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A review by karen_perkins
The Absence of Falling Stars by H.R. Holt
4.0
Matthew Strong is a quiet man, a loner, a family man and profoundly affected by the War Between the States – especially his final battle. We meet him on the day of his death – a death brought by a wolf as Strong searches the sky in vain for a falling star on which to wish for life.
He leaves behind a pregnant wife, Elizabeth, and two children: Rebecca and Thomas. His third child, Lily Rose, soon joins them, but Elizabeth leaves the three children orphans when she dies of a broken heart minutes after the birth.
The children are adopted by their only living relative, Aunt Abigail, who proves to be cold, distant and unemotional. They try to adapt to a new life in her imposing mansion – a life that is different in every way to the warm family home they grew up in. Life becomes filled with strict rules, harsh punishments and disdain until their new tutor, Constance Beth Winslow, arrives and shows them a little kindness (although never in front of their aunt). An activist for women's rights, Beth has a profound effect on the children, especially Rebecca.
It is too much for Thomas, who makes his escape with a promise to come back for his sisters one day. Rebecca is left to face their aunt; but it is the tutor who takes the blame and Rebecca is left with no positive influence in her life bar her baby sister.
Mrs Eleanor Ashton, Aunt Abigail's best friend, takes over as tutor and 'was the same calibre of cruel as Abigail'. In this atmosphere, the sisters grow – Lily Rose in to a light-hearted suffragette, and Rebecca into a facsimile – at least on the surface - of her aunt. Life has fallen into a routine with little to upset it – until a stranger steals a kiss from Rebecca in the dark, the same night that her aunt urges a courtship with Alex Humphrey.
Then Rebecca finds a letter from her brother, Thomas. He's in trouble and she sets off to help, never guessing that her journey would turn all that she thought she knew about herself on its head.
The Absence of Falling Stars is a very descriptive, gentle read, that slowly gathers pace into an exciting adventure and succession of dangers – to both body and heart. The dialogue, for the most part, is well done and evocative of the time and place, and a testament to the author's skill that I actually found myself reading in an American Southern accent – as a British northerner, that's quite a feat!
At times profound, thoughtful, challenging and exciting, this is a story about family, love and humanity. About never forgetting where you came from, who you are and who you want to be -and finding the courage to be that person. Recommended.
He leaves behind a pregnant wife, Elizabeth, and two children: Rebecca and Thomas. His third child, Lily Rose, soon joins them, but Elizabeth leaves the three children orphans when she dies of a broken heart minutes after the birth.
The children are adopted by their only living relative, Aunt Abigail, who proves to be cold, distant and unemotional. They try to adapt to a new life in her imposing mansion – a life that is different in every way to the warm family home they grew up in. Life becomes filled with strict rules, harsh punishments and disdain until their new tutor, Constance Beth Winslow, arrives and shows them a little kindness (although never in front of their aunt). An activist for women's rights, Beth has a profound effect on the children, especially Rebecca.
It is too much for Thomas, who makes his escape with a promise to come back for his sisters one day. Rebecca is left to face their aunt; but it is the tutor who takes the blame and Rebecca is left with no positive influence in her life bar her baby sister.
Mrs Eleanor Ashton, Aunt Abigail's best friend, takes over as tutor and 'was the same calibre of cruel as Abigail'. In this atmosphere, the sisters grow – Lily Rose in to a light-hearted suffragette, and Rebecca into a facsimile – at least on the surface - of her aunt. Life has fallen into a routine with little to upset it – until a stranger steals a kiss from Rebecca in the dark, the same night that her aunt urges a courtship with Alex Humphrey.
Then Rebecca finds a letter from her brother, Thomas. He's in trouble and she sets off to help, never guessing that her journey would turn all that she thought she knew about herself on its head.
The Absence of Falling Stars is a very descriptive, gentle read, that slowly gathers pace into an exciting adventure and succession of dangers – to both body and heart. The dialogue, for the most part, is well done and evocative of the time and place, and a testament to the author's skill that I actually found myself reading in an American Southern accent – as a British northerner, that's quite a feat!
At times profound, thoughtful, challenging and exciting, this is a story about family, love and humanity. About never forgetting where you came from, who you are and who you want to be -and finding the courage to be that person. Recommended.