Hearts and Bones

Rating:
Summary: I was doubtful, now I'm hooked
Review: A novel about a midwife-detective in post-Revolutionary Maine? The idea bordered on laughable -- after all, how many more offbeat protagonists can the mystery genre withstand? But I plunged ahead because I'd read a review that made Margaret Lawrence's "Hearts and Bones" sound intriguing. And it is. This is so much more than a detective story. For me, in fact, the mystery took a back seat to the historical tale Lawrence tells. What a fascinating, dark and gritty look at a time that is so often romanticized! This is a wonderful book. Now if we can only get the publisher to dispense with the romance genre covers!

Rating:
Summary: A Gripping Midwife's Tale
Review: Hannah Trevor, the key figure in this series of books, is a Maine midwife in the brutal years following the American Revolution. Her experiences, and those of her fellow citizens in Rufford, Maine, open your eyes to the horrors that walked beside the patriotism of the War for Independence. I finished Hearts and Bones with a deep desire to learn more about the darker side of freedom, as well as a need to read the next book in the series!

Lawrence undoubtedly drew on Laurel Ulrich's Pulitzer-prize winning A Midwife's Tale for her heroine (a debt not acknowledged until the third book in the series), but there is much more here than a fictional parroting of Ulrich's Martha Ballard. Hannah Trevor takes more risks than Martha, but is still a product of her own time who finds comfort in the geometrical precision of quilting and attends dissections led by the inept town surgeon. Hannah Trevor lives in an unsentimental world where death and terror are part of everyone's experience, and Lawrence makes no effort to soften the blow of those experiences for the reader.

The rape and murder of a young woman in town sets the story's plot in motion, and Hannah (the de facto obstetrical and gynecological expert in town) is involved in the analysis of what happened to the woman and who did such a heinous thing to her. But Hannah's efforts to discover the truth are not always appreciated in Rufford. She is the wife of an English sympathizer, who has disappeared and is believed dead. She has a deaf and mute daughter who bears a striking resemblance to a local, married landowner. And, although this is not emphasized, she has a great deal more power and autonomy than many people in Rufford find comfortable. As Hannah gets closer to the truth, Rufford turns ugly with accusations, counter-accusations, and the bitterness following war and sacrifice. As a reader, I left the story awed by Hannah's strength, hurt by her own pain and fears, and sympathetic regarding her great love for a man who cannot be hers.

Rating:
Summary: Recommended!
Review: Historical thriller about a woman raped for three straight days and then murdered in her own home in a small country town in Maine, 1786. Her body is discovered by the town's midwife, Hannah Trevor, who also happens to be the ex-mistress of the number one suspect. Very engaging. Interesting construction, too -- it's not really set up like a typical novel. Some chapters are interviews with suspects, some chapters are coroner's reports, etc.

Rating:
Summary: EXCELLENT SUSPENSE AND HISTORY MIXED
Review: In "Hearts and Bones" the reader is treated to truthful historical facts of the Revolutionary War, through a rich, suspenseful mystery that bolts you to the pages. Hannah Tower, the protaginist, is a dichotomy of her time, and in that, you admire her no nonsense ways. With her, you reveal murder after murder, ever vigilantly guessing who it could be. However, Margaret Lawrence will not make the unveiling easy for you. Gripped to each clue, you anxiously puruse on, not realizing the pace you are turning the pages by. I am not a fan of the mystery genre, so to say I truly enjoyed this is high praise indeed. If you want excitement, suspense, compelling characters and intrigue, it is all brillantly weaved in this book of "Hearts and Bones."

Rating:
Summary: EXCELLENT SUSPENSE AND HISTORY MIXED
Review: In "Hearts and Bones" the reader is treated to truthful historical facts of the Revolutionary War, through a rich, suspenseful mystery that bolts you to the pages. Hannah Tower, the protaginist, is a dichotomy of her time, and in that, you admire her no nonsense ways. With her, you reveal murder after murder, ever vigilantly guessing who it could be. However, Margaret Lawrence will not make the unveiling easy for you. Gripped to each clue, you anxiously puruse on, not realizing the pace you are turning the pages by. I am not a fan of the mystery genre, so to say I truly enjoyed this is high praise indeed. If you want excitement, suspense, compelling characters and intrigue, it is all brillantly weaved in this book of "Hearts and Bones."

Rating:
Summary: Good, but not great
Review: Margaret Lawrence does for the post-Revolutionary war period in Maine what Ann Perry does for the Victorian era in England, that is, bring the times to life with a good story, compelling details and just enough background to teach historical context without intruding on telling the tale. I read it on an airplane trip and was totally absorbed. I recommend this book!

Rating:
Summary: compelling, if bleak, historical mystery
Review: Ten years after the Revolutionary War, life is not a paradise of liberty and equality for the residents of Rufford, Maine. Many are dead, others are traumatized by the war, and still others are embittered by a poor economy and widening disparity between the haves and have-nots. Midwife and healer Hannah Trevor lives on the fringe of respectability here, and that's pretty much where she wants to be. This first in the series paints a bleak but realistic picture of the times and the people, and the reader will learn effortlessly about such things thanks to skillful writing and an intriguing story. Being the tale of a murder-rape in the aftermath of war, this novel is not for the squeamish; there's a fair bit of brutal violence, sex and situations, though if you can watch cable television you should be okay. A bit depressing but a worthwhile read and a good mystery. I will definitely read others in the series, though I'll probably read a comedy or two in between.

Rating:
Summary: A great historical mystery
Review: THE PLOT Hannah Trevor is a midwife in 1786 colonial America. She has 3 dead children and a dead husband, and a live daughter whose unacknowledged / unclaimed father is a neighbour. Hannah is present when they discover the raped and mutilated body of another village resident, who has left behind a letter accusing some of the village elite of the crime, including Hannah's former lover.

WHAT I LIKED The plotting is well-done, if somewhat slow to get to the discovery of the body. So well-done in fact that this would be easily readable without the murder mystery (i.e. if it was just a historical novel about life in colonial America). And perhaps that is the highest compliment to be paid to this book -- that it works well on different levels: historical novel (the life of the midwife, the role of women), a mystery novel (who raped and killed the woman?), and, to some extent, a love story (the relationship between Hannah and Daniel who is her child's father).

WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE I figured it out far too early, and I spotted other murders long before they actually happened. Fortunately, the great writing carried me to the end anyways.

OVERALL RATING 4.0/5.0.

Rating:
Summary: Dark, disturbing, and absolutely riveting.
Review: There are are hundreds (maybe thousands?) of historical mystery novels out there featuring women who are out of step with their time period (i.e., heroines who appeal to our modern feminist sensibilities). Hannah Trevor is one of the only protagonists I've ever read who is actually ostracized for this incongruity. Subsequently, she is also one of the most believable historical characters I've ever met.

This is a dark tale of post-revolutionary United States. Bad things happen to good people in this series, and although it's sometimes hard to read, it's also utterly realistic. Life is very, very hard for the inhabitants of this world, and for Hannah especially.

The plot is solid and interesting but necessarily takes a backseat to the time and setting. The main characters are relentlessly intense--I wish Hannah had been able to throw her head back and laugh once or twice, but this is not that kind of story.

This is a hard book to put down, and you will come away from it feeling as though you have traveled to another world. But you might want to take a break with some light-hearted reading before embarking on the sequel.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting and well constructed murder/mystery
Review: This is quite a bit above your average murder/mystery, with the additional plot devices in that it is set in historical times, and has as the central character a widowed woman who would probably be ostracised if it were not for her skill with healing. Hannah is certainly a believable and strong character.

The scenario is interesting, as are the suggestions of what we call today post traumatic stress syndrome. The plot has enough twists and turns and red herrings to keep you guessing (though some are a little too blatant to be really effective), and all in all I didn't guess whodunnit until Ms Lawrence wanted me to.

It is an enjoyable read and I recommend it.