Book
Seven locks : a novel / Christine Wade.
Record details
- ISBN: 9781451674705 (trade pbk.)
- ISBN: 1451674708 (trade pbk.)
- Physical Description: vi, 329 p. : map ; 21 cm.
- Edition: 1st Atria Paperback ed.
- Publisher: New York : Atria Paperback, 2013.
Content descriptions
| General Note: | Includes a reading group guide. |
| Bibliography, etc. Note: | Includes bibliographical references (p. 327). |
Search for related items by subject
| Genre: | Historical fiction. |
Available copies
- 2 of 2 copies available at BC Interlibrary Connect. (Show)
- 1 of 1 copy available at Smithers Public Library.
Holds
- 0 current holds with 2 total copies.
| Location | Call Number / Copy Notes | Barcode | Shelving Location | Holdable? | Status | Due Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Smithers Public Library | F WAD (Text) | 35101000381504 | Stacks | Volume hold | Available | - |
- Booklist Reviews : Booklist Reviews 2012 November #2
A woman struggles to raise her children and run her small farm, located in the literal and figurative shadows of the preâRevolutionary War Catskill Mountains. After her lazy husband mysteriously disappears, the unnamed narrator is all but shunned by her suspicious neighbors, who believe she either drove her husband away with her incessant scolding or she killed him and ground his body up for sausage meat. Determined to eke out an existence for her family as war looms in the distance, she faces the daunting task of carving out an independent niche for herself despite the censure of the community. If elements of this story sound a bit familiar, don't be surprised. Wade has creatively co-opted and reimagined bits of Washington Irving's Rip Van Winkle to tell the time-honored tale from an entirely different perspective. Copyright 2012 Booklist Reviews. - Kirkus Reviews : Kirkus Reviews 2012 October #2
As the Revolutionary War looms, a colonial wife struggles to survive after her husband wanders away. The unnamed principal narrator of Wade's first novel was born into privilege, the daughter of a wealthy merchant and shipbuilder. Her mistake is her marriage to a feckless man who uses her dowry to buy a remote farm at the foot of the Catskills. After fathering two children, a son (also unnamed) and a daughter, Judith (a secondary narrator), the husband grows increasingly recalcitrant and balks at doing any work. The wife takes up the slack with her Dutch work ethic, but her nagging (the local townsfolk will gossip) finally drives the husband off. Leaving one day in a huff with his dog, Wolf, the husband disappears into the vast wilderness surrounding the settlement. The dog returns alone, and a search by neighbors proves fruitless. Finding that she is pregnant, the woman enters the woods to seek an abortion remedy from Indian women. For the next seven years, she works and manages the farm with only her two children as helpers. She trades butter and cheese at the village market, but no one buys her sausage. Gradually, her children learn the reason she is ostracized by the village: Not only is she a reputed shrew, she is rumored to have murdered her husband and ground him into wurst. Judith, eager for knowledge, is the protégée of the local schoolmaster, while her brother grows increasingly withdrawn. When war comes, the small family scatters in three directions. The last section of the novel, narrated by Judith, who has been far more fortunate in her marriage, skirts direct revelation of what befell her father. According to Wade's afternote, the narrative is the back story of certain Washington Irving tales. Her decision, however, to substitute Judith's generalized observations on mythmaking and legend for a detailed explanation of the father's disappearance, is unfortunate. Still, a spellbinding depiction of the hardships faced by a woman fighting her own war of independence. Copyright Kirkus 2012 Kirkus/BPI Communications.All rights reserved. - Library Journal Reviews : LJ Reviews 2012 August #1
A man disappears in the pre-Revolutionary War Catskills, and village wags claim he was so henpecked that he up and left. But then the circumstances start looking sinister. Winner of the 2009 James Jones Fellowship Prize, given to an American author for a first novel-in-progress, and inspired by an American folktale.
[Page 55]. (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. - Library Journal Reviews : LJ Reviews 2012 October #2
Mrs. Rip Van Winkle tells her side of the story, about her indolent husband and his supposed 20-year nap. In this debut novel, set in the Hudson River Valley around the time of the American Revolution, the narrator recounts the day her spouse walked off and how she coped over the next ten years. Readers also find out how she came to be such a spiteful woman at such a young age, and how she drove her children off as well. There is a distinct Dutch flavor to the narrative, and when history intrudes the tale grows somewhat interesting. Sadly, it is all overwhelmed by the speaker's sharp tone, and it is hard to root for such an unsympathetic heroine. VERDICT Readers from upstate New York, or those who enjoy historical novels set in the late 18th century, will enjoy, but others will be put off before the novel's midpoint. [This title won a James Jones Fellowship Prize for an unpublished novel in 2009.âEd.]âW. Keith McCoy, Somerset Cty. Lib. Syst., Bridgewater, NJ
[Page 70]. (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. - Publishers Weekly Reviews : PW Reviews 2012 October #3
Relying heavily on inner dialogue and period details, Wade's debut novel examines the many sides of freedom from the perspective of an abandoned wife on the eve of the Revolutionary War. The book's narrator, an unnamed young mother of two on a farm at the base of the Catskill Mountains, must fend for herself after her husband leaves one evening and never returns. Facing the daunting challenge of singlehandedly caring for her son, daughter, and the farm with little help from a gossipy community, the narrator is brought to her wits' end, yet sacrifices time and again for the sake of her children. As they age, however, the children also leave their mother: the son conscripted for the front lines of the Revolution and the daughter for a wider existence. Left completely alone, the woman once again faces her own limitations, until she encounters two possibly former slaves when she ventures off her farm. The three characters together face an uncertain future, all seeking the balance between freedom and stability that will allow for a better life. Overly long but with staccatos of nicely imagined activity, this is a historical novel for those with an appreciation for the interior lives of period figures. Agent: Eleanor Jackson, Markson Thoma Agency. (Jan.)
[Page ]. Copyright 2012 PWxyz LLC
