Rodin's Lover by Heather Webb

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

Obtained from: Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours/Netgalley

Read: February 11, 2015

A mesmerizing tale of art and passion in Belle Époque France. As a woman, aspiring sculptor Camille Claudel has plenty of critics, especially her ultra-traditional mother. But when Auguste Rodin makes Camille his apprentice—and his muse—their passion inspires groundbreaking works. Yet, Camille’s success is overshadowed by her lover’s rising star, and her obsessions cross the line into madness. Rodin’s Lover brings to life the volatile love affair between one of the era’s greatest artists and a woman entwined in a tragic dilemma she cannot escape.

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Camille Claudel and Jessie Lipscomb

It's rare that I pick up a book with a premise I know nothing about, but that's exactly what happened with Heather Webb's Rodin's Lover. Before cracking this fiction I'd honestly never heard of Camille Claudel and the only thing I knew about Rodin came from Catherine Zeta Zones in 1999's The Haunting. A virtual blank slate, I had no idea where this story would take me, but I loved watching it come to light in Webb's hands. 

Camille was a difficult character for me to appreciate, but I liked Webb's interpretation of her just the same. This is a woman who is dedicated, imaginative and driven to succeed on her own merit, but she is also flawed. She is prone to jealousy and anger and suffers demons few if any can understand. She is complex beginning to end, an individual whose creativity is stifled by mental illness and I stand in awe of how Webb brought that concept to life. 

I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of time Webb spent in both Camille and Auguste's workrooms. I remember being disappointed with The Queen's Dollmaker and Madame Tussaud for the lack attention paid the heroine's craft, but Webb didn't gloss over Camille's passion, not by a long shot. She actually dedicates several pages to the art of sculpture and I think that went a long way in developing Camille's creative personality and illustrating how much of an anomaly she was as female artist in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Speaking of Rodin, I thought Webb's decision to alternate between Camille and her lover one of the most inspired aspects of the narrative. Unlike Abelard in The Sharp Hook of Love, Rodin's motivations and interest in Claudel are tangible and concrete. There is no ambiguity in his emotions or conflicting loyalties and I think Rodin's Lover a stronger piece for it. 

There is a large supporting cast, but I particularly liked Jessie Lipscomb. She is like Camille in some ways, remarkably different in others, but what I liked is that Webb didn't paint her as weak or inferior to Claudel. Jessie has a particular personality, a strength that contrasts and challenges Camille's and I thought that very interesting. There is a tendency to paint women as dominant or submissive, independent or reliant, and I liked how Webb's approach acknowledged the grey area in between and touched on the idea that people can vary and that doesn't necessarily make one better than the next.

The novel is long and slows in places, but I enjoyed the time I spent with Rodin's Lover. The material challenged me, but I don't think a bad thing and would certainly recommend the piece to fans of both historic and romantic fiction. 

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 She did not regret her suffering or the perception it had brought; it had taught her everything— it was a gift, even, allowing her to know, to absorb the emotions of others in all their intimacy, so she might depict their joys or exquisite pain. The beauty— that which she left behind— would transcend the tragedy of her life. This truth tingled in the depths of her soul and somewhere within she was proud.

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Check Out All the Stops on Heather Webb's Rodin’s Lover Blog Tour Schedule

Monday, January 19
Review & Giveaway at Let Them Read Books
Review at With Her Nose Stuck in a Book

Tuesday, January 20
Review at Broken Teepee
Spotlight at Boom Baby Reviews

Wednesday, January 21
Review at Oh, for the Hook of a Book!

Thursday, January 22
Review at History From a Woman’s Perspective

Friday, January 23
Review at Teddy Rose Book Reviews Plus More

Monday, January 26
Review at Poof Books
Review at Ageless Pages Reviews

Tuesday, January 27
Review at Library Educated
Spotlight at The Lit Bitch

Wednesday, January 28
Review & Giveaway at Peeking Between the Pages

Thursday, January 29
Review at Book Babe
Review at The Book Binder’s Daughter

Friday, January 30
Review at Book Drunkard

Monday, February 2
Review at Unabridged Chick

Tuesday, February 3
Review at Caroline Wilson Writes
Interview at Unabridged Chick

Wednesday, February 4
Review at Brooke Blogs

Thursday, February 5
Review at A Book Geek

Monday, February 9
Review at A Literary Vacation
Review at CelticLady’s Reviews

Tuesday, February 10
Review at The True Book Addict

Wednesday, February 11
Review at 100 Pages a Day – Stephanie’s Book Reviews

Thursday, February 12
Review at Flashlight Commentary
Spotlight at Historical Readings & Reviews

Friday, February 13
Review at The Maiden’s Court
Spotlight at Historical Fiction Connection

The Gathering Dawn by Sally Laity & Dianna Crawford

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

Obtained from: Personal Library

Read: February 10, 2015 (Reread)

Susannah Harington, a beautiful young Englishwoman, comes to America to build a new life in the Colonies, only to find he dreams dashed before they even begin... Barely does she set foot on American soil before she is embroiled in the schemes and intrigues against the British Crown... Daniel Haynes is a bold and courageous post-rider, whose Christian beliefs more him to work secretly in the fight for freedom from England... and whose revolutionary activities put him in constant danger... Amid the conflict and drama of the Colonies in uprising, these two people meet, drawn together by circumstance and unexpected emotions. But tragedy and treachery separate them, and only their faith in God - and a miracle - can bring them together again. A gripping drama of love and triumph is set against the colorful backdrop of pre-Revolutionary America.

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I get a lot of flak from fans of Christian lit. To each their own, I'm not holding any grudges, but I ruffle feathers and there's nothing wrong with acknowledging the fact. I understand where it comes from and I don't mean to make waves, it’s just something that happens. I have this silly idea that religion is a theme and shouldn't overwhelm every element of the story, I have a problem with characters who can do no wrong and I think most authors in this genre have trouble with heavier material. Thing is, a lot of these stories also have historic twists, so despite my difficulties, I keep coming back. 

What does this have to do The Gathering Dawn by Sally Laity and Dianna Crawford? Well, The Gathering Dawn is actually one of the first Christian titles I ever read. I loved it and it stands as proof that I don't hate every Christian title I tackle. I've actually reread it a couple of times and truth be told, I've been itching to revisit it since 2011 when I reviewed Rose's Pledge. The Harwood House series reunited Laity and Crawford and it had a lot of great things going for it, but I struggled with the similarity it bore to their Freedom's Holy Light series, particularly books one and two, The Gathering Dawn and The Kindled Flame. 

So, did I discover anything interesting? Did my opinion change with age and experience? Not really. The books are scarily similar in places, but I think the older series superior in a lot of ways. 

Both dig into the realities of indentured servitude, but the location of the Lyon's Den and the unique make-up of its staff and patrons provide a better platform than Miss Harwood's adventure in the wilderness. The reader witnesses the legalities of Susannah’s circumstances when she negotiates her contract, is exposed to the social consequences of her decision in various ways day after day after day, and sees the harsher truths of her position through Mary Clare and Christopher. These are things Rose’s venture didn’t afford and once again left me wondering why the authors recycled the idea nearly two decades later. Were they hoping no one would notice?

There is a considerable amount of deeply religious dialogue and reflection in the novel, but it makes sense in context of the story. Jonathon, Steven, Morgan, Robert and Daniel all study at Princeton, a college who sought to train men to become ‘ornaments of the State as well as the Church,’ so theological discussions of faith fit the situation. A cameo appearance by English Anglican cleric George Whitefield allowed Laity and Crawford to delve even further into the subject, but again, the scene felt perfectly natural within the framework of the story. 

I personally love the heightened sense of drama illustrated in Susannah's relationship with Ted as the siblings find themselves on opposites sides of the colonial move for independence. Julia's story line is sad, but I couldn't help appreciating Laity and Crawford’s attempt to incorporate tragedy into their narrative, especially when so many of their peers focus on happy endings for all. Silas’s struggle echoes the same idea and at risk of sounding like a broken record, I appreciate the courage the authors exhibited in taking a fairly light piece to such a difficult place.  

The writing itself isn't my favorite, but I think The Gathering Dawn a fun piece nonetheless. It's a wonderful cornerstone for the series and illustrates the balance of faith and fiction I hope to find every time I venture to into inspired fiction. 

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"To the British," Reverend Cooper added, "you'll appear as just one of many postriders. But your route will fluctuate according to need. Among yours other courier duties, Daniel, you'll be informed of ships that must be unloaded in secret. You'll relay word to the other patriots and arrange help for the transfer of cargo to shore." His eyes twinkled as a smile spread over his face. "Sounds a bit more 'helpful,' does it not?"

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Interview with Jerome Charyn, author of I Am Abraham: A Novel of Lincoln and the Civil War

Author interviews are one of my favorite things to post which is why I am super excited to welcome author Jerome Charyn to Flashlight Commentary to discuss I Am Abraham: A Novel of Lincoln and the Civil War. 

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Welcome to Flashlight Commentary Jerome. It’s great to have you with us. To start things off, please tell us a bit about I Am Abraham. 
It was an impossible task, and I needed to attempt the impossible.  I needed to be on a tightrope ready to fall.   When I wrote The Secret Life of Emily Dickinson* it was much easier to find the music of Emily Dickinson’s voice, not only because we have her poems, but because we have those extraordinary letters where she assumes so many masks.  She can be Scarlett O’Hara, or Cleopatra, or a total witch in the same sentence.  I didn’t have the same luxury with Lincoln.  I had to invent the voice, from his speeches, from letters we have, and from the tall tales that he told.  But somehow from the start, I always had Huck Finn in mind, and I thought, what would Huck Finn sound like when he grew up? And that’s how I dreamt my way into Lincoln’s voice.

As an author, what drew you to Lincoln?  
Lincoln had two serious bouts of depression during his life – at least two that we can confirm.  The first followed the death of Anne Rutledge and the second came after he “jilted” Mary Todd, and this was a way for me to enter the novel and also a key to unlock his voice.   But, as novelist Jay Neugeboren said to me during a debate at a Manhattan bookshop, I wasn’t really writing about Lincoln, I was writing about myself; and in a way I put on Lincoln’s beard and stovepipe hat and wandered into his White House, and I’ve never been able to wander out.

One of the most amazing things about I Am Abraham is that you wrote the novel in his voice. How did you go about doing this? 
Well, it wasn’t easy.  But remember, he had such a poor education, I felt that our backgrounds weren’t that different.  And therefore I could enter into his psyche in a way and also his great sadness.  And also I suffer from depression, so I felt an immediate intimacy with that.  And once I could enter into that world, the music began to flow.  Only a crazy man would write a novel in Lincoln’s voice.

Did you find it difficult to separate the man from his legacy? 
Lincoln was unschooled.  His mother, father and stepmother were illiterate—his father refused to allow him to read and even threw his books into the fire.  And yet he understood from a very early age the power of words, and his need to define himself through language.  Where did the power of his great speeches come from?  No other president ever wrote with the same music and eloquence and sadness.  He was literally a man who redefined himself with every speech, with every letter, with every gesture.  This is one reason why he fell in love with Shakespeare.  He could impose himself on Shakespeare’s great heroes and villains: Falstaff, Hamlet, Richard III, Macbeth, and Lady Macbeth.  Because he himself was Shakespearean, as Edmund Wilson suggests in Patriotic Gore, he imposed himself upon the nation as a poet.

I like that you didn’t shy away from illustrating Lincoln’s intimate relationship with Mary, but I wonder, why did you feel Lincoln’s sexuality so important? 
Very few historians have been willing to see them as sexual creatures, and that's one of the things that was important to me, to really try to explore what was the attraction between this very tall man and this very short woman. Well, you know, she was a kind of a foxy lady. She was quite attractive, and she fell in love with him, and he jilted her, and she waited, and she waited, and she waited, and he came back. That's a great love story.

Unlike many authors, you portrayed Mrs. Lincoln as strong and intelligent woman. What led to this interpretation of her character?
There have been so many depictions of Mary that it is hard to tell the difference between the woman and the myth. Like Emily Dickinson, Mary was much too intelligent and forceful for her own time. She suffered as most women suffered in the nineteenth century. She had been Lincoln's first general – he wouldn't have become president without her – and yet once they arrived in the White House, she was divorced from politics and thrown out of Lincoln's inner circle. She was cast off to redecorate the White House. She overspent, became a kind of hoarder, and almost committed treason – all in a search for her own political equilibrium. 

Robert also enjoyed your attention. Why place such emphasis on the eldest of the Lincoln children? 
Robert was Mary's favorite – the child she consumed with love. She pampered him, educated him, made sure he went off to Harvard. What might Lincoln have felt about the kingly station of Harvard? Didn't it make him feel uncomfortable? And yet he fought in every way so his son could get in. Robert was moody, very ambivalent about his father's fame and presidency. Mary also wanted to make sure that Robert would never have to go off to war. And yet how could Lincoln protect his own child when he was sending off so many men and boys to their deaths? He had to plead with Grant as a father, and not as President of the United States, to accept Robert into his own military family. It pained Lincoln to make this plea, but he did it for Mary. And somehow by protecting Robert, he impaired himself. He wished he was the one who could have gone off to war.  

Elizabeth Keckley makes an appearance in I Am Abraham. What inspired you to include her?
I was both troubled and perplexed by the mystery and strength of Elizabeth Keckly, who served as Mary's dressmaker and confidante. A former slave, Keckly bought her own freedom and established her own dressmaker shop in Washington, DC. Jefferson Davis and Robert E. Lee were among her most important clients prior to the Civil War, yet her relationship with Mary Lincoln, so tightfisted, moody, and belligerent, is almost Shakespearean. Keckly practically lived in the White House; in my novel, she actually has her quarters in the attic. She is the only one who could soothe Mary's blinding headaches and fits of depression. Lincoln learned to respect her but could never feel the same intimacy. Keckly herself was a kind of war widow; her only son died fighting for the Union, and yet she wouldn't mourn her son's death in any conventional way. She was also the one who introduced Mary Lincoln to spiritualism and accompanied Mary to many of the séances in Georgetown, both of them believing that somehow they could commune with their dead children.  

Mrs. Small is one of the few fictional characters in your story. Did you enjoy the freedom of playing with a character that had no direct historic counterpart? 
I wanted to play with the notion of a female Secret Service agent and this was historically correct.  The fictional Mrs. Small was one of the first female Pinkertons. What was important about her is that she was from Lincoln’s own social class, therefor there was an immediate bond between them and a sense of play that would not have been there if both of their backgrounds hadn’t been modest.  He could afford to let down his guard with Mrs. Small and she could afford to protect him in a way that she would not have done with any other man, president.

What is your favorite scene in the novel? 
I thought that Lincoln’s arrival in Richmond was the most important day of his life.  The Rebels had just scattered, Jeff Davis had run off with all his papers and secretaries.  There were still sharpshooters lying around when Lincoln decided to go to Richmond with his son Tad on his twelfth birthday.  He didn’t want to arrive as a conqueror, but as someone who could unite the country.  There were no welcoming parties.  Southerners hid in their houses and heaped scorn on him.  The slaves of Richmond came out to greet him and he arrived at the Rebel White House with these new strange bodyguards.  It was the most heroic act of his life.

What scene posed the greatest challenge for you?

Well, the history's a kind of frame and a straightjacket at the same time. You know, you have to deal with the Civil War, you have to deal with... the love for Mary, and the Emancipation Proclamation, which for me was the most important American document ever written. So you have to stretch that straightjacket and push the fiction inside it. Then you have a kind of explosion, and that's what I wanted to do.

Sometimes fiction takes on a life of its own and forces the author to make sacrifices for the sake of the story. Is there a character or concept you wish you could have spent more time on?
Yes, I wish I could have spent more time on Lincoln’s father; actually, I did write a scene where Lincoln does visit his father after he himself had become a famous lawyer, but it didn’t really fit into the book and I had to take it out.  Perhaps it will find its way into the theatrical adaptation I am doing of I Am Abraham.

If you could ask Lincoln one question, what would it be? 
I would ask him, how did you keep your humanness during such a bloody time?

What do you hope readers take from reading I Am Abraham? 
Lincoln is the only president, other than George Washington, who grows more and more modern. We tend to see Washington's limits as a man and as a general and yet fail to understand that he shaped our country in a way that no other president ever could.

Lincoln also redefined the presidency.  He was our president-poet-soldier, who had no vanity, nor any desire to embellish himself.  He never understood the psyche of African-Americans, and yet he finally understood that we could have no country without them.  No other president could have imagined and conceived the Emancipation Proclamation.

What's next for you? Do you have a new project in the works? 
I am working on another book about Emily Dickinson, trying to unravel all of her wonders.  I’ve done a collection of stories, called Bitter Bronx: Thirteen Stories and will be released on June 15th by Liveright/W.W. Norton. 

These stories are about the destruction of the Bronx because of the mad vision of Robert Moses who built a highway right down the middle of the borough and killed the southern half.  

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PRAISE FOR I AM ABRAHAM: A NOVEL OF LINCOLN AND THE CIVIL WAR

“Thoughtful, observant and droll.” — Richard Brookhiser, New York Times Book Review

“Not only the best novel about President Lincoln since Gore Vidal’s Lincoln in 1984, but it is also twice as good to read.” — Gabor Boritt, author of The Lincoln Enigma and recipient of the National Humanities Medal

“Jerome Charyn [is] a fearless writer… Brave and brazen… The book is daringly imagined, written with exuberance, and with a remarkable command of historical detail. It gives us a human Lincoln besieged by vividly drawn enemies and allies… Placing Lincoln within the web ordinary and sometimes petty human relations is no small achievement.” — Andrew Delbanco, New York Review of Books

“Audacious as ever, Jerome Charyn now casts his novelist’s gimlet eye on sad-souled Abraham Lincoln, a man of many parts, who controls events and people—wife, sons, a splintering nation—even though they often are, as they must be, beyond his compassion or power. Brooding, dreamlike, resonant, and studded with strutting characters, I Am Abraham is as wide and deep and morally sure as its wonderful subjects.” — Brenda Wineapple, author of Ecstatic Nation: Confidence, Crisis, and Compassion: 1848-1877

“If all historians—or any historian—could write with the magnetic charm and authoritative verve of Jerome Charyn, American readers would be fighting over the privilege of learning about their past. They can learn much from this book—an audacious, first-person novel that makes Lincoln the most irresistible figure of a compelling story singed with equal doses of comedy, tragedy, and moral grandeur. Here is something beyond history and approaching art.” — Harold Holzer, chairman, Lincoln Bicentennial Foundation

“Jerome Charyn is one of the most important writers in American literature.” — Michael Chabon

“Jerome Charyn is merely one of our finest writers with a polymorphous imagination and crack comic timing. Whatever milieu he chooses to inhabit, his characters sizzle with life, and his sentences are pure vernacular music, his voice unmistakable.” — Jonathan Lethem

“Charyn, like Nabokov, is that most fiendish sort of writer—so seductive as to beg imitation, so singular as to make imitation impossible.” — Tom Bissell

“One of our most intriguing fiction writers takes on the story of Honest Abe, narrating the tale in Lincoln’s voice and offering a revealing portrait of a man as flawed as he was great.” — Abbe Wright, O, The Oprah Magazine

“Jerome Charyn, like Daniel Day-Lewis in Steven Spielberg’s superb 2012 movie, manages a feat of ventriloquism to be admired… Most of all, Lincoln comes across as human and not some remote giant… With that, Jerome Charyn has given Lincoln a most appropriate present for what would have been his 205th birthday this month: rebirth not as a marble memorial but as a three-dimensional human who overcame much to save his nation.” — Erik Spanberg, Christian Science Monitor

“Daring… Memorable… Charyn’s richly textured portrait captures the pragmatism, cunning, despair, and moral strength of a man who could have empathy for his bitterest foes, and who ‘had never outgrown the forest and a dirt floor.’” — The New Yorker

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Jerome Charyn is an award-winning American author. With nearly 50 published works, Charyn has earned a long-standing reputation as an inventive and prolific chronicler of real and imagined American life. Michael Chabon calls him “one of the most important writers in American literature.” New York Newsday hailed Charyn as “a contemporary American Balzac,”and the Los Angeles Times described him as “absolutely unique among American writers.” Since the 1964 release of Charyn’s first novel, Once Upon a Droshky, he has published 30 novels, three memoirs, eight graphic novels, two books about film, short stories, plays and works of non-fiction. Two of his memoirs were named New York Times Book of the Year. Charyn has been a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction. He received the Rosenthal Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and has been named Commander of Arts and Letters by the French Minister of Culture. Charyn was Distinguished Professor of Film Studies at the American University of Paris until he left teaching in 2009. In addition to his writing and teaching, Charyn is a tournament table tennis player, once ranked in the top 10 percent of players in France. Noted novelist Don DeLillo called Charyn’s book on table tennis, Sizzling Chops & Devilish Spins, “The Sun Also Rises of ping-pong.” Charyn lives in Paris and New York City.

Website ❧  Twitter ❧  Goodreads

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Amazon Barnes & Noble

Format: Print & eBook PB Publication Date: February 9, 2015 Released by: Liveright Publishing Corporation ISBN-13: 978-1631490026 Length: 480 pages Genre: Historical Fiction

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Check Out All the Stops on Jerome Charyn's I Am Abraham Blog Tour Schedule

Monday, February 9

Interview at Flashlight Commentary

Tuesday, February 10

Review & Giveaway at Flashlight Commentary

Wednesday, February 11

Spotlight & Giveaway at Passages to the Past

Thursday, February 12

Review at With Her Nose Stuck in a Book

Friday, February 13

Spotlight at What Is That Book About

Monday, February 16

Review & Excerpt at A Virtual Hobby Store and Coffee Haus

Tuesday, February 17

Interview & Giveaway at A Virtual Hobby Store and Coffee Haus

Spotlight at CelticLady’s Reviews

Wednesday, February 18

Review at Back Porchervations

Thursday, February 19

Spotlight at A Literary Vacation

Friday, February 20

Interview & Giveaway at Let Them Read Books

Saturday, February 21

Spotlight at Historical Readings & Reviews

Monday, February 23

Interview & Giveaway at Teddy Rose Book Reviews

Tuesday, February 24

Audio Book Review & Interview at Just One More Chapter

Wednesday, February 25

Review at Bookish

Thursday, February 26

Spotlight at Historical Fiction Connection

Monday, March 2

Review at Forever Ashley

Tuesday, March 3

Interview at Books and Benches

Wednesday, March 4

Spotlight at Caroline Wilson Writes

Thursday, March 5

Review & Reader’s Guide at She is Too Fond of Books

Friday, March 6

Review at Impressions in Ink

The Executioner’s Daughter by Jane Hardstaff

Rating: ★ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Obtained from: Netgalley

Read: February 3, 2015

Thrilling adventure set in the underbelly of the Tower of London and on the Thames in Tudor times. Moss hates her life. As the daughter of the Executioner in the Tower of London, it’s her job to catch the heads in her basket after her father has chopped them off. She dreams of leaving, but they are prisoners with no way out. Then Moss discovers a hidden tunnel that takes her to freedom, where she learns that her life isn’t what she believes it to be and she doesn’t know who to trust. Her search for the truth takes her on a journey along the great River Thames. Could the answers lie deep in its murky depths?

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If I learned anything from Jane Hardstaff's The Executioner's Daughter, it's that Egmont and I define 'thrilling adventure' very differently. I mean no offense, but I struggled with this piece, more so than I care to admit considering it is young adult lit. I'd considered abandoning it early on over its juvenile prose alone, but when push comes to shove I'm a bit of a stubborn mule and surrender doesn't come easy.

I suppose the biggest difficulty I faced, was a lack of empathy for Moss. Hardstaff tried, but the character didn't interest me in the least and I was incredibly disappointed with how she was presented. She's supposed to be eleven, but there is nothing childlike in her makeup and that fact didn't sit well with me, not when her age is so important to the story at hand. 

The plot posed another problem in that it was all over the place. Moss' eavesdropping seems preposterously implausible, as did her sojourn to Hampton Court. Anne and Henry's appearance makes absolutely no sense within the context of the narrative and don't get me started on the ridiculousness of the ragged man or the Riverwitch. Elizabeth C. Bunce made this idea work in A Curse Dark as Gold. Hardstaff not so much. 

The Executioner's Daughter was obviously a miss in my book, but I will confess to a moment of genuine delight. "Gather round, gather round an’ watch,” said Salter. “'Watch carefully, ladies and gents.' He bent down and whisked off the cloth from the box. The smell of the taffetys wafted into the night air. 'Fresh taffetys, lovely as you like!'" It's a short scene, hardly worth mentioning really, but the gutter snipe's little stunt put a grin on my face. I was singing Tobias Ragg by the time I finished it, but I was in a good mood and that's more than I can say for the rest of book. 

Bottom line, Hardstaff's debut wasn't something I enjoyed and is so disjointed and unpolished that I can't see myself recommending it on in future. 

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London had always been execution-mad. If there was a monk to be drawn and quartered or a Catholic to be burned, the people liked nothing better than to stand around and watch. Preferably while eating a pie. But you couldn't beat a good beheading. That’s what the Tower folk said. Up on the scaffold was someone rich. Someone important. Maybe even a Royal. That’s what people came for. Royal blood. Blood that glittered as it sprayed the crowd. It made Moss feel sick just thinking about it.

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Juliet's Nurse by Lois Leveen

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

Obtained from: Netgalley

Read: January 29, 2015

An enthralling new telling of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet—told from the perspective of Juliet’s nurse. In Verona, a city ravaged by plague and political rivalries, a mother mourning the death of her day-old infant enters the household of the powerful Cappelletti family to become the wet-nurse to their newborn baby. As she serves her beloved Juliet over the next fourteen years, the nurse learns the Cappellettis’ darkest secrets. Those secrets—and the nurse’s deep personal grief—erupt across five momentous days of love and loss that destroy a daughter, and a family. By turns sensual, tragic, and comic, Juliet’s Nurse gives voice to one of literature’s most memorable and distinctive characters, a woman who was both insider and outsider among Verona’s wealthy ruling class. Exploring the romance and intrigue of interwoven loyalties, rivalries, jealousies, and losses only hinted at in Shakespeare’s play, this is a never-before-heard tale of the deepest love in Verona—the love between a grieving woman and the precious child of her heart. In the tradition of Sarah Dunant, Philippa Gregory, and Geraldine Brooks, Juliet’s Nurse is a rich prequel that reimagines the world’s most cherished tale of love and loss, suffering and survival.

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*** NOTE: This review contains spoilers. Please take heed and proceed at your own risk. 

I'm not a huge fan of Romeo and Juliet, but Lois Leveen's Juliet's Nurse caught my eye. Many of my favorite reviewers were touched by the author's handling of Shakespeare's classic and many were impressed with her interpretation of his characters, but having read the novel, I can't say I'm in agreement with their admiration. The story proved a pleasant enough diversion, but it wasn't quite what I'd expected going in. 

First and foremost, the story is horrendously slow. The first half takes place during Juliet's first three years of life, but remarkably little happens during this period. The author introduces many familiar characters - Angelica, Juliet, Tybalt, Friar Lorenzo, Lord Cappelletti and his wife - but she wallows in their backstories for chapters at time, utterly ignoring the fact that readers are familiar with these individuals and the circumstances that brought them together.

Another thing I struggled with was Leveen's tendency to repeat herself. Take for example, the deaths of Angelica's children. I was so overexposed to this concept that I didn't care for the loss she suffered and the indifference that bred, crippled the story's central theme. I realize Leveen was trying to draw on the sympathies of her audience, but I found her excessive reiteration desensitizing and dull. 

To top things off, Leveen's heroine bored me. It wasn't until the final third of the narrative that I felt Angelica took an active role in the story, but I couldn't help feeling the moment came too late. I'd checked out long before Leveen's fiction began to overlap Shakespeare's timeline and while I'm happy with the author's intent, I felt the execution lacking. 

Contrary to what you might think, there were elements in Juliet's Nurse I liked. Leveen's handling of plague and its impact on seventeenth century life was quite interesting and there were moments involving Lady Cappelletti that had genuine potential, but neither proved compelling enough for this particular reader. I feel the story a nice nod to the play on which it is based, but in all honesty, I don't think the author brought enough imagination to the table. 

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A plague on both your houses. If Mercutio’s many fornications are not enough to send him straight to hell, for this spiteful oath alone he deserves damnation.

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Interview with Donald Michael Platt, author of Close to the Sun

Author interviews are one of my favorite things to post which is why I am super excited to welcome author Donald Michael Platt to Flashlight Commentary to discuss his latest release, Close to the Sun. 

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Welcome to Flashlight Commentary Donald. Great to have you with us. To start things off, please tell us a bit about Close to the Sun.
Close to the Sun follows the lives of two Americans and a German from childhood through the end of WWII. As boys, they idealize the exploits of WWI fighter aces known as chivalrous Knights of the Skies. Hank Milroy from Wyoming learns his first flying lessons from observing falcons. Karl, Fürst von Pfalz-Teuffelreich, aspires to surpass his father’s 49 Luftsiegen accumulated during WWI. Seth Braham falls in love with flying during an air show at San Francisco’s Chrissy Field. The young men meet exceptional women. Texas tomboy Catherine “Winty” McCabe believes she is as good a flyer as any man. Princess Maria-Xenia, a stateless White Russian, works for the Abwehr, German intelligence. Elfriede “Elfi” Wohlmann is a frontline nurse. Mimi Kay sings with a big band.

Flying fighters over Europe, Hank, Karl, and Seth experience the exhilaration of aerial combat victories and acedom during the unromantic reality of combat losses, tedious bomber escort, strafing runs, and firebombing of entire cities. Callous political decisions and military mistakes add to their disillusion, especially one horrific tragedy at the end of the war.

How do Hank, Karl and Seth differ as characters?  
Hank is the son of a Wyoming rancher. Seth is a sophisticate from San Francisco. Karl is of the old German aristocracy. 

The novel also has strong female cast. Why did you feel that balance important? 
Close to the Sun is set during WWII, which brought out in women strengths they might not have discovered had there been no war.

Historically speaking, what drew you to WWII and what did you enjoy about researching the event for you work? 
WWII was a “current event” for me. I was 13 when it ended. I have loved reading and writing History, taught it. Later I met many fighter aces from the USAAF, Luftwaffe, and the RAF. One became a great friend, and he suggested I write Close to the Sun and offered me permissions.

Your narrative touches on many themes. Which is your favorite and why? 
All three male protagonists as boys romanticized the WWI gallant Knights of the Skies and who inspired their desire to fly. During WWII, war in the skies became less chivalrous with certain exceptions, and they become disillusioned through horrors of modern war, outrageous political decisions, military stupidity, and personal experiences.

You probably have many, but is there a scene you particularly enjoyed writing?
Hank flying General Patton low into the Grand Canyon – based on a true event.

What scene posed the greatest challenge for you as an author? Why was it troublesome and how did you work through it?  
Aerial combat New Years Day 1945 was difficult because I had to create a narrative that made sense amidst so much chaos in the skies from 4 POVs.

Sometimes fiction takes on a life of its own and forces the author to make sacrifices for the sake of the story. Is there a character or concept you wish you could have spent more time with or expanded on?
I thought about spending more time describing the home fronts and decided those chapters would have slowed the pace of the story. I also did not go into detail about the death camps for two reasons: that material is more effective  in novels where the MC is a prisoner in the camps; and the horror of the final chapters would have had less impact.

Historical novelists frequently have to adjust facts to make their stories work. Did you have to invent or change anything while writing Close to the Sun and if so, what did you alter? 
I created composite main characters, fictional USAAF bases, Seth not being sent home after being shot down, and both Seth and Hank being sent to the Continent with Patton’s Third Army as interpreters during the final weeks of the war.

If you could sit down and talk with one of your characters, maybe meet and discuss things over drinks, who would you choose and why?
The one character with whom I would have shared conversation and drinks is Hank Milroy. The reason is simple. He is based on my real life friend from the AAC, USAAF, and USAF who suggested I write CLOSE TO THE SUN.

Just because I’m curious, if you could pick a fantasy cast of actors to play the leads in a screen adaptation of Close to the Sun, who would you hire? 
I am not all that familiar with actors in the age group late teens to mid-twenties. I would have to mention them by type physically. Hank/early William Holden; Seth/early Spencer Tracy type/Karl/younger DiCaprio type; Brax/young Robert Stack type; Winty/young Sally Field cuteness but blonde; Mariya-Xenia/Kidman or Theron or Beverly Michaels type/ Elfie/Natalie Portman type/Mimi/any current young singer with a true voice and who needs no studio gimmicks.

And finally, what's next for you? Do you have a new project in the works? 
I am nearing a final draft of a dark novel set in 1946. After that, I have too many novels in my head to think about the next.

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PRAISE FOR CLOSE TO THE SUN

“Donald Michael Platt’s Close to the Sun is an amazing story told from the perspective of average male fighter pilots in the onset and during WWII, juxtaposing between various men from many sides of the war. The details in this novel were spectacular, creating imagery and depth in the scenes and characters, as well as the dialogue being so nostalgic and well-written it felt right out of a 1950’s film. The romantic nuances of his storytelling felt incredibly authentic with the tug and pull of the men being called to serve and the women whom they loved who had their own high hopes, dreams, or work. I loved how he portrayed this women the most—strongly and fiercely independent. I’ve read several other books by Platt, and this is the best one I’ve read yet! I couldn’t stop reading. ” – Erin Sweet Al-Mehairi, Hook of a Book

“Donald Platt’s Close To The Sun, is nothing short of Historical Fiction gold. Platt’s flair for emotionally provocative storytelling makes this book attractive to both male and female readers. Seamlessly weaving the threads of action and feeling into a brilliant tableau of humanity. This is a masterfully penned tale of war, ambition, love, loss, and ACES!” – Frishawn Rasheed, WTF Are You Reading?

“Fast-paced and riveting I couldn’t get enough of Hank, Karl and Seth’s exploits! CLOSE TO THE SUN is a thrilling novel that leads readers through idyllic dreams of heroism and the grim reality of war. Platt provides readers with a unique coming-of-age story as three adventure-seeking boys discover far more than how to be an aerial combat pilot. CLOSE TO THE SUN is an amazing tale of adventure, heroism, war and the drive within us all that keeps us going when things look bleak.” – Ashley LaMar, Closed the Cover

“I found Close to the Sun to be an entertaining read, it was well written, with well developed characters, these characters had depth and emotion. A unique plot, told from the point of view of pilots prior to and during World War II. It was a well researched and interesting book” – Margaret Cook, Just One More Chapter

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Author of four other novels, ROCAMORA, HOUSE OF ROCAMORA, A GATHERING OF VULTURES, and CLOSE TO THE SUN, Donald Michael Platt was born and raised in San Francisco. Donald graduated from Lowell High School and received his B.A. in History from the University of California at Berkeley. After two years in the Army, Donald attended graduate school at San Jose State where he won a batch of literary awards in the annual SENATOR PHELAN LITERARY CONTEST.

Donald moved to southern California to begin his professional writing career. He sold to the TV series, MR. NOVAK, ghosted for health food guru, Dan Dale Alexander, and wrote for and with diverse producers, among them as Harry Joe Brown, Sig Schlager, Albert J. Cohen, Al Ruddy plus Paul Stader Sr, Hollywood stuntman and stunt/2nd unit director. While in Hollywood, Donald taught Creative Writing and Advanced Placement European History at Fairfax High School where he was Social Studies Department Chairman.

After living in Florianópolis, Brazil, setting of his horror novel A GATHERING OF VULTURES, pub. 2007 & 2011, he moved to Florida where he wrote as a with: VITAMIN ENRICHED, pub.1999, for Carl DeSantis, founder of Rexall Sundown Vitamins; and THE COUPLE’S DISEASE, Finding a Cure for Your Lost “Love” Life, pub. 2002, for Lawrence S. Hakim, MD, FACS, Head of Sexual Dysfunction Unit at the Cleveland Clinic.

Currently, Donald resides in Winter Haven, Florida where he is polishing a dark novel and preparing to write a sequel to CLOSE TO THE SUN.

Website ❧  Facebook ❧  Twitter

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Amazon Barnes & Noble

Format: Print & eBook Publication Date: June 15, 2014 Released by: Fireship Press ASIN: B00L1RWLYE Length: 404 pages Genre: Historical Fiction

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Check Out All the Stops on Donald Michael Platt's Close to the Sun Blog Tour Schedule

Monday, January 26
Spotlight at Passages to the Past

Tuesday, January 27
Guest Post at What Is That Book About

Wednesday, January 28
Spotlight at Let Them Read Books

Friday, January 30
Interview at Flashlight Commentary

Monday, February 2
Spotlight at Historical Fiction Connection

Tuesday, February 3
Guest Post at Latte Da

Friday, February 6
Review at Svetlana’s Reads and Views
Spotlight at Boom Baby Reviews

Wednesday, February 11
Review at Back Porchervations

Thursday, February 12
Spotlight at A Literary Vacation

Monday, February 16
Spotlight at So Many Books, So Little Time