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The Devoted
From wartime Italy to the American West, Jonathan Hull takes readers on a heartrending passage through the lives of three families torn by history and bound by an unshakeable - and at times forbidden - devotion.
Ryan Brooks never forgot the powerful hands that pulled him from the wreckage of his parents' station wagon that summer in 1960 when he was ten and his childhood came to a fiery end during a family vacation. Thirty years later, Ryan returns to Wyoming to thank the dying rancher for saving the life he is still trying to be worthy of. The chilling sight of Mike O'Donnell's deeply scarred hands is just the beginning of Ryan's journey as he soon finds himself caught between the rancher's captivating - and married - daughter, Shannon, and his mysterious Italian wife, Alessandra.
When Mike's deathbed confession sets Ryan on a search for the truth of what really happened the day his parents died, he unearths a long-buried secret that leads to a mountain cave in Northern Italy and Alessandra's dangerous love affair with a haunted young German soldier. As past and present collide in an intricately woven story of love and redemption across generations and continents, Ryan discovers that the answers he seeks are inscribed deep in the hearts of those whose lives - and courage - he must measure against his own.
Ryan Brooks never forgot the powerful hands that pulled him from the wreckage of his parents' station wagon that summer in 1960 when he was ten and his childhood came to a fiery end during a family vacation. Thirty years later, Ryan returns to Wyoming to thank the dying rancher for saving the life he is still trying to be worthy of. The chilling sight of Mike O'Donnell's deeply scarred hands is just the beginning of Ryan's journey as he soon finds himself caught between the rancher's captivating - and married - daughter, Shannon, and his mysterious Italian wife, Alessandra.
When Mike's deathbed confession sets Ryan on a search for the truth of what really happened the day his parents died, he unearths a long-buried secret that leads to a mountain cave in Northern Italy and Alessandra's dangerous love affair with a haunted young German soldier. As past and present collide in an intricately woven story of love and redemption across generations and continents, Ryan discovers that the answers he seeks are inscribed deep in the hearts of those whose lives - and courage - he must measure against his own.
315 pages, Hardcover
First published August 12, 2012
10 people are currently reading
458 people want to read
About the author
Jonathan Hull
3 books34 followersJonathan Hull is the bestselling author of Losing Julia and The Distance from Normandy. His latest novel, The Devoted, has just been released as of August 2012.
A graduate of the University of California at Berkeley, Hull spent ten years as a correspondent at TIME, including three as the Jerusalem Bureau Chief. His reporting has ranged from the Gulf War and the Palestinian uprising to presidential politics and the troubled underside of American society. A cover story he wrote on youth violence won the Society of Professional Journalists' prestigious Sigma Delta Chi award for magazine journalism.
A father of two, Hull lives in Sausalito, California, where he is at work on his fourth novel.
A graduate of the University of California at Berkeley, Hull spent ten years as a correspondent at TIME, including three as the Jerusalem Bureau Chief. His reporting has ranged from the Gulf War and the Palestinian uprising to presidential politics and the troubled underside of American society. A cover story he wrote on youth violence won the Society of Professional Journalists' prestigious Sigma Delta Chi award for magazine journalism.
A father of two, Hull lives in Sausalito, California, where he is at work on his fourth novel.
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
March 16, 2013
To me, Jonathan Hull's, The Devoted, is a literary masterpiece that deserves to be discovered by the general public. Centered around a pieced together family that has more than its share of secrets, The Devoted pulls you in until you are fully submerged into the novel. I can not give this charming piece of fiction enough praise, it really has it all: romance, heartache, mystery, suspense, and many historical elements. Once I picked up The Devoted I was not able to put it down until I finished it.
The Devoted centers around the characters of Ryan, Mike, Alessandra, and Shannon and spans many decades. As a young boy, Ryan was traveling with his loving, and in his eyes perfect, parents. After falling asleep in the back seat of the car, Ryan was awakened to flames engulfing his car and two huge hands reaching in to pull him out. His life was never the same. Mike was the quick acting man who saw the accident occur; he ran to the scene to try and save the young boy and his family. Sadly, he was only able to pull Ryan out of the car while his parents perished. Mike's life was also changed forever.
Ryan and Mike were admitted to the same hospital to recover. Both Ryan and Mike had many complication to overcome: Ryan with his broken body and Mike with his severely burnt hands. Alessandra and Shannon, Mike's wife and daughter, visited everyday and Shannon would watch over Ryan as he was unconscious. Years go by and Ryan stays in touch with Mike's family through Christmas cards, birthday cards, and graduation announcements. As he reaches adulthood, Ryan finds himself living an unhappy and unfulfilled life that is overrun by memories of the past. Many times Ryan thinks about visiting Mike and thanking him for saving his life in person, but he always becomes to afraid. However, when he discovers Mike is on his deathbed, Ryan decides to return and see him once more for the closure that he never had. However, instead of closure Mike reveals a huge secret that will turn Ryan, Alessandra, and Shannon's lives upside down.
I loved the historical aspects of The Devoted. Throughout the book, Hull places love letters that Ryan's parents wrote to each other while his father was away at war. These letters show the true love that this couple felt for each other. A fear of Ryan's is that he will never find this kind of passionate, all consuming love. While Ryan's story is one main plot line in The Devoted, Alessandra's childhood in wartime Italy is the other main focus of Hull's novel. Alessandra begins telling Ryan about her childhood in Italy while they are out touring her and Mike's farm. However, she leaves many important details out which Ryan later discovers when Alessandra gives him a letter type book she writes containing her memories. Here readers learn how Alessandra met American solider Mike and what really happened in Italy during the war. One would think that Ryan has nothing to do with any of this, but Hull powerfully weaves a story together that demonstrates that Alessandra's life during the war directly impacts the horrible accident which claimed the lives of Ryan's parents. I have to say that Alessandra's part of The Devoted was my favorite.
I wholeheartedly recommend Jonathan Hull's, The Devoted, to all fiction lovers. This is a wonderful story that spans decades and takes readers on a fascinating journey. I was very shocked at the ending of The Devoted; Hull definitely threw a twist into his story. Many novels wrap up with a 'happily ever after' ending that you can see coming a mile away. However, The Devoted ends in a way that leaves readers contemplating everything that happened from the beginning of the story until the end. I feel that any novel that leaves you thinking about it a day or two after you finished reading it has done something right. Congratulations to Hull for writing a terrific novel that left me very satisfied!
**The publisher has provided me with a complimentary copy of the book, The Devoted, for the purpose of review.**
The Devoted centers around the characters of Ryan, Mike, Alessandra, and Shannon and spans many decades. As a young boy, Ryan was traveling with his loving, and in his eyes perfect, parents. After falling asleep in the back seat of the car, Ryan was awakened to flames engulfing his car and two huge hands reaching in to pull him out. His life was never the same. Mike was the quick acting man who saw the accident occur; he ran to the scene to try and save the young boy and his family. Sadly, he was only able to pull Ryan out of the car while his parents perished. Mike's life was also changed forever.
Ryan and Mike were admitted to the same hospital to recover. Both Ryan and Mike had many complication to overcome: Ryan with his broken body and Mike with his severely burnt hands. Alessandra and Shannon, Mike's wife and daughter, visited everyday and Shannon would watch over Ryan as he was unconscious. Years go by and Ryan stays in touch with Mike's family through Christmas cards, birthday cards, and graduation announcements. As he reaches adulthood, Ryan finds himself living an unhappy and unfulfilled life that is overrun by memories of the past. Many times Ryan thinks about visiting Mike and thanking him for saving his life in person, but he always becomes to afraid. However, when he discovers Mike is on his deathbed, Ryan decides to return and see him once more for the closure that he never had. However, instead of closure Mike reveals a huge secret that will turn Ryan, Alessandra, and Shannon's lives upside down.
I loved the historical aspects of The Devoted. Throughout the book, Hull places love letters that Ryan's parents wrote to each other while his father was away at war. These letters show the true love that this couple felt for each other. A fear of Ryan's is that he will never find this kind of passionate, all consuming love. While Ryan's story is one main plot line in The Devoted, Alessandra's childhood in wartime Italy is the other main focus of Hull's novel. Alessandra begins telling Ryan about her childhood in Italy while they are out touring her and Mike's farm. However, she leaves many important details out which Ryan later discovers when Alessandra gives him a letter type book she writes containing her memories. Here readers learn how Alessandra met American solider Mike and what really happened in Italy during the war. One would think that Ryan has nothing to do with any of this, but Hull powerfully weaves a story together that demonstrates that Alessandra's life during the war directly impacts the horrible accident which claimed the lives of Ryan's parents. I have to say that Alessandra's part of The Devoted was my favorite.
I wholeheartedly recommend Jonathan Hull's, The Devoted, to all fiction lovers. This is a wonderful story that spans decades and takes readers on a fascinating journey. I was very shocked at the ending of The Devoted; Hull definitely threw a twist into his story. Many novels wrap up with a 'happily ever after' ending that you can see coming a mile away. However, The Devoted ends in a way that leaves readers contemplating everything that happened from the beginning of the story until the end. I feel that any novel that leaves you thinking about it a day or two after you finished reading it has done something right. Congratulations to Hull for writing a terrific novel that left me very satisfied!
**The publisher has provided me with a complimentary copy of the book, The Devoted, for the purpose of review.**
December 2, 2012
3.5 stars. Oh man, do I love stories about family secrets. They are just so much fun to read! The Devoted definitely was no exception. Spanning several decades, this story is really about love and loss. There is both a more present day story as well as two historical stories. The stories of Ryan's (the main characters parents) are told through love letters, which I thought was a really interesting tactic as this is the only way that we really get to know his parents. The other historical story is about Alessandra, the wife of the man who saves Ryan from the car accident. Alessandra grew up in wartime Italy and seems to be holding back on a lot of stories from her life there, even from her husband, who her daughter believes she never truly loved.
Alessandra's story makes up a lot of the sort of intrigue in this book. Her story is the most interesting to me. This is where the action is! The whole story was pretty well written but this storyline was especially well written and enjoyable to me. It's a lot of twists and turns and entanglements and I really enjoyed it.It's also Alessandra's part of the story where the historical detail really shined through. Historical Fiction lovers who like really good descriptions will enjoy this part of the story a lot.
One thing I didn't care for was the love affair between Ryan and Shannon. Shannon is the daughter of Mike and Alessandra. Ryan goes to meet Mike many years after Mike saved him from a car accident. Mike is dying. I didn't care for the love between them because they seem to fall way too quickly for each other, which I found sort of strange. However, their love affair definitely moved the plot forward in some places so I guess it was there for a reason.
Also, the book skips in time and changes narrators and there wasn't anything at the beginning of the chapter to make that clear, which kind of confused things for me.
Bottom line: Pretty good Historical Fiction full of family secrets.
Alessandra's story makes up a lot of the sort of intrigue in this book. Her story is the most interesting to me. This is where the action is! The whole story was pretty well written but this storyline was especially well written and enjoyable to me. It's a lot of twists and turns and entanglements and I really enjoyed it.It's also Alessandra's part of the story where the historical detail really shined through. Historical Fiction lovers who like really good descriptions will enjoy this part of the story a lot.
One thing I didn't care for was the love affair between Ryan and Shannon. Shannon is the daughter of Mike and Alessandra. Ryan goes to meet Mike many years after Mike saved him from a car accident. Mike is dying. I didn't care for the love between them because they seem to fall way too quickly for each other, which I found sort of strange. However, their love affair definitely moved the plot forward in some places so I guess it was there for a reason.
Also, the book skips in time and changes narrators and there wasn't anything at the beginning of the chapter to make that clear, which kind of confused things for me.
Bottom line: Pretty good Historical Fiction full of family secrets.
February 26, 2013
Originally posted at: http://www.longandshortreviews.com/bo...
I have to admit there are only a few fiction books that make it to my ‘keeper’ shelf. Books that, no matter how many years pass, I won’t part with them, promising myself that one day I’ll re-read them and get lost in their pages once again. The Devoted is one such book. In fact, it was such an enjoyable read that it will stand out as one of my favorites of 2012.
Mr. Hull pulled me into the story from page one and kept me turning the pages from there on. I found myself picking up the book and wanting to read more even during the busy holiday season. The prose was beautifully written and peppered with captivating characters who I felt came to life as the story progressed.
In fact, it’s not just one story but a collection of wonderful tales cleverly weaved together. I love a story with a secret and The Devoted has many. It’s one of those novels that gets you thinking about the decisions we make and how they impact not only us, but other people too.
It’s both a contemporary story, and also one set during World War Two which makes it not only riveting but tugs at your heartstrings. And yes, has you reaching for a tissue or two.
I loved all the characters and was cheering for all of them. The dialogue was very natural sounding and the pacing, despite this being over three hundred pages, sailed along.
Mr. Hull is a new to be author but after reading The Devoted I’m going to seek out his previous books and will eagerly await his next novel.
If you’re looking for a great book to kick off your 2013 reading I can highly recommend this one to you.
I have to admit there are only a few fiction books that make it to my ‘keeper’ shelf. Books that, no matter how many years pass, I won’t part with them, promising myself that one day I’ll re-read them and get lost in their pages once again. The Devoted is one such book. In fact, it was such an enjoyable read that it will stand out as one of my favorites of 2012.
Mr. Hull pulled me into the story from page one and kept me turning the pages from there on. I found myself picking up the book and wanting to read more even during the busy holiday season. The prose was beautifully written and peppered with captivating characters who I felt came to life as the story progressed.
In fact, it’s not just one story but a collection of wonderful tales cleverly weaved together. I love a story with a secret and The Devoted has many. It’s one of those novels that gets you thinking about the decisions we make and how they impact not only us, but other people too.
It’s both a contemporary story, and also one set during World War Two which makes it not only riveting but tugs at your heartstrings. And yes, has you reaching for a tissue or two.
I loved all the characters and was cheering for all of them. The dialogue was very natural sounding and the pacing, despite this being over three hundred pages, sailed along.
Mr. Hull is a new to be author but after reading The Devoted I’m going to seek out his previous books and will eagerly await his next novel.
If you’re looking for a great book to kick off your 2013 reading I can highly recommend this one to you.
March 8, 2013
This is a BEAUTIFUL book, beautifully written. After reading this story, I could not start another book right away. There is so much left to ponder and savor and so many characters to miss and even to grieve for. I finished reading this book reluctantly as I was so drawn in by the richness of the characters and the depth of their stories. Jonathan Hull really knows how to plumb the depths of human emotions. While absorbed in this story, I found myself beginning to understand how and why some people are able to forgive the unforgivable and love the unlovable. I caught a glimpse of how people carry their hurts and failures and disappointments like boulders on their backs throughout their lives. I learned that we are less apt to forgive ourselves than others are to forgive us and that some of the questions we have about God and what he was doing while a myriad of atrocities happened during the war are universal and unknowable. Good people often did very bad things in the name of survival, often not for their own survival, but for the lives of those they love. Ultimately, it is a multi-generational story of love, loyalty and secrets. Eloquently written to stir the reader's soul, but not once going down the road of sappy or manipulative, I would highly recommend this book to others. This would make a great discussion book for book clubs, as well. (I was not a huge fan of the cover art, so don't let that put you off.)
January 13, 2015
What a beautifully written love story. You are drawn in from the very beginning and hate to put the book down until you reach the very end. It is descriptive enough to make you feel as if you are there with the characters but not too much so as to take away from the story. There is love, heartbreak and tragedy without the sappiness that some love stories contain. It even has a little twist in the end. I absolutely loved this book and will definitely have to read his others.
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October 1, 2022
This is an amazing and beautifully written love story. I will read anything this author writes.
April 8, 2014
This story movers around ,from 1960 to 1990 and all the way back to the war in Italy in the 1940s. In 1960 10 year old Ryan Brooks is on vacation with his parents in Wyoming , in an auto wreckage that kills his family Ryan is pulled out and saved by Mike O' Donnell. 30 years later Mike is dying of Cancer and Ryan returns to Wyoming to vist the man who saved his life. He meets Mikes wife,Alessandra,and his daughter Shannon.the story moves back in time to the German occupation of Italy and Alessandra's life in a small and how she met Mike. The story go's back and forth between the present and the past as Ryan learns more than he wants to know about Mike,Alessandra and Shannon . Many secrets are reveled, secrets keep to long can be very hurtful. As in Hull's previous novels ,Losing Julia and The distance from Normandy he shows a great talent at describing war. Some of the lines in the book I will never forget,such as--- some words seem to spend their lives looking for paper to land on-----although their is much about the war in this novel,the main theme is secrets . A very good story
January 8, 2017
Like most other readers here, my admiration for Losing Julia led me to pick up another Jonathan Hull novel. I really like the idea of a kid being rescued and then seeking his rescuer when he's grown. And I really enjoyed the protagonist's relationship with the teenage kid.
But, I'm not a big fan of stories that revolve around people keeping secrets their whole lives, only to reveal them on their deathbed, or after death, and finally the whole truth comes out and it changes everything. The end. I don't like that someone would marry someone because they feel like they should and both their lives are unhappy, all because of the secret horrible thing.
But, Hull creates some beautiful phrases and relatable emotions.
But, I'm not a big fan of stories that revolve around people keeping secrets their whole lives, only to reveal them on their deathbed, or after death, and finally the whole truth comes out and it changes everything. The end. I don't like that someone would marry someone because they feel like they should and both their lives are unhappy, all because of the secret horrible thing.
But, Hull creates some beautiful phrases and relatable emotions.
January 21, 2013
I thought this was a good book but not a great book. The plot was excellent and held some interesting twists and turns. I would like to have been drawn into the characters' lives a little more but no one was a naturally happy person so I couldn't connect. I do recommend this book on the merits of the story.
March 29, 2013
I am a big Jonathan Hull fan and was very excited when I saw that he was finally putting out another book. Although this wasn't my favorite Jonathan Hull book, it still very good. His talent in sharing a story is his ability to get the readers to fall in love with the characters, which I did with Alessandra and Johann.
October 22, 2012
I place this among the best books I have ever read.
March 9, 2013
4.5 stars
This book is extremely well written. The intertwining stories are lovely and inspiring. I would definitely recommend this book.
This book is extremely well written. The intertwining stories are lovely and inspiring. I would definitely recommend this book.
November 18, 2013
This book is a great love story with war intertwined in it
June 24, 2014
Great read
A perfect mix, a love story and war. A poetic trip down memory lane. I'm struck by the author's eloquent storytelling.
A perfect mix, a love story and war. A poetic trip down memory lane. I'm struck by the author's eloquent storytelling.
September 11, 2014
History, unrequited love and endless twists and turns. I laughed, cried and fell in love.
September 24, 2014
I checked this out just hoping for a quick read romance. It's not that. It's thoughtful,a very surprising story... I learned a lot about the people in Italy during WWII.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews