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The Schoolmaster's Daughter (2011)

by John Smolens(Favorite Author)

3.17 of 5 Votes: 5

ISBN

1605982520 (ISBN13: 9781605982526)

languge

English

genre

Historical Fiction

publisher

Pegasus

review 1: I really enjoyed getting some of the details about the first days of the Amrrican Revolution in Boston. The tension between sides of the dispute that pitted children aginst parents, and colonists against the mother country is well portrayed in this story. I really wanted some author's notes explaining which events and characters were real and which were fiction. The genius of this book's perspective is being in Boston during the seige.
review 2: John Smolens' special niche has always been the literary thriller. In his last two books, THE ANARCHIST, and now, THE SCHOOLMASTER'S DAUGHTER, he has turned this talent toward historical fiction. With the former, it worked exceedingly well. But the latter novel lumbered laboriously along for a couple hundred pages befor... moree it began to hit its stride and lift of into the thriller mode, and even then it returned to earth too soon. Make no mistake, I am a tried and true fan of Smolens books, so I stayed with THE SCHOOLMASTER'S DAUGHTER for the whole flight, right up until she made that final not-quite-satisfying and curiously flat touch-down. Abigail Lovell, the title character heroine had so much potential, but that potential never quite flowered. It seemed to be choked out by all the historical details, which, while I'm sure they were all accurate and authentic, served, I felt, more to slow down the narrative than to advance the storyline. Abigail's one-time almost-lover Ezra never advanced much beyond the negative stage, and her other, the redcoat officer Samuel Cleaveland, didn't fare much better, his part "prematurely" curtailed as the final big battle for Boston began. The same incompleteness plagued other characters - Abigail's brothers James and Benjamin, her father, the turncoat Corporal Lumley, the prostitute Molly Collins and others. The real historical characters - Paul Revere, Dr Warren, General Gage, Israel Putnam, and even George Washington - all seemed to mostly get in the way of what I believe could have been a much more exciting story, i.e. a John Smolens story.I guess it felt to me like the historian strangled the novelist here. I don't mean to say the book is bad. But by Smolens standards it could have been - should have been - so much better. I suspect the book will be loved by history buffs, but perhaps not so much by literature nerds like me. No fear though, John. I will still be eagerly awaiting that next book from you. I'm still hoping for a sequel to COLD, another Michigan Upper Peninsula story reprising the great character of Sheriff Del Maki.- Tim Bazzett, author of the memoir, BOOKLOVER less

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