Jennifer Vanderbes's Blog
August 9, 2014
New York Times Book Review
From the NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW:
THE SECRET OF RAVEN POINT
By Jennifer Vanderbes
Two separate mysteries create and maintain suspense throughout this gripping World War II coming-of-age novel. Eager to solve them is Juliet, an innocent girl from the South. The first mystery involves the disappearance of her beloved brother, Tuck, who has gone missing in action in Italy in the autumn of 1943. Tuck’s last letter to his little sister is a coded call for help, which both baffles and terrifies Juliet. Suppressing her sweet and shy nature, she trains to be a nurse, is sent to Italy and embarks on a search for her lost brother. In the field hospital where she is stationed, she is assigned to look after Private Barnaby, horribly disfigured and steadfastly mute, who has shot himself in the head, a desperate act that failed to kill him outright.
The motive for the private’s attempted suicide is the second mystery, which Dr. Willard, the noble hospital psychiatrist, is attempting to solve. Since Barnaby was a member of the same company as Juliet’s brother, it’s her hope that he can shed some light on Tuck’s fate. And sure enough, over time Barnaby reveals that his attempted suicide and Tuck’s disappearance were indeed connected. As Barnaby’s mind clears, he is arrested by the military police, court-martialed and sentenced to death. When he manages to flee, Willard and Juliet go off in pursuit, unwilling to have him killed when they have so diligently managed to bring him back to life. Evading capture by American M.P.s and murder by marauding Germans, they track the fugitive — and struggle to cope with their feelings for each other.
Despite interruptions for incidents of calculated pathos and musings of high seriousness, the plot moves steadily forward. The solutions to the central mysteries, revealed slowly, are unsettling in their perverse specificity, yet certain aspects of them remain ultimately unknowable. To her credit, Vanderbes doesn’t try to make entirely comprehensible the disturbing actions men may take in the midst of war.
THE SECRET OF RAVEN POINT
By Jennifer Vanderbes
Two separate mysteries create and maintain suspense throughout this gripping World War II coming-of-age novel. Eager to solve them is Juliet, an innocent girl from the South. The first mystery involves the disappearance of her beloved brother, Tuck, who has gone missing in action in Italy in the autumn of 1943. Tuck’s last letter to his little sister is a coded call for help, which both baffles and terrifies Juliet. Suppressing her sweet and shy nature, she trains to be a nurse, is sent to Italy and embarks on a search for her lost brother. In the field hospital where she is stationed, she is assigned to look after Private Barnaby, horribly disfigured and steadfastly mute, who has shot himself in the head, a desperate act that failed to kill him outright.
The motive for the private’s attempted suicide is the second mystery, which Dr. Willard, the noble hospital psychiatrist, is attempting to solve. Since Barnaby was a member of the same company as Juliet’s brother, it’s her hope that he can shed some light on Tuck’s fate. And sure enough, over time Barnaby reveals that his attempted suicide and Tuck’s disappearance were indeed connected. As Barnaby’s mind clears, he is arrested by the military police, court-martialed and sentenced to death. When he manages to flee, Willard and Juliet go off in pursuit, unwilling to have him killed when they have so diligently managed to bring him back to life. Evading capture by American M.P.s and murder by marauding Germans, they track the fugitive — and struggle to cope with their feelings for each other.
Despite interruptions for incidents of calculated pathos and musings of high seriousness, the plot moves steadily forward. The solutions to the central mysteries, revealed slowly, are unsettling in their perverse specificity, yet certain aspects of them remain ultimately unknowable. To her credit, Vanderbes doesn’t try to make entirely comprehensible the disturbing actions men may take in the midst of war.
February 2, 2014
Editor's Choice from the Historical Novel Society
This nice review just came in from the Historical Novel Society for THE SECRET OF RAVEN POINT:
After losing their mother as children, Juliet DuFresne has always been close to her older brother, Tuck. When he decides to enlist after Pearl Harbor, she’s devastated but knows she must finish her schooling back home in South Carolina. When word arrives that Tuck has gone missing in Italy, Juliet becomes determined to search for him. She takes a crash course in nursing after graduating high school and finagles her way into a posting at a MASH unit near where Tuck was last seen. The work is grueling, and Juliet has little time to pursue leads, but she forges friendships with fellow nurses and one doctor in particular. When a patient comes in accused of cowardice and desertion, it becomes easy to see he is both physically and psychologically damaged… and may hold a key to what happened to Tuck. It becomes Juliet’s mission to communicate with the soldier, both to help him and learn as much as she can about her brother. Along the way, she develops a strong attraction to the doctor also working on the troubling case.
The Secret of Raven Point at first seems to be the mystery of a young man gone missing in World War II, but as the pages begin to fly by, the layers become deeper, and the characters’ emotions and actions become fraught with the desire to not only survive, but to live. As a young woman facing death on a daily basis, Juliet takes solace in the presence of the young physician with whom she works, and the two develop a deep relationship bred of a mutual desire to see the deserter exonerated of the charges. This novel had me wrapped in the lives of the couple, who endure much personal loss and yet manage to find humanity in the darkest of times. Definitely one of my favorite reads of the year.
After losing their mother as children, Juliet DuFresne has always been close to her older brother, Tuck. When he decides to enlist after Pearl Harbor, she’s devastated but knows she must finish her schooling back home in South Carolina. When word arrives that Tuck has gone missing in Italy, Juliet becomes determined to search for him. She takes a crash course in nursing after graduating high school and finagles her way into a posting at a MASH unit near where Tuck was last seen. The work is grueling, and Juliet has little time to pursue leads, but she forges friendships with fellow nurses and one doctor in particular. When a patient comes in accused of cowardice and desertion, it becomes easy to see he is both physically and psychologically damaged… and may hold a key to what happened to Tuck. It becomes Juliet’s mission to communicate with the soldier, both to help him and learn as much as she can about her brother. Along the way, she develops a strong attraction to the doctor also working on the troubling case.
The Secret of Raven Point at first seems to be the mystery of a young man gone missing in World War II, but as the pages begin to fly by, the layers become deeper, and the characters’ emotions and actions become fraught with the desire to not only survive, but to live. As a young woman facing death on a daily basis, Juliet takes solace in the presence of the young physician with whom she works, and the two develop a deep relationship bred of a mutual desire to see the deserter exonerated of the charges. This novel had me wrapped in the lives of the couple, who endure much personal loss and yet manage to find humanity in the darkest of times. Definitely one of my favorite reads of the year.
January 22, 2014
Novel Giveaway
One day left to win a free advanced copy of The Secret or Raven Point.
https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/sh...
https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/sh...
October 21, 2013
New Novel Giveaway
Goodreads is giving away advanced copies of my new novel, The Secret of Raven Point
https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/sh...
https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/sh...
September 5, 2013
Atlantic Essay
I have a new essay on the Atlantic.com today on the evolutionary advantages of reading great books:
http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainm...
http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainm...
March 14, 2013
Granta 122: Betrayal
I have a short story in the new issue of Granta - Granta 122: Betrayal.
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16...
I HIGHLY recommend the entire issue - it has new and stellar work from Karen Russell, Ben Marcus, Andre Aciman, Callan Wink, Janine di Giovanni, Mohsin Hamid, Lauren Wilkinson, Colin Robinson and Samantha Harvey.
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16...
I HIGHLY recommend the entire issue - it has new and stellar work from Karen Russell, Ben Marcus, Andre Aciman, Callan Wink, Janine di Giovanni, Mohsin Hamid, Lauren Wilkinson, Colin Robinson and Samantha Harvey.
August 28, 2011
WSJ Column on Craft
An essay I wrote for the Wall Street Journal on using juxtaposition in fiction:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001...
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001...
August 3, 2011
Paperback Giveaway
Follow this link to win a paperback copy of Strangers at the Feast.
http://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/sho...
http://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/sho...
June 26, 2011
The Male Biological Clock
My essay in this weekend's Wall Street Journal about the male biological clock..
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001...
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001...
August 23, 2010
Leonard Lopate Show
Here's a link to today's radio interview discussing Strangers at the Feast:
http://beta.wnyc.org/shows/lopate/201...
http://beta.wnyc.org/shows/lopate/201...
