Large characters with heart!
Where the Light Enters (Waverly Place #2) by Sara Donati
I found this tale somewhat difficult to be present with at first. I kept thinking I'd missed something. And I had! The first book! However, in the end that didn't matter. As the story emerged I was swept up into its dynamics.
Opening in 1884 with a series of letters and telegrams between obstetrician Dr. Sophie Savard, in a sanatorium in Switzerland and her family in New York, as her husband Cap battles tuberculosis.
This in effect recaps some of the actions from before and sets up for us some of what is to come.
Dr. Anna Savard is Sophie's cousin, friend and also a doctor. These two are the central axis of the story. As we look into this family I am struck by the powerful women stretching back, including mid wife Aunt Amelie and elder Aunt Quinlan, “Iakoiane ... It means clan mother." (And with that one line for me the mystery behind these women beckoned!) Women of color, strong and independent.
Anna's husband, Detective-Sergeant Jack Mezzanotte, seeks their help with some unusual murders. This in turn opens up dealings from the past that will impact on the present. And introduces us to the gregarious Italian partners in the story.
There are so many interesting characters that trying to pick one out above the rest is like trying to choose that first chocolate from the box.
There is a fascinating moment when these intrepid women struggle to understand the damaged and how out of that wounding darkness flowed. Compassion and horror vie. For the light to enter, the poison to be removed, the wound must be revealed, and our title comes full circle.
I was exhilarated by the way the tension ebbs and flows, runs off into side streams and then thunderously bursts back onto center stage.
This is a work I found powerful and intriguing, with a host of amazing characters that I intend to develop a further relationship with.
A Berkley ARC via NetGalley
*****
Opening in 1884 with a series of letters and telegrams between obstetrician Dr. Sophie Savard, in a sanatorium in Switzerland and her family in New York, as her husband Cap battles tuberculosis.
This in effect recaps some of the actions from before and sets up for us some of what is to come.
Dr. Anna Savard is Sophie's cousin, friend and also a doctor. These two are the central axis of the story. As we look into this family I am struck by the powerful women stretching back, including mid wife Aunt Amelie and elder Aunt Quinlan, “Iakoiane ... It means clan mother." (And with that one line for me the mystery behind these women beckoned!) Women of color, strong and independent.
Anna's husband, Detective-Sergeant Jack Mezzanotte, seeks their help with some unusual murders. This in turn opens up dealings from the past that will impact on the present. And introduces us to the gregarious Italian partners in the story.
There are so many interesting characters that trying to pick one out above the rest is like trying to choose that first chocolate from the box.
There is a fascinating moment when these intrepid women struggle to understand the damaged and how out of that wounding darkness flowed. Compassion and horror vie. For the light to enter, the poison to be removed, the wound must be revealed, and our title comes full circle.
I was exhilarated by the way the tension ebbs and flows, runs off into side streams and then thunderously bursts back onto center stage.
This is a work I found powerful and intriguing, with a host of amazing characters that I intend to develop a further relationship with.
A Berkley ARC via NetGalley
*****
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