I found I wanted to hoard my little portion of her" -- perhaps in the same way that her parents hoarded objects, although the narrator never uses that word in relationship to their living conditions or the monumental task of hauling their amassed belongings out of the house. Those belongings were curated to serve as “a bulwark to keep people away and out.” Rather, the trip was a means of escaping those mundane details of finalizing her mother's affairs. The house -- and, more specifically, the squalor in which her parents needlessly lived -- had haunted her for years. “At first the house was untidy, then messy, then dirty, then a shame, a shanda, then squalid. Actual squalor. . . . [I]t really was shameful, to be so educated, with such resources, and live in squalor.” She was happy to be away from it all and soon, hopefully, unburdened by it. "I was bereaved and haunted," she recalls.
As the narrator details walking around London, remembering her mother and the extraordinary life she lived, McCracken often employs a stream of consciousness style, permitting the narrator to veer off on tangents while relating a story. The technique makes the tale believable and authentic. Anyone who has experienced the grief of losing a loved one will recognize aspects of their own experience in the narrator’s recollections of family members and events, and her efforts to come to terms with who her parents were and their legacy. Ordinary objects, words, prictures or specific locations can trigger memories that flood one's consciousness in jagged, disjointed, seemingly random order, as they do the narrator's.
The narrator marvels at many aspects of her mother’s life and personality, as well as her physical characteristics. She remembers her mother saying she sustained a “birth injury” or “forceps injury,” but never a birth defect, and describes her mother’s refusal to let her body inhibit her lifestyle or accomplishments. She was formidable and personable, unique and memorable, and it is not until well into the story that the narrator names her mother’s condition – words she never heard her mother utter until she was fifty-eight years old and the narrator was twenty-six. Of course, to the narrator her “mother’s body was just her body,” and it surprised her when others noticed and/or commented about it, in part because of her mother’s personality. It was also just her body to her mother – never “something to overcome or accept any more than yours was.”
In some respects, her mother’s death came as a surprise. After all her mother had overcome and accomplished in her life, the narrator “was awaiting another resurrection.” When she had to accept that her mother would not survive, she and her brother had to make decisions about her mother’s last days and care. And they chose well, observing that both of her parents had “good deaths . . . from this angle especially, a quiet death in old age, people you love nearby: It feels like luck.” If the definition of being lucky includes being survived by a child who remembers the years spent with you lovingly, even in recognition of your flaws and missteps, the narrator's parents were indeed lucky. She “hated to see them go” and, through the process of losing and missing them, illustrates the various ways in which she knew and understood her parents, while acknowledging that there was much about them, their lives, and their relationship she did not know. And will likely never know. It's another aspect of the narrator’s feelings with which readers who have lost parents will identify. In her grief, the narrator realizes that she “only knew the stories my mother liked to tell, not the ones she’d prefer to forget,” which is, perhaps, a universal parental trait.
The Hero of This Book is an often hilarious and at times heartbreaking, beautifully crafted homage from an empathetic, bereaved daughter to her deceased mother (and, to a lesser degree, father, grandmother, and aunt). Thanks to McCracken's vivid and evocative prose, the narrator's parents and other family members spring back to life on the pages as McCracken details lives well-lived, along with personality quirks and eccentricities, and foibles. Her mother was ferociously private. The narrator wonders how her mother would react to the book, and ponders whether privacy outlives us. Ultimately, as with other weighty issues, she decides not to decide. Because concluding that the dead have no privacy might simply be a way to camouflage and justify her own self-centeredness. Besides, the narrator continues to keep many things secret and the book is her story -- a story she needs to tell -- even if her mother is the hero of it. And make no mistake: the narrator's brilliant, intellectual, stubborn, complicated, and unconventional mother is the undisputed hero of the book . . . and her daughter's life.
The narrator’s ruminations never hit a false or contrived note, revealing her particular worldview and sometimes cheeky philosophies about writing. “I hate novels with unnamed narrators. I didn’t mean to write one. Write enough books and these things will happen. I never meant to write a novel about a writer, either.” She believes that life is all about story: “Your family is the first novel that you know.” Adult readers who are, like the narrator, motherless or orphaned children, may find themselves fondly recalling and missing their own parents as they get to know McCracken's perhaps fictional ones. I certainly did.
Thenks to NetGalley for an Advance Reader's Copy of the book, and to Ecco Books & Bibliolifestyle for a paperback copy.
The fictional narrator remains anonymous throughout the book, but acknowledges that the “actual me is the author.” She describes how she wandered the streets of London during a return visit in August 2019, "the summer before the world stopped," feeling every bit the motherless child she became ten months earlier when her mother died. Yet she neither grieved nor mourned the mother whose name she also conceals until late in the story. She rejects the words "grief" and "mourning," finding both terms "melodramatic. . . . I just missed her. I hated to see her go." Back in Boston, her parents' belongings had been sold during an estate sale, and their house was being readied to be put on the market. "In London, I found I wanted to hoard my little portion of her" -- perhaps in the same way that her parents hoarded objects, although the narrator never uses that word in relationship to their living conditions or the monumental task of hauling their amassed belongings out of the house. Those belongings were curated to serve as “a bulwark to keep people away and out.” Rather, the trip was a means of escaping those mundane details of finalizing her mother's affairs. The house -- and, more specifically, the squalor in which her parents needlessly lived -- had haunted her for years. “At first the house was untidy, then messy, then dirty, then a shame, a shanda, then squalid. Actual squalor. . . . [I]t really was shameful, to be so educated, with such resources, and live in squalor.” She was happy to be away from it all and soon, hopefully, unburdened by it. "I was bereaved and haunted," she recalls.
As the narrator details walking around London, remembering her mother and the extraordinary life she lived, McCracken often employs a stream of consciousness style, permitting the narrator to veer off on tangents while relating a story. The technique makes the tale believable and authentic. Anyone who has experienced the grief of losing a loved one will recognize aspects of their own experience in the narrator’s recollections of family members and events, and her efforts to come to terms with who her parents were and their legacy. Ordinary objects, words, prictures or specific locations can trigger memories that flood one's consciousness in jagged, disjointed, seemingly random order, as they do the narrator's.
The narrator marvels at many aspects of her mother’s life and personality, as well as her physical characteristics. She remembers her mother saying she sustained a “birth injury” or “forceps injury,” but never a birth defect, and describes her mother’s refusal to let her body inhibit her lifestyle or accomplishments. She was formidable and personable, unique and memorable, and it is not until well into the story that the narrator names her mother’s condition – words she never heard her mother utter until she was fifty-eight years old and the narrator was twenty-six. Of course, to the narrator her “mother’s body was just her body,” and it surprised her when others noticed and/or commented about it, in part because of her mother’s personality. It was also just her body to her mother – never “something to overcome or accept any more than yours was.”
In some respects, her mother’s death came as a surprise. After all her mother had overcome and accomplished in her life, the narrator “was awaiting another resurrection.” When she had to accept that her mother would not survive, she and her brother had to make decisions about her mother’s last days and care. And they chose well, observing that both of her parents had “good deaths . . . from this angle especially, a quiet death in old age, people you love nearby: It feels like luck.” If the definition of being lucky includes being survived by a child who remembers the years spent with you lovingly, even in recognition of your flaws and missteps, the narrator's parents were indeed lucky. She “hated to see them go” and, through the process of losing and missing them, illustrates the various ways in which she knew and understood her parents, while acknowledging that there was much about them, their lives, and their relationship she did not know. And will likely never know. It's another aspect of the narrator’s feelings with which readers who have lost parents will identify. In her grief, the narrator realizes that she “only knew the stories my mother liked to tell, not the ones she’d prefer to forget,” which is, perhaps, a universal parental trait.
The Hero of This Book is an often hilarious and at times heartbreaking, beautifully crafted homage from an empathetic, bereaved daughter to her deceased mother (and, to a lesser degree, father, grandmother, and aunt). Thanks to McCracken's vivid and evocative prose, the narrator's parents and other family members spring back to life on the pages as McCracken details lives well-lived, along with personality quirks and eccentricities, and foibles. Her mother was ferociously private. The narrator wonders how her mother would react to the book, and ponders whether privacy outlives us. Ultimately, as with other weighty issues, she decides not to decide. Because concluding that the dead have no privacy might simply be a way to camouflage and justify her own self-centeredness. Besides, the narrator continues to keep many things secret and the book is her story -- a story she needs to tell -- even if her mother is the hero of it. And make no mistake: the narrator's brilliant, intellectual, stubborn, complicated, and unconventional mother is the undisputed hero of the book . . . and her daughter's life.
The narrator’s ruminations never hit a false or contrived note, revealing her particular worldview and sometimes cheeky philosophies about writing. “I hate novels with unnamed narrators. I didn’t mean to write one. Write enough books and these things will happen. I never meant to write a novel about a writer, either.” She believes that life is all about story: “Your family is the first novel that you know.” Adult readers who are, like the narrator, motherless or orphaned children, may find themselves fondly recalling and missing their own parents as they get to know McCracken's perhaps fictional ones. I certainly did.
Thenks to NetGalley for an Advance Reader's Copy of the book, and to Ecco Books & Bibliolifestyle for a paperback copy.
Forsaken Country by Allen Eskens
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Forsaken Country continues the story of Max Rupert. As the story opens, Max, now forty-five years old, is no longer a homicide detective. He resigned by mailing his badge and service weapon to his partner, Niki Vang. For three-and-a-half years, Max has been living alone in an isolated A-frame cabin that has been in his family for more than one hundred years. He has not shaved or cut his hair in all that time, and is barely recognizable even to himself. Max ensured that his wife's murderer was brought to justice . . . his own way. Then he walked away from the career he loved, retreating from the world as penance for bypassing the system of laws and procedures he swore to uphold. Although Max can walk for miles without seeing another person, the cabin is close enough to Grand Rapids, Minnesota, to permit him to travel into the small town to purchase supplies.
Lyle Voight, former sheriff of Itasca County, and Max met five years ago. In his sixties, Lyle lost his bid for reelection and is now retired, focused on spending time with his six-year-old grandson, Pip. Seeing Lyle in town with Pip and his daughter, Sandy, convinces Max that he has not been living like a true hermit, sans running water and electricity, and growing and hunting his own food without driving to the local grocery store. Thus, his exit from civilization is "destined to fail." So he has his electricity cut off and attempts complete "deprivation," but abandons the experiment when it becomes apparent that he does not have the mindset of a hunter. It is a seminal moment in Eskens' story -- an illustration of the myriad contradictions within Max's psyche that Esken deftly and convincingly explores.
Twice Max dreams about a child -- Pip? -- before Lyle arrives at the cabin asking for his help. Sandy and Pip have been missing for three days and Lyle is adamant that Sandy would never take Pip and vanish. "She wouldn't do that -- not in a million years. You don't just up and leave when you got no cause for it." Sandy divorced Reed Harris, a former deputy sheriff, when he became violent and has sole custody of Pip. Reed was not even granted visitation rights. Lyle's successor, Tate Bolger, was Reed's best friend in high school and the two have a dark and suspicious history. Bolger has refused to commence a full investigation, concluding after a cursory inquiry that Sandy gathered her son and their belongings, and left without telling her live-in boyfriend or parents. Lyle has looked into Max's background and his baffling resignation from the Minneapolis police force, despite being its best detective, according to his former chief. Lyle implores him to help find Sandy and Pip. Max resists because "the world was supposed to leave Max alone -- no favors, no friendships" and without a badge, he wields no authority.
Max's well-honed investigative instincts are as sharp as ever and when he discovers how disinterested Bolger is in the case, he is dismayed at the scant effort Bolger made to satisfy himself that Sandy left of her own accord. He is compelled to help Lyle.
As Eskens relates Max's journey, alternating chapters focus on the fate of Sandy and Pip. In heartbreaking detail, he describes the appearance of a man named Spud at Sandy's home. He demands that she leave Pip with him while she goes to the bank and withdraws thirty thousand dollars, promising that no harm will come to either one of them if she complies. Of course, Spud is lying and as soon as Sandy returns with the money, Spud acts on the orders he has been given by his accomplice: Reed Harris. Spud, a fascinating, fully developed character, brings dimension to the story. When he meets Sandy, he realizes that Reed has lied to him in order to coerce him to participate in a scheme to take Pip away from his mother. Spud lacks initiative and critical thinking skills, but is different, in some significant aspects, than Reed. Eskens demonstrates how Spud, vulnerable and impressionable, has been influenced and used by Reed, but has not entirely lost his humanity. A surprisingly sympathetic character, Eskens ingeniously uses him to keep hope -- and Pip -- alive as Max and Lyle engage in a desperate search for the boy and his mother.
Forsaken Country is a fast-paced thriller. At the outset, Eskens reveals Sandy's fate, drawing readers into his two narratives. One focuses on endearing, innocent, but believably feisty Pip; Spud, the duped kidnapper; and Reed, the truly evil and irredeemable mastermind of the criminal plan. Reed is a narcissist motivated by a desire for revenge because he believes Sandy had no right to separate him from his son. Predictably, he does not care about Pip but views him, rather, as a possession and uses him in a vile tug-of-war. When Reed's true motivations become clear to Spud, he must choose his path. Juxtaposed against the tensions that arise between Reed and his criminal protégé is the story of Max's jumping back into the role of detective alongside Lyle, an experienced peace officer who knows he will have to come to terms with Sandy's likely fate, but is determined to save his grandson. Max knows all too well what a driving force revenge can be. It was his own insistence on retribution that led him to the life he is living when Lyle pleads for his assistance.
But Max no longer has the resources he needs to competently investigate the case at his disposal, so he has to swallow his pride and muster his courage to reach out to Niki. In Eskens' capable telling, theirs is a complicated history and their feelings for each other as intense as the last time they saw each other. They were partners, first and foremost -- dedicated professionals. And Max was married when they worked together, so there were lines they never crossed and emotions they never explored with each other. The scenes depicting their reunion, Niki's provision of assistance while delicately skirting procedural boundaries that could harm her career, and their clearing the air and deciding the future of their relationship are emotionally rich, credible, and riveting. It's not surprising that Eskens says "writing the scenes between him and Niki were my favorite."
As time ticks by and evidence of Reed's plan mounts, the search for Pip intensifies. Eskens sets the last section of the book in the Boundary Water Canoe Area, a wilderness of over a million acres near the Canadian border, as Max and Lyle trail Reed and Spud, who have Pip in tow as they attempt to escape to Canada. It is a grippingly detailed account of a frantic cat-and-mouse chase as Max and Lyle desperately work to anticipate Reed's next maneuver, catch up with him and Spud, and rescue Pip.
Eskens says he planned to feature Max in only three books, but after he completed The Deep Dark Descending, in which Max hunts for his wife's killer and, when he finds him, struggles to balance his devotion to law enforcement with his need for revenge, "I knew I would return to Max to see how his journey had affected him." In Forsaken Country, Eskens examines Max's moral conundrum in depth, as well as the implications of the choice he made. He knew that once he chose to extract revenge, he would have to pay a steep price. Indeed, it was that choice that sent Max into self-imposed exile from his career and relationships, and when Lyle convinces him to assist in the search for Sandy and Pip, Max is surprised at how natural it feels to resume the work he was so good at. But every step toward his old life and work is accompanied by evaluation and consideration. Just getting a haircut, shaving his unruly beard, and buying new clothing make him feel "unfaithful to his exile, as though he was slipping into a skin he shed three years back." It is a skin -- a life -- he is sure he does not deserve to slip back into, in part because he views himself as a fraud. Eskens' depiction of Max's struggle to reconcile his commitment to the law with his own actions is compelling, especially when considered in contrast to Reed's own quest for vengeance.
Eskens also explores the theme of fatherhood in the book. Reed's motives for taking Pip away from his mother are in stark contrast to Lyle's love for his grandson and selfless quest to find him and bring him home. Max did not know his wife was pregnant when she was murdered. He learned later from the medical examiner that in addition to losing his wife, his chance to be a father had been cruelly ripped away from him. "He hadn't understood the true depth of all he'd lost until the medical examiner told him." Reed leaves Pip in Spud's care and, recalling happy times with his own father, Spud acts as a father-figure to Pip, for whom his feelings grow deeper as he gradually understands more about Reed and his true character. Eskens’ male characters facilitate a mediation on "what a father will do for their child, what makes a father good, and what makes one bad. In the end, blood is not necessarily the most important factor."
Eskens elevates his fast-paced, action-packed thriller about parental abduction into a thought-provoking contemplation of ethical boundaries and the costs of revenge, and whether redemption is possible and, if so, if it must be deserved or earned. Eskens' characters are memorable, their stories deeply touching and, in some cases, heartbreaking. Forsaken Country is an entertaining and absorbing combination of mystery and layered, nuanced characterizations in which Eskens again showcases his storytelling prowess.
Thanks to Novel Suspects for a hardbound copy of the book.
Lyle Voight, former sheriff of Itasca County, and Max met five years ago. In his sixties, Lyle lost his bid for reelection and is now retired, focused on spending time with his six-year-old grandson, Pip. Seeing Lyle in town with Pip and his daughter, Sandy, convinces Max that he has not been living like a true hermit, sans running water and electricity, and growing and hunting his own food without driving to the local grocery store. Thus, his exit from civilization is "destined to fail." So he has his electricity cut off and attempts complete "deprivation," but abandons the experiment when it becomes apparent that he does not have the mindset of a hunter. It is a seminal moment in Eskens' story -- an illustration of the myriad contradictions within Max's psyche that Esken deftly and convincingly explores.
Twice Max dreams about a child -- Pip? -- before Lyle arrives at the cabin asking for his help. Sandy and Pip have been missing for three days and Lyle is adamant that Sandy would never take Pip and vanish. "She wouldn't do that -- not in a million years. You don't just up and leave when you got no cause for it." Sandy divorced Reed Harris, a former deputy sheriff, when he became violent and has sole custody of Pip. Reed was not even granted visitation rights. Lyle's successor, Tate Bolger, was Reed's best friend in high school and the two have a dark and suspicious history. Bolger has refused to commence a full investigation, concluding after a cursory inquiry that Sandy gathered her son and their belongings, and left without telling her live-in boyfriend or parents. Lyle has looked into Max's background and his baffling resignation from the Minneapolis police force, despite being its best detective, according to his former chief. Lyle implores him to help find Sandy and Pip. Max resists because "the world was supposed to leave Max alone -- no favors, no friendships" and without a badge, he wields no authority.
Max's well-honed investigative instincts are as sharp as ever and when he discovers how disinterested Bolger is in the case, he is dismayed at the scant effort Bolger made to satisfy himself that Sandy left of her own accord. He is compelled to help Lyle.
As Eskens relates Max's journey, alternating chapters focus on the fate of Sandy and Pip. In heartbreaking detail, he describes the appearance of a man named Spud at Sandy's home. He demands that she leave Pip with him while she goes to the bank and withdraws thirty thousand dollars, promising that no harm will come to either one of them if she complies. Of course, Spud is lying and as soon as Sandy returns with the money, Spud acts on the orders he has been given by his accomplice: Reed Harris. Spud, a fascinating, fully developed character, brings dimension to the story. When he meets Sandy, he realizes that Reed has lied to him in order to coerce him to participate in a scheme to take Pip away from his mother. Spud lacks initiative and critical thinking skills, but is different, in some significant aspects, than Reed. Eskens demonstrates how Spud, vulnerable and impressionable, has been influenced and used by Reed, but has not entirely lost his humanity. A surprisingly sympathetic character, Eskens ingeniously uses him to keep hope -- and Pip -- alive as Max and Lyle engage in a desperate search for the boy and his mother.
Forsaken Country is a fast-paced thriller. At the outset, Eskens reveals Sandy's fate, drawing readers into his two narratives. One focuses on endearing, innocent, but believably feisty Pip; Spud, the duped kidnapper; and Reed, the truly evil and irredeemable mastermind of the criminal plan. Reed is a narcissist motivated by a desire for revenge because he believes Sandy had no right to separate him from his son. Predictably, he does not care about Pip but views him, rather, as a possession and uses him in a vile tug-of-war. When Reed's true motivations become clear to Spud, he must choose his path. Juxtaposed against the tensions that arise between Reed and his criminal protégé is the story of Max's jumping back into the role of detective alongside Lyle, an experienced peace officer who knows he will have to come to terms with Sandy's likely fate, but is determined to save his grandson. Max knows all too well what a driving force revenge can be. It was his own insistence on retribution that led him to the life he is living when Lyle pleads for his assistance.
But Max no longer has the resources he needs to competently investigate the case at his disposal, so he has to swallow his pride and muster his courage to reach out to Niki. In Eskens' capable telling, theirs is a complicated history and their feelings for each other as intense as the last time they saw each other. They were partners, first and foremost -- dedicated professionals. And Max was married when they worked together, so there were lines they never crossed and emotions they never explored with each other. The scenes depicting their reunion, Niki's provision of assistance while delicately skirting procedural boundaries that could harm her career, and their clearing the air and deciding the future of their relationship are emotionally rich, credible, and riveting. It's not surprising that Eskens says "writing the scenes between him and Niki were my favorite."
As time ticks by and evidence of Reed's plan mounts, the search for Pip intensifies. Eskens sets the last section of the book in the Boundary Water Canoe Area, a wilderness of over a million acres near the Canadian border, as Max and Lyle trail Reed and Spud, who have Pip in tow as they attempt to escape to Canada. It is a grippingly detailed account of a frantic cat-and-mouse chase as Max and Lyle desperately work to anticipate Reed's next maneuver, catch up with him and Spud, and rescue Pip.
Eskens says he planned to feature Max in only three books, but after he completed The Deep Dark Descending, in which Max hunts for his wife's killer and, when he finds him, struggles to balance his devotion to law enforcement with his need for revenge, "I knew I would return to Max to see how his journey had affected him." In Forsaken Country, Eskens examines Max's moral conundrum in depth, as well as the implications of the choice he made. He knew that once he chose to extract revenge, he would have to pay a steep price. Indeed, it was that choice that sent Max into self-imposed exile from his career and relationships, and when Lyle convinces him to assist in the search for Sandy and Pip, Max is surprised at how natural it feels to resume the work he was so good at. But every step toward his old life and work is accompanied by evaluation and consideration. Just getting a haircut, shaving his unruly beard, and buying new clothing make him feel "unfaithful to his exile, as though he was slipping into a skin he shed three years back." It is a skin -- a life -- he is sure he does not deserve to slip back into, in part because he views himself as a fraud. Eskens' depiction of Max's struggle to reconcile his commitment to the law with his own actions is compelling, especially when considered in contrast to Reed's own quest for vengeance.
Eskens also explores the theme of fatherhood in the book. Reed's motives for taking Pip away from his mother are in stark contrast to Lyle's love for his grandson and selfless quest to find him and bring him home. Max did not know his wife was pregnant when she was murdered. He learned later from the medical examiner that in addition to losing his wife, his chance to be a father had been cruelly ripped away from him. "He hadn't understood the true depth of all he'd lost until the medical examiner told him." Reed leaves Pip in Spud's care and, recalling happy times with his own father, Spud acts as a father-figure to Pip, for whom his feelings grow deeper as he gradually understands more about Reed and his true character. Eskens’ male characters facilitate a mediation on "what a father will do for their child, what makes a father good, and what makes one bad. In the end, blood is not necessarily the most important factor."
Eskens elevates his fast-paced, action-packed thriller about parental abduction into a thought-provoking contemplation of ethical boundaries and the costs of revenge, and whether redemption is possible and, if so, if it must be deserved or earned. Eskens' characters are memorable, their stories deeply touching and, in some cases, heartbreaking. Forsaken Country is an entertaining and absorbing combination of mystery and layered, nuanced characterizations in which Eskens again showcases his storytelling prowess.
Thanks to Novel Suspects for a hardbound copy of the book.
That Summer in Berlin by Lecia Cornwall
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Author Lecia Cornwall says she found inspiration for That Summer in Berlin when she happened upon an article about young English debutantes being sent to Germany to experience the culture and find husbands. Many believed, even as late as 1939, with war just weeks away, that if the upper classes of the two countries intermarried, another conflict could be avoided. "The idea of titled English debs dancing with young Nazi officers as the threat of war loomed" formed the first thread of the story, Cornwall recalls. The story began to take shape as she learned about the 1936 Olympics which Hitler was convinced by his advisors "would provide a wonderful way to use propaganda to impress the world and show off Aryan culture and superiority." Readers might be surprised to learn that many rituals devised by the Germans for those games continue, including lighting the Olympic flame. During the games, the Germans hid the antisemitism and violence that had already taken hold in the country, putting on a deceptive show of brotherhood and goodwill. Lastly, Cornwall researched 1930's English society, and found that many admired how Germany recovered from the defeat it suffered in World War I to become a world power in steel and chemistry. While the United States and England were mired in Depression, Germany seemed to be flourishing. Great societal changes were occurring, including the entrance, of necessity, of increasing numbers of women into the workplace. Dorothea Lange came to prominence with her starkly beautiful and often heartbreaking photographs depicting the realities of life in the 1930's as the Depression raged on. Cornwall says she "made Viviane Alden a photographer and let her use her camera to tell the truth others tried to hide." The character of Tom Graham is her homage to Matthew Halton, a daring and revered Canadian reporter.
The result is an absorbing story of two people who meet by happenstance, but agree to combine their talent and determination to gather and relay evidence that Germany, under the control of a madman, is intent on taking the world into another war.
As the book opens, Viviane has just broken off her engagement to Philip who, at first glance, appeared to be the perfect man for her -- rich, handsome, titled, and able to give her a life of privilege. However, it became clear they had nothing in common, especially their politics and views on the roles of husband and wife. Viviane's mother is distraught because she is insistent that Viviane must find a suitable husband to provide for her -- Viviane working for a living is unthinkable. The family is gathered at Halliwell for the wedding of Viviane's step-sister in which Tom Graham will serve as best man. They meet when Viviane is determined to go for a swim, despite a brewing storm, on the seventh anniversary of her beloved father's death. He was a celebrated war hero who sustained permanent and, ultimately, fatal injuries to his lungs as a result of a gas attack during World War I. Putting aside his own safety, he returned to the battlefield over and over to rescue his soldiers. His death changed Viviane, making her "harder, sharper, fiercer."
No one knows that, credited as an anonymous photographer, Viviane has been surreptitiously supplying photographs to the newspaper. She slips away to photograph a march of the British Union of Fascists, scheduled on the same day as a workers' march, which Tom is also covering with an assigned photographer. When the two groups meet and the encounter erupts in violence, Viviane fearlessly captures the events on film. Tom thinks he recognizes her at the scene, and becomes convinced when he sees her photographs published in the newspaper.
Tom is the twenty-five-year-old son of a single, Scottish mother and the Earl of Strathwood who provided for him financially, including his education at Cambridge, but has never acknowledged him publicly. Tom has only met his father twice, and has no interest in curating a relationship with him or his half-siblings. Aside from his education, Tom has made his own way in the world, successfully straddling the working and upper classes to his advantage. So he is surprised when he is summoned to a meeting with his editor and his father joins them. At the behest of Winston Churchill, he is recruited to work for a new government agency with a posting in Berlin where he will report on the upcoming Olympics, as well as German advancements in technology, industry, and science, and society events. His assignment is to fit in to German society and gain the Germans' trust, appearing sympathetic to their cause in order to gain exclusive access to press tours and secure interviews. He will be required to "write about the regime in glowing terms" in order to clandestinely discover and transmit the truth.
Viviane's stepfather, Lord Rutherford, is a supporter of Germany and its Nazi government because of the way it has restored prosperity and pride to the country. His friend, Count Georg von Schroeder, invites Julia, Viviane's step-sister, to spend the summer with his family in Germany and attend the Olympics. Rutherford insists Julia will be safe, despite news reports about increasing violence in Germany, and when she hears that von Schroeder has three sons and lives in a castle in the Alps, she is intent on going. "Other young ladies are going to Germany, girls from the finest English families," Rutherford explains. "They get a bit of international polish, visit music festivals, see the mountains, and come home with a greater understanding of how the world works. Surely that can only forge closer social ties and peace between our two nations." Julia must have a chaperone, and Viviane's mother is eager to press her into service. Viviane does not want to go to Germany, but knows that if she remains in England, her mother will continue attempting to force her into marriage.
When Tom learns that Viviane has a chance to spend the summer in Germany, he urges her to "use your talents, expose terrible wrongs with your photographs, possibly even prevent another war." He reveals he learned her secret the day of the riot and convinces her that they will make a good team, especially since he knows why she ended her engagement. She will be the guest of a Count, and have access to places Tom does not. She will be free to take as many photographs as she wants because no one will suspect she is anything but an English socialite on holiday, snapping pictures for her photo album.
Viviane and Julia are welcomed into the von Schroeder family home. They are high-ranking members of the Nazi party. Youngest son Klaus is an enthusiastic member of the Hitler Youth, preparing to follow in the footsteps of oldest son Otto, an Obersturmfürher (equivalent to the rank of lieutenant) with the SD (the security service known to be "more terrifying than the Spanish Inquisition"). Middle son Felix is a research chemist serving as the assistant director of an agricultural laboratory, purportedly perfecting pesticides in order to increase crop production. The Countess is an emphatic disciple of Hitler, while the Count appears more reticent -- which has come to the attention of Nazi leaders -- and openly expresses a desire to see Otto marry an English girl and settle with her in Britain.
Cornwell convincingly takes readers along on Viviane's trek as she, Julia, and the von Schroeder family make their way across Germany to Berlin where they will attend the Olympic games. For Viviane, it is a life-changing journey. At first, she wonders if reports about German activities and ideologies were exaggerated. She initially sees a thriving, beautiful country, but disturbing observations and incidents tell a different story. Germany is indeed on good behavior -- except when Viviane makes the mistake of conversing with a Jewish man they happen upon and the group proceeds to a charming village in which someone forgot to take down a sign declaring it to be "proudly Jew free." Such signs are forbidden for the duration of the Olympic games so that the multitude of tourists do not have "any misunderstandings about Germany." In contrast, young (barely eighteen) and impressionable Julia is aggressively wooed by Otto, who is clearly determined to marry an English aristocrat, in part, to advance his position within the Nazi party. He lavishes gifts on Julia, one of which Viviane finds particularly abhorrent and horrifying, but Julia is thoroughly smitten and sees only what she wants to see, ignoring Viviane's warnings.
Otto is charming and refined, but Viviane immediately catches flashes of darkness and menacing in his forced smiles and transparently phony gestures of hospitality. Felix is a bit of an enigma. He is witty and irreverent, but also intellectual. And Cornwall deftly keeps Viviane, as well as readers, guessing about his allegiances within his powerful, but ideologically fractured family and to his country. The matter seems settled when he introduces Viviane to his professor, mentor, and the director of the lab where he works, Solomon Hitzig. He has been allowed to remain in Germany because his brilliant work is valuable to and needed by the Nazis, but when Viviane learns about his scientific accomplishments and the history of their implementation, she is appalled and overcome by painful memories. Still, it seems that Felix truly cares for Hitzig and is trustworthy, and when he enlists her assistance, Viviane must navigate a moral dilemma. All the while, she takes photographs of the subjects Tom has instructed her to capture, but her activities do not appear benign to at least one astute observer. Tom warns her not to trust anyone, as he perceives their mission growing increasingly dangerous. Cornwall expertly accelerates the tale's pace and dramatic tension as the Olympics get underway and Viviane finds herself in peril once the motivations and actions of Cornwall's intriguing cast of characters are revealed.
From the moment he meets her, Tom is intrigued with Viviane, recognizing that she is not just a vapid aristocrat but, rather, a deep thinker with dreams and desires. Viviane soon learns that Tom is not entitled and spoiled like the other young men who have assembled for her step-sister's wedding. He recognizes her talent for capturing the very essence of the subjects she photographs, treating her as a capable equal who can make a great contribution to the effort to prevent war. Over time they grow closer, but Viviane must come to terms with the truth about her past. A false narrative informed her choices and self-concept, and she is forced to re-evaluate her beliefs, principles, and desires. Tom faces a similar crisis as a result of his journalistic pursuits in Germany. While he knows that he has helped the war effort by gathering information, his byline has led everyone to view him as a Nazi sympathizer when, in reality, he is anything but. Cornwall's depiction of their introspection is credible and touching because both characters are endearing. Early in the tale she establishes that they are honorable people, both of whom have grown up in worlds in which they don't truly belong. Standing apart from their peers, both have evolved into keen observers and documentarians -- Tom with words, Viviane with photographs. Viviane's father died penniless and rumors swirled about the circumstances surrounding his death, and her mother married Lord Rutherford solely for security. Tom is the illegitimate son of a nobleman who was only able to attend a top-notch college and become enmeshed in the upper echelons of society because of his father's vast fortune. Neither wants to be constrained by the circumstances of their birth or childhood, or conform to societal of familial. Both of them are brave and stubbornly devoted to uncovering the truth, even if that requires sacrifices.
At its core, That Summer in Berlin is a fascinating, pointed, and timely look at a specific point in history -- a summer when Germany sought to deceive the world, using the Olympic games as a backdrop, while secretly constructing concentration camps, expelling Jews and others who failed to live up to their Aryan ideal from their homes and professions, and developing weaponry that would ultimately take the lives of millions. Cornwall examines it primarily from the perspective of an intelligent woman who defies societal expectations. Rather, she plays upon those expectations, using them to camouflage the significance of the actions in which she engages in plain sight.
Cornwall says she hopes That Summer in Berlin will inspire readers "to be bold and brave in their own life, find their own path and make their dreams a reality." Because, as she demonstrates through the journeys of Viviane and Tom, "sometimes unexpected opportunities can lead us to exactly where we were meant to go if we’re brave enough to accept the challenges."
Thanks to NetGalley for an Advance Reader's Copy of the book.
The result is an absorbing story of two people who meet by happenstance, but agree to combine their talent and determination to gather and relay evidence that Germany, under the control of a madman, is intent on taking the world into another war.
As the book opens, Viviane has just broken off her engagement to Philip who, at first glance, appeared to be the perfect man for her -- rich, handsome, titled, and able to give her a life of privilege. However, it became clear they had nothing in common, especially their politics and views on the roles of husband and wife. Viviane's mother is distraught because she is insistent that Viviane must find a suitable husband to provide for her -- Viviane working for a living is unthinkable. The family is gathered at Halliwell for the wedding of Viviane's step-sister in which Tom Graham will serve as best man. They meet when Viviane is determined to go for a swim, despite a brewing storm, on the seventh anniversary of her beloved father's death. He was a celebrated war hero who sustained permanent and, ultimately, fatal injuries to his lungs as a result of a gas attack during World War I. Putting aside his own safety, he returned to the battlefield over and over to rescue his soldiers. His death changed Viviane, making her "harder, sharper, fiercer."
No one knows that, credited as an anonymous photographer, Viviane has been surreptitiously supplying photographs to the newspaper. She slips away to photograph a march of the British Union of Fascists, scheduled on the same day as a workers' march, which Tom is also covering with an assigned photographer. When the two groups meet and the encounter erupts in violence, Viviane fearlessly captures the events on film. Tom thinks he recognizes her at the scene, and becomes convinced when he sees her photographs published in the newspaper.
Tom is the twenty-five-year-old son of a single, Scottish mother and the Earl of Strathwood who provided for him financially, including his education at Cambridge, but has never acknowledged him publicly. Tom has only met his father twice, and has no interest in curating a relationship with him or his half-siblings. Aside from his education, Tom has made his own way in the world, successfully straddling the working and upper classes to his advantage. So he is surprised when he is summoned to a meeting with his editor and his father joins them. At the behest of Winston Churchill, he is recruited to work for a new government agency with a posting in Berlin where he will report on the upcoming Olympics, as well as German advancements in technology, industry, and science, and society events. His assignment is to fit in to German society and gain the Germans' trust, appearing sympathetic to their cause in order to gain exclusive access to press tours and secure interviews. He will be required to "write about the regime in glowing terms" in order to clandestinely discover and transmit the truth.
Viviane's stepfather, Lord Rutherford, is a supporter of Germany and its Nazi government because of the way it has restored prosperity and pride to the country. His friend, Count Georg von Schroeder, invites Julia, Viviane's step-sister, to spend the summer with his family in Germany and attend the Olympics. Rutherford insists Julia will be safe, despite news reports about increasing violence in Germany, and when she hears that von Schroeder has three sons and lives in a castle in the Alps, she is intent on going. "Other young ladies are going to Germany, girls from the finest English families," Rutherford explains. "They get a bit of international polish, visit music festivals, see the mountains, and come home with a greater understanding of how the world works. Surely that can only forge closer social ties and peace between our two nations." Julia must have a chaperone, and Viviane's mother is eager to press her into service. Viviane does not want to go to Germany, but knows that if she remains in England, her mother will continue attempting to force her into marriage.
When Tom learns that Viviane has a chance to spend the summer in Germany, he urges her to "use your talents, expose terrible wrongs with your photographs, possibly even prevent another war." He reveals he learned her secret the day of the riot and convinces her that they will make a good team, especially since he knows why she ended her engagement. She will be the guest of a Count, and have access to places Tom does not. She will be free to take as many photographs as she wants because no one will suspect she is anything but an English socialite on holiday, snapping pictures for her photo album.
Viviane and Julia are welcomed into the von Schroeder family home. They are high-ranking members of the Nazi party. Youngest son Klaus is an enthusiastic member of the Hitler Youth, preparing to follow in the footsteps of oldest son Otto, an Obersturmfürher (equivalent to the rank of lieutenant) with the SD (the security service known to be "more terrifying than the Spanish Inquisition"). Middle son Felix is a research chemist serving as the assistant director of an agricultural laboratory, purportedly perfecting pesticides in order to increase crop production. The Countess is an emphatic disciple of Hitler, while the Count appears more reticent -- which has come to the attention of Nazi leaders -- and openly expresses a desire to see Otto marry an English girl and settle with her in Britain.
Cornwell convincingly takes readers along on Viviane's trek as she, Julia, and the von Schroeder family make their way across Germany to Berlin where they will attend the Olympic games. For Viviane, it is a life-changing journey. At first, she wonders if reports about German activities and ideologies were exaggerated. She initially sees a thriving, beautiful country, but disturbing observations and incidents tell a different story. Germany is indeed on good behavior -- except when Viviane makes the mistake of conversing with a Jewish man they happen upon and the group proceeds to a charming village in which someone forgot to take down a sign declaring it to be "proudly Jew free." Such signs are forbidden for the duration of the Olympic games so that the multitude of tourists do not have "any misunderstandings about Germany." In contrast, young (barely eighteen) and impressionable Julia is aggressively wooed by Otto, who is clearly determined to marry an English aristocrat, in part, to advance his position within the Nazi party. He lavishes gifts on Julia, one of which Viviane finds particularly abhorrent and horrifying, but Julia is thoroughly smitten and sees only what she wants to see, ignoring Viviane's warnings.
Otto is charming and refined, but Viviane immediately catches flashes of darkness and menacing in his forced smiles and transparently phony gestures of hospitality. Felix is a bit of an enigma. He is witty and irreverent, but also intellectual. And Cornwall deftly keeps Viviane, as well as readers, guessing about his allegiances within his powerful, but ideologically fractured family and to his country. The matter seems settled when he introduces Viviane to his professor, mentor, and the director of the lab where he works, Solomon Hitzig. He has been allowed to remain in Germany because his brilliant work is valuable to and needed by the Nazis, but when Viviane learns about his scientific accomplishments and the history of their implementation, she is appalled and overcome by painful memories. Still, it seems that Felix truly cares for Hitzig and is trustworthy, and when he enlists her assistance, Viviane must navigate a moral dilemma. All the while, she takes photographs of the subjects Tom has instructed her to capture, but her activities do not appear benign to at least one astute observer. Tom warns her not to trust anyone, as he perceives their mission growing increasingly dangerous. Cornwall expertly accelerates the tale's pace and dramatic tension as the Olympics get underway and Viviane finds herself in peril once the motivations and actions of Cornwall's intriguing cast of characters are revealed.
From the moment he meets her, Tom is intrigued with Viviane, recognizing that she is not just a vapid aristocrat but, rather, a deep thinker with dreams and desires. Viviane soon learns that Tom is not entitled and spoiled like the other young men who have assembled for her step-sister's wedding. He recognizes her talent for capturing the very essence of the subjects she photographs, treating her as a capable equal who can make a great contribution to the effort to prevent war. Over time they grow closer, but Viviane must come to terms with the truth about her past. A false narrative informed her choices and self-concept, and she is forced to re-evaluate her beliefs, principles, and desires. Tom faces a similar crisis as a result of his journalistic pursuits in Germany. While he knows that he has helped the war effort by gathering information, his byline has led everyone to view him as a Nazi sympathizer when, in reality, he is anything but. Cornwall's depiction of their introspection is credible and touching because both characters are endearing. Early in the tale she establishes that they are honorable people, both of whom have grown up in worlds in which they don't truly belong. Standing apart from their peers, both have evolved into keen observers and documentarians -- Tom with words, Viviane with photographs. Viviane's father died penniless and rumors swirled about the circumstances surrounding his death, and her mother married Lord Rutherford solely for security. Tom is the illegitimate son of a nobleman who was only able to attend a top-notch college and become enmeshed in the upper echelons of society because of his father's vast fortune. Neither wants to be constrained by the circumstances of their birth or childhood, or conform to societal of familial. Both of them are brave and stubbornly devoted to uncovering the truth, even if that requires sacrifices.
At its core, That Summer in Berlin is a fascinating, pointed, and timely look at a specific point in history -- a summer when Germany sought to deceive the world, using the Olympic games as a backdrop, while secretly constructing concentration camps, expelling Jews and others who failed to live up to their Aryan ideal from their homes and professions, and developing weaponry that would ultimately take the lives of millions. Cornwall examines it primarily from the perspective of an intelligent woman who defies societal expectations. Rather, she plays upon those expectations, using them to camouflage the significance of the actions in which she engages in plain sight.
Cornwall says she hopes That Summer in Berlin will inspire readers "to be bold and brave in their own life, find their own path and make their dreams a reality." Because, as she demonstrates through the journeys of Viviane and Tom, "sometimes unexpected opportunities can lead us to exactly where we were meant to go if we’re brave enough to accept the challenges."
Thanks to NetGalley for an Advance Reader's Copy of the book.