Alice McDermott | Kirkus Reviews

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</script> <script type="application/ld+json"> { "@context": "http://schema.org", "@type": "Article", "headline": "Alice McDermott", "name": "Alice McDermott", "dateModified": "Feb. 14, 2020, 3:07 p.m.", "mainEntityOfPage": "true", "author": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Megan Labrise" }, "datePublished": "Sept. 4, 2017, 1:30 p.m.", "image": "https://d2i1eo516w03f2.cloudfront.net/blog/lead_art/McDermott_Alice_c_Jamie_Schoenberger_2.jpg", "articleSection": "Profiles", "articleBody": "The unsung nuns of early\u002D20th\u002Dcentury Brooklyn\u0026#8212\u003Bthe Little Sisters of the Sick, the Little Sisters of the Poor, and company\u0026#8212\u003Bare the worthy subjects of Alice McDermott\u0026#8217\u003Bs eighth novel, The Ninth Hour. \u0026#160\u003B\u000D\u000A\u0026#8220\u003BThere\u0026#8217\u003Bs something beautiful and humble about the language that those orders chose, juxtaposed with their ambition: \u0026#8216\u003BWe\u0026#8217\u003Bre not going to sit here and knit socks, we\u0026#8217\u003Bre going to go out into the world and alleviate suffering. We\u0026#8217\u003Bre going to bring justice where there is none,\u0026#8217\u003B \u0026#8221\u003B says McDermott, whose mother was raised by a widowed aunt with help from a Little Sister of the Sick Poor, Sister Mary Rose, Congregation of the Infant Jesus, to whom the book is dedicated.\u000D\u000AMcDermott is a National Book Award and American Book Award winner (Charming Billy)\u003B a three\u002Dtime Pulitzer Prize nominee (That Night,\u0026#160\u003BAt Weddings and Wakes,\u0026#160\u003BAfter This)\u003B and the author of numerous stories and essays published by the New York Times, Washington Post, the New Yorker, and Harper\u0026#8217\u003Bs, among others. Born and raised in Brooklyn, she is the Richard A. Macksey Professor of Humanities at Johns Hopkins University.\u000D\u000A\u0026#8220\u003BInitially, I just wanted to create one nun who embodied someone tough and smart and yet a beggar, and that was Sister St. Saviour, the first of the nuns to appear,\u0026#8221\u003B says McDermott, who went on to invent an entire order, the Little Nursing Sisters of the Sick Poor. \u0026#8220\u003BAnd then, honestly, the damn nuns took over.\u0026#8221\u003B\u000D\u000AThe Ninth Hour begins on a ghastly gray February day. On her way home from long hours begging alms, Sister St. Saviour stumbles upon a fresh tragedy: a burned building, a congregation of cops, shaken neighbors, and a young widow, pretty enough and pregnant, in need of ministration. Annie\u0026#8217\u003Bs husband, Jim, a young Irish immigrant, a trainman, committed suicide by gas.\u000D\u000A\u0026#8220\u003BThis much the nun was certain of: the husband had cherished this girl with the beautiful hair,\u0026#8221\u003B McDermott writes. \u0026#8220\u003BLove was not the trouble. Money, more likely. Alcohol. Madness. The day and time itself: late afternoon in early February, was there a moment of the year better suited for despair? Sister herself had had the very same thought earlier today, during her long hours of begging in the drafty vestibule. We\u0026#8217\u003Bre all feeling it, she\u0026#8217\u003Bd thought....\u0026#8221\u003B\u000D\u000AHumanely, St. Saviour refuses to speak the sin (\u0026#8220\u003BYour man fell asleep....The flame went out. It was a wet and unfortunate day,\u0026#8221\u003B she writes.). She enlists her fellow Sisters to expedite burial in the consecrated cemetery where the young couple own plots before the next day\u0026#8217\u003Bs dawn (i.e. before the facts precede them).\u000D\u000A\u000D\u000A\u0026#8220\u003BThat\u0026#8217\u003Bs quick,\u0026#8221\u003B Sister Jeanne said. She hesitated and then added, \u0026#8220\u003BSister Lucy wonders why it\u0026#8217\u003Bs such a rush.\u0026#8221\u003B\u000D\u000ASister St. Saviour only raised her eyes to the top of the newspaper. \u0026#8220\u003BSister Lucy,\u0026#8221\u003B she said casually, \u0026#8220\u003Bhas a big mouth.\u0026#8221\u003B\u000D\u000A\u000D\u000ABy St. Savior\u0026#8217\u003Bs design, Sisters Jeanne, Lucy, and Illuminata, the convent laundress, become indispensable to Annie and her daughter, Sally, born the following August. (The reverse is also true.) In the richness of their relationships and magnificence of their inner worlds, McDermott proves their assumedly quiet lives deserving of a deeper look.\u000D\u000A\u0026#8220\u003BWe all have these childish images of shrill nuns screaming in a classroom,\u0026#8221\u003B she says, \u0026#8220\u003Bthat demand we stop and say, \u0026#8216\u003BLet\u0026#8217\u003Bs take another look. Let\u0026#8217\u003Bs look from their point of view, from the inside, from the underground, so to speak\u0026#8212\u003Bnot setting out to contradict or to correct any mistaken conceptions of what this life was like, but just to see it again, in an individual way.\u0026#8217\u003B \u0026#8221\u003B\u000D\u000AMcDermott never contemplated taking vows. (Though, when pressed, says, \u0026#8220\u003BI probably would have been one of those screaming nuns at the front of the classroom, righting the world 60 children at a time.\u0026#8221\u003B) Were she to prescribe the vows novelists might take, however, there\u0026#8217\u003Bs a particular tenet she\u0026#8217\u003Bd like upheld.\u000D\u000A\u0026#8220\u003BWith the preamble of there should be no rules,\u0026#8221\u003B she says, \u0026#8220\u003Bas the wonderful Flannery O\u0026#8217\u003BConnor said, you can do whatever you can get away with, you just can\u0026#8217\u003Bt get away with much\u0026#8212\u003Ba commitment to authenticity and honesty would be one of the first vows I would ask novelists to take, so that characters are not manipulated for a cause, or the writer\u0026#8217\u003Bs ego is not apparent on the page. [So that] a reader can trust in fiction, in the way we can trust in very few other things we read.\u0026#8221\u003B\u000D\u000AMegan Labrise writes \u0026#8220\u003BField Notes\u0026#8221\u003B and features for Kirkus Reviews and is the co\u002Dhost of the Kirkus podcast, Fully Booked.\u000D\u000A\u0026#160\u003B\u000D\u000A\u0026#160\u003B\u000D\u000A\u0026#160\u003B\u000D\u000A\u0026#160\u003B\u000D\u000A\u0026#160\u003B\u000D\u000A\u0026#160\u003B\u000D\u000A\u0026#160\u003B\u000D\u000A\u0026#160\u003B", "url": "https://www.kirkusreviews.com/news-and-features/articles/alice-mcdermott/", "publisher": { "@type": "Organization", "name": "Kirkus Reviews", "logo": { "@type": "imageObject", "url": "https://www.kirkusreviews.com" } } } </script> </head> <body class="article-news-and-features" id="article-news-and-features" data-slot-scope="" hx-headers='{"X-CSRFToken": "ZB3O1vZauhvERkVpmrjtliV3dPt1jpHzI4HriTZtMVGxv77RolJdoRvU7LrKQaZP"}'> <header role="group" class="header-section"><div 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class="img-fluid user-icon rounded-circle" alt="avatar"></li></ul></div></nav></div></header><div class="container"></div> <div id="fb-root"></div> <script> (function (d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = "//connect.facebook.net/en_US/all.js#xfbml=1"; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs); }(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk')); </script> <div class="container article-author kir-article-details blogpost " data-id="6146" genre="Fiction"> <p class="title-top"> <a href="/news-and-features/content-type/profiles/"> Profiles </a> </p> <h1 class="heading"> Alice McDermott </h1> <h2 class="heading sub-heading"> </h2> <p class="title-bottom"> BY <span>Megan Labrise</span> <span class="hide-on-mobile"> • </span> <span class="pub-date-mobile"> Sept. 4, 2017 </span> </p> </div> <ul class="list-inline article-social-share-mobile divider-top show-on-mobile bl-share"> <li class="list-inline-item"> <a 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class="author-content-with-sidebar"> <ul class="list-inline article-social-share-desktop-first hide-on-mobile bl-share"> <li class="not-list-inline-item"> <a class="share-via-fb" title="Share via Facebook" href="#" data-url="https://www.kirkusreviews.com//news-and-features/articles/alice-mcdermott/"> <img src="https://d1fd687oe6a92y.cloudfront.net/img/kir_images/icons/facebook-mobile.png" width="24" height="24" class="img-fluid mx-auto d-block" alt="Share via Facebook"> </a> </li> <li class="not-list-inline-item"> <a title="Share via Twitter" href="https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/news-and-features/articles/alice-mcdermott/&hashtags=kirkusreviews"> <img src="https://d1fd687oe6a92y.cloudfront.net/img/kir_images/icons/twitter-mobile.png" width="24" height="24" class="img-fluid mx-auto d-block" alt="Share via Twitter"> </a> </li> <li class="not-list-inline-item"> <a class="share-via-email" title="Share via Email" href="#"> <img src="https://d1fd687oe6a92y.cloudfront.net/img/kir_images/icons/email-mobile.png" class="img-fluid mx-auto d-block" alt="Share via Email"> </a> </li> </ul> <div class="container article-author-img-start full-container-mobile"> <div class="image-container book-background1 text-center"> <img alt="Alice McDermott" src="https://d2i1eo516w03f2.cloudfront.net/blog/lead_art/McDermott_Alice_c_Jamie_Schoenberger_2.jpg" class="img-fluid book-shadow"> </div> <span class="photo-caption">Photo courtesy Jamie Schoenberger</span> </div> <div class="container article-author-description-start"> <div class="row"> <div class="col-lg-8 col-md-12 col-sm-12 col-xs-12"> <div class="neutral-row-for-mobile"> <div class="main-content first-alphabet"> <p>The unsung nuns of early-20th-century Brooklyn—the Little Sisters of the Sick, the Little Sisters of the Poor, and company—are the worthy subjects of Alice McDermott’s eighth novel, <em><a href="https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/alice-mcdermott/the-ninth-hour/">The Ninth Hour</a></em>. <em> </em></p> <p>“There’s something beautiful and humble about the language that those orders chose, juxtaposed with their ambition: ‘We’re not going to sit here and knit socks, we’re going to go out into the world and alleviate suffering. We’re going to bring justice where there is none,’ ” says McDermott, whose mother was raised by a widowed aunt with help from a Little Sister of the Sick Poor, Sister Mary Rose, Congregation of the Infant Jesus, to whom the book is dedicated.</p> <p>McDermott is a National Book Award and American Book Award winner (<em>Charming Billy</em>); a three-time Pulitzer Prize nominee (<em>That Night</em>, <a href="https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/alice-mcdermott/at-weddings-and-wakes/"><em>At Weddings and Wakes</em></a>, <a href="https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/alice-mcdermott/after-this/"><em>After This</em></a>); and the author of numerous stories and essays published by the <em>New York Times</em>,<em> Washington Post</em>, the<em> New Yorker</em>, and<em> Harper’s</em>, among others. Born and raised in Brooklyn, she is the Richard A. Macksey Professor of Humanities at Johns Hopkins University.</p> <p>“Initially, I just wanted to create one nun who embodied someone tough and smart and yet a beggar, and that was Sister St. Saviour, the first of the nuns to appear,” says McDermott, who went on to invent an entire order, the Little Nursing Sisters of the Sick Poor. “And then, honestly, the damn nuns took over.”</p> <p><em>The Ninth Hour </em>begins on a ghastly gray February day. On her way home from long hours begging alms, Sister St. Saviour stumbles upon a fresh tragedy: a burned building, a congregation of cops, shaken neighbors, and a young widow, pretty enough and pregnant, in need of ministration. Annie’s husband, Jim, a young Irish immigrant, a trainman, committed suicide by gas.</p> <p>“This much the nun was certain of: the husband had cherished this girl with the beautiful hair,” McDermott writes. “Love was not the trouble. Money, more likely. Alcohol. Madness. The day and time itself: late afternoon in early February, was there a moment of the year better suited for despair? Sister herself had had the very same thought earlier today, during her long hours of begging in the drafty vestibule. We’re all feeling it, she’d thought....”</p> <p>Humanely, St. Saviour refuses to speak the sin (“Your man fell asleep....The flame went out. It was a wet and unfortunate day,” she writes.). She enlists her fellow Sisters to expedite burial in the consecrated cemetery where the young couple own plots before the next day’s dawn (i.e. before the facts precede them).</p> <blockquote> <p>“That’s quick,” Sister Jeanne said. She hesitated and then added, “Sister Lucy wonders why it’s such a rush.”</p> <p>Sister St. Saviour only raised her eyes to the top of the newspaper. “Sister Lucy,” she said casually, “has a big mouth.”</p> </blockquote> <p>By St. Savior’s design, Sisters Jeanne, Lucy, and Illuminata, the convent laundress, become indispensable to Annie and her daughter, Sally, born the following August. (The reverse is also true.) In the richness of their relationships and magnificence of their inner worlds, McDermott proves their assumedly quiet lives deserving of a deeper look.</p> <p>“We all have these childish images of shrill nuns screaming in a classroom,” she says, “that demand we stop and say, ‘Let’s take another look. Let’s look from their point of view, from the inside, from the underground, so to speak—not setting out to contradict or to correct any mistaken conceptions of what this life was like, but just to see it again, in an individual way.’ ”</p> <p>McDermott never contemplated taking vows. (Though, when pressed, says, “I probably would have been one of those <img class="blog-post-image-right" style="padding: 2px 2px 2px 2px;" src="http://d1fd687oe6a92y.cloudfront.net/files/2017/09/04/McDermott_Cover_2.jpg" alt="Alice McDermott Cover" width="161" height="242" /></img> screaming nuns at the front of the classroom, righting the world 60 children at a time.”) Were she to prescribe the vows novelists might take, however, there’s a particular tenet she’d like upheld.</p> <p>“With the preamble of there should be no rules,” she says, “as the wonderful Flannery O’Connor said, you can do whatever you can get away with, you just can’t get away with much—a commitment to authenticity and honesty would be one of the first vows I would ask novelists to take, so that characters are not manipulated for a cause, or the writer’s ego is not apparent on the page. [So that] a reader can trust in fiction, in the way we can trust in very few other things we read.”</p> <p><em>Megan Labrise writes “Field Notes” and features for </em>Kirkus Reviews <em>and is the co-host of the Kirkus podcast, </em>Fully Booked<em>.</em></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> </div> </div> </div> <div class="col-lg-4 col-md-12 col-sm-12 col-xs-12"> <div class="sidebar-content float-right-mobile"> <div class="sidebar-widget"> <div class="listsandfeaturereview-column more-stories-sec"> <a href="/news-and-features/" class="small-heading">MORE FEATURES</a> <div class="kirkus-small-list-bundle"> <ul class="kirkus-small-list list-inline blogpost " data-id="16681"> <li class="list-inline-item list-image"> <div class="image-container person-nobg-list m-auto"> <a href="/news-and-features/articles/longlist-announced-for-joyce-carol-oates-prize/" title="Longlist Announced for Joyce Carol Oates Prize"> <img 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src="https://d1fd687oe6a92y.cloudfront.net/img/user-media/titles/title/cover/ce0c02a93a694749abd28f5506150d4b/64885188bbe2495884926fdfe3a996d7.jpg.72x0_q85_autocrop.jpg" class="book-shadow img-fluid"> </a> </div> </li> <li class="list-inline-item align-top list-content"> <a title="THE BLUE HOUR" class="card-text" href="/book-reviews/paula-hawkins/the-blue-hour-3/">THE BLUE HOUR</a> <p class="prize-label">BY PAULA HAWKINS</p> </li> </ul> <ul class="kirkus-small-list list-inline "> <li class="list-inline-item list-image"> <div class="image-container starred"> <a href="/book-reviews/mimi-matthews/the-muse-of-maiden-lane/"> <img alt="THE MUSE OF MAIDEN LANE" src="https://d1fd687oe6a92y.cloudfront.net/img/user-media/titles/title/cover/8d79ab50edf9416bba6913fef4faa17f/efc51e1ad83a4a18b475dd12eb8354d3.jpg.72x0_q85_autocrop.jpg" class="book-shadow img-fluid"> </a> </div> </li> <li class="list-inline-item align-top list-content"> <a title="THE MUSE OF MAIDEN LANE" class="card-text" href="/book-reviews/mimi-matthews/the-muse-of-maiden-lane/">THE MUSE OF MAIDEN LANE</a> <p class="prize-label">BY MIMI MATTHEWS</p> </li> </ul> <ul class="kirkus-small-list list-inline divider-bottom"> <li class="list-inline-item list-image"> <div class="image-container starred"> <a href="/book-reviews/alexandra-loske/the-artists-palette/"> <img alt="THE ARTIST'S PALETTE" src="https://d1fd687oe6a92y.cloudfront.net/img/user-media/titles/title/cover/92694704f91242cfa37b174a2a5303c5/ca65e91947c545088561892e65c0893e.jpg.72x0_q85_autocrop.jpg" class="book-shadow img-fluid"> </a> </div> </li> <li class="list-inline-item align-top list-content"> <a title="THE ARTIST'S PALETTE" class="card-text" href="/book-reviews/alexandra-loske/the-artists-palette/">THE ARTIST'S PALETTE</a> <p class="prize-label">BY ALEXANDRA LOSKE</p> </li> </ul> </div> </div> </div> <div class="sidebar-widget"> <div class="listsandfeaturereview-column" id="text-list"> <p class="small-heading">Recent Book Lists</p> <div class="kirkus-small-list-bundle no-image"> <ul class="kirkus-small-list list-inline feature-book-list "> <li class="list-inline-item align-middle list-contents"> <a href="/book-lists/best-middle-grade-fantasy-of-2024/" class="card-text"> Best Middle-Grade Fantasy of 2024 </a> </li> </ul> <ul class="kirkus-small-list list-inline "> <li class="list-inline-item align-middle list-contents"> <a href="/book-lists/best-middle-grade-adventure-of-2024/" class="card-text"> Best Middle-Grade Adventure of 2024 </a> </li> </ul> <ul class="kirkus-small-list list-inline "> <li class="list-inline-item align-middle list-contents"> <a href="/book-lists/best-middle-grade-family-stories-of-2024/" class="card-text"> Best Middle-Grade Family Stories of 2024 </a> </li> </ul> <ul class="kirkus-small-list list-inline border-bottom-feature-list horizontal-line-mobile divider-bottom "> <li class="list-inline-item align-middle list-contents"> <a href="/book-lists/best-middle-grade-fiction-of-2024/" class="card-text"> Best Middle-Grade Fiction of 2024 </a> </li> </ul> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="container-fluid bestseller-slider-sec shadow mb-5" id="bestsellers"> <div class="row"> <div class="bestseller-slider-row bg"> <div class="container"> <h1 class="heading">Our Take On This Week's Bestsellers</h1> <div class="d-none-soft"> <div class="bestseller-book-slide list-inline"> <div class="kr-slick-item align-bottom list-inline-item kirkus-star " data-verdict="1"> <div class="image-container mx-auto d-block"> <a href="/book-reviews/nora-roberts/the-mirror-3/" data-href="https://d1fd687oe6a92y.cloudfront.net/img/user-media/titles/title/cover/6f49bda0e540426d860302ac939f2d6e/94ac7a00eb2043e58ea8f5426e74e405.jpg.260x0_q85_autocrop.jpg" class="progressive replace"> <img class="book-shadow img-fluid mx-auto d-block bottom-img preview" src="https://d1fd687oe6a92y.cloudfront.net/img/user-media/titles/title/cover/6f49bda0e540426d860302ac939f2d6e/94ac7a00eb2043e58ea8f5426e74e405.jpg.72x0_q85_autocrop.jpg" alt="THE MIRROR"/> </a> </div> <div class="bestseller-status-text"> <span class="buy-it-text"> <p class="book-verdict-text">Our Verdict</p> <span class="verdict-get-it" id="book-verdict-btn-text">GET IT</span> </span> </div> </div> <div class="kr-slick-item align-bottom list-inline-item kirkus-star " data-verdict="1"> <div class="image-container mx-auto d-block"> <a href="/book-reviews/cher-2/cher/" data-href="https://d1fd687oe6a92y.cloudfront.net/img/user-media/titles/title/cover/7de7b4f95f03490c9b822da9eea5e67e/68f61aa8efdd403d910f42e0569f59cb.jpeg.260x0_q85_autocrop.jpg" class="progressive replace"> <img class="book-shadow img-fluid mx-auto d-block bottom-img preview" src="https://d1fd687oe6a92y.cloudfront.net/img/user-media/titles/title/cover/7de7b4f95f03490c9b822da9eea5e67e/68f61aa8efdd403d910f42e0569f59cb.jpeg.72x0_q85_autocrop.jpg" alt="CHER"/> </a> </div> <div class="bestseller-status-text"> <span class="buy-it-text"> <p class="book-verdict-text">Our Verdict</p> <span class="verdict-get-it" id="book-verdict-btn-text">GET IT</span> </span> </div> </div> <div class="kr-slick-item align-bottom list-inline-item kirkus-star " data-verdict="1"> <div class="image-container mx-auto d-block"> <a href="/book-reviews/bill-clinton/citizen-2/" data-href="https://d1fd687oe6a92y.cloudfront.net/img/user-media/titles/title/cover/42a11dae7cba42cdab77c2cfecaf27f1/58bf8843a9684066a715923628d04f99.jpg.260x0_q85_autocrop.jpg" class="progressive replace"> <img class="book-shadow img-fluid mx-auto d-block bottom-img preview" src="https://d1fd687oe6a92y.cloudfront.net/img/user-media/titles/title/cover/42a11dae7cba42cdab77c2cfecaf27f1/58bf8843a9684066a715923628d04f99.jpg.72x0_q85_autocrop.jpg" alt="CITIZEN"/> </a> </div> <div class="bestseller-status-text"> <span class="buy-it-text"> <p class="book-verdict-text">Our Verdict</p> <span class="verdict-get-it" id="book-verdict-btn-text">GET IT</span> </span> </div> </div> <div class="kr-slick-item align-bottom list-inline-item " data-verdict="3"> <div class="image-container mx-auto d-block"> <a href="/book-reviews/janet-evanovich/now-or-never-2/" data-href="https://d1fd687oe6a92y.cloudfront.net/img/user-media/titles/title/cover/2de77186686049a6b42b827e8c0f1226/2662ea4487844088a23c053140d5f851.jpg.260x0_q85_autocrop.jpg" class="progressive replace"> <img class="book-shadow img-fluid mx-auto d-block bottom-img preview" src="https://d1fd687oe6a92y.cloudfront.net/img/user-media/titles/title/cover/2de77186686049a6b42b827e8c0f1226/2662ea4487844088a23c053140d5f851.jpg.72x0_q85_autocrop.jpg" alt="NOW OR NEVER"/> </a> </div> <div class="bestseller-status-text"> <span class="buy-it-text"> <p class="book-verdict-text">Our Verdict</p> <span class="verdict-skip-it" id="book-verdict-btn-text">SKIP IT</span> </span> </div> </div> <div class="kr-slick-item align-bottom list-inline-item " data-verdict="1"> <div class="image-container mx-auto d-block"> <a href="/book-reviews/robin-wall-kimmerer/the-serviceberry/" data-href="https://d1fd687oe6a92y.cloudfront.net/img/user-media/titles/title/cover/cc211165cd3943ec877ae0995b51b36c/183683198c4045d7aa15a3a0737d68d2.jpg.260x0_q85_autocrop.jpg" class="progressive replace"> <img class="book-shadow img-fluid mx-auto d-block bottom-img preview" src="https://d1fd687oe6a92y.cloudfront.net/img/user-media/titles/title/cover/cc211165cd3943ec877ae0995b51b36c/183683198c4045d7aa15a3a0737d68d2.jpg.72x0_q85_autocrop.jpg" alt="THE SERVICEBERRY"/> </a> </div> <div class="bestseller-status-text"> <span class="buy-it-text"> <p class="book-verdict-text">Our Verdict</p> <span class="verdict-get-it" id="book-verdict-btn-text">GET IT</span> </span> </div> </div> <div class="kr-slick-item align-bottom list-inline-item " data-verdict="1"> <div class="image-container mx-auto d-block"> <a href="/book-reviews/melissa-landers/the-half-king-standard-edition/" data-href="https://d1fd687oe6a92y.cloudfront.net/img/user-media/titles/title/cover/f31ca3a2197443c19b90ce4c36660794/5e6e2a507dd1409f840db84841227771.jpeg.260x0_q85_autocrop.jpg" class="progressive replace"> <img class="book-shadow img-fluid mx-auto d-block bottom-img preview" src="https://d1fd687oe6a92y.cloudfront.net/img/user-media/titles/title/cover/f31ca3a2197443c19b90ce4c36660794/5e6e2a507dd1409f840db84841227771.jpeg.72x0_q85_autocrop.jpg" alt="THE HALF KING"/> </a> </div> <div class="bestseller-status-text"> <span class="buy-it-text"> <p class="book-verdict-text">Our Verdict</p> <span class="verdict-get-it" id="book-verdict-btn-text">GET IT</span> </span> </div> </div> <div class="kr-slick-item align-bottom list-inline-item kirkus-star " data-verdict="1"> <div class="image-container mx-auto d-block"> <a href="/book-reviews/haruki-murakami/the-city-and-its-uncertain-walls/" data-href="https://d1fd687oe6a92y.cloudfront.net/img/user-media/titles/title/cover/ea59b3b08bf046b9b4654fc517baf4cd/bd50d0ce44b64d8fbdda9ea9ee87d7df.jpg.260x0_q85_autocrop.jpg" class="progressive replace"> <img class="book-shadow img-fluid mx-auto d-block bottom-img preview" src="https://d1fd687oe6a92y.cloudfront.net/img/user-media/titles/title/cover/ea59b3b08bf046b9b4654fc517baf4cd/bd50d0ce44b64d8fbdda9ea9ee87d7df.jpg.72x0_q85_autocrop.jpg" alt="THE CITY AND ITS UNCERTAIN WALLS"/> </a> </div> <div class="bestseller-status-text"> <span class="buy-it-text"> <p class="book-verdict-text">Our Verdict</p> <span class="verdict-get-it" id="book-verdict-btn-text">GET IT</span> </span> </div> </div> <div class="kr-slick-item align-bottom list-inline-item " data-verdict="3"> <div class="image-container mx-auto d-block"> <a href="/book-reviews/katee-robert/court-of-the-vampire-queen/" data-href="https://d1fd687oe6a92y.cloudfront.net/img/user-media/titles/title/cover/15263c0fef5940cb8a79493e94cd7f5c/9781728264691.jpg.260x0_q85_autocrop.jpg" class="progressive replace"> <img class="book-shadow img-fluid mx-auto d-block bottom-img preview" src="https://d1fd687oe6a92y.cloudfront.net/img/user-media/titles/title/cover/15263c0fef5940cb8a79493e94cd7f5c/9781728264691.jpg.72x0_q85_autocrop.jpg" alt="COURT OF THE VAMPIRE QUEEN"/> </a> </div> <div class="bestseller-status-text"> <span class="buy-it-text"> <p class="book-verdict-text">Our Verdict</p> <span class="verdict-skip-it" id="book-verdict-btn-text">SKIP IT</span> </span> </div> </div> <div class="kr-slick-item align-bottom list-inline-item kirkus-star " data-verdict="1"> <div class="image-container mx-auto d-block"> <a href="/book-reviews/david-baldacci/to-die-for-4/" data-href="https://d1fd687oe6a92y.cloudfront.net/img/user-media/titles/title/cover/c5f2f6946b7242d9961ffd31bda99438/a7b5c785072c47bb934e9b02b5a5dade.jpg.260x0_q85_autocrop.jpg" class="progressive replace"> <img class="book-shadow img-fluid mx-auto d-block bottom-img preview" src="https://d1fd687oe6a92y.cloudfront.net/img/user-media/titles/title/cover/c5f2f6946b7242d9961ffd31bda99438/a7b5c785072c47bb934e9b02b5a5dade.jpg.72x0_q85_autocrop.jpg" alt="TO DIE FOR"/> </a> </div> <div class="bestseller-status-text"> <span class="buy-it-text"> <p class="book-verdict-text">Our Verdict</p> <span class="verdict-get-it" id="book-verdict-btn-text">GET IT</span> </span> </div> </div> <div class="kr-slick-item align-bottom list-inline-item " data-verdict="1"> <div class="image-container mx-auto d-block"> <a href="/book-reviews/rob-sheffield/heartbreak-is-the-national-anthem/" data-href="https://d1fd687oe6a92y.cloudfront.net/img/user-media/titles/title/cover/37a28b41e22947009964b7c96b5dd835/ea934c3a2ce34e5a89a72b9e8db45b39.jpg.260x0_q85_autocrop.jpg" class="progressive replace"> <img class="book-shadow img-fluid mx-auto d-block bottom-img preview" src="https://d1fd687oe6a92y.cloudfront.net/img/user-media/titles/title/cover/37a28b41e22947009964b7c96b5dd835/ea934c3a2ce34e5a89a72b9e8db45b39.jpg.72x0_q85_autocrop.jpg" alt="HEARTBREAK IS THE NATIONAL ANTHEM"/> </a> </div> <div class="bestseller-status-text"> <span class="buy-it-text"> <p class="book-verdict-text">Our Verdict</p> <span class="verdict-get-it" id="book-verdict-btn-text">GET IT</span> </span> </div> </div> <div class="kr-slick-item align-bottom list-inline-item " data-verdict="1"> <div class="image-container mx-auto d-block"> <a href="/book-reviews/mary-e-pearson/the-courting-of-bristol-keats/" data-href="https://d1fd687oe6a92y.cloudfront.net/img/user-media/titles/title/cover/d549c16b65ea42649e7358b935fe358a/cea46314bef3424da38af19c35bc1e72.jpg.260x0_q85_autocrop.jpg" class="progressive replace"> <img class="book-shadow img-fluid mx-auto d-block bottom-img preview" src="https://d1fd687oe6a92y.cloudfront.net/img/user-media/titles/title/cover/d549c16b65ea42649e7358b935fe358a/cea46314bef3424da38af19c35bc1e72.jpg.72x0_q85_autocrop.jpg" alt="THE COURTING OF BRISTOL KEATS"/> </a> </div> <div class="bestseller-status-text"> <span class="buy-it-text"> <p class="book-verdict-text">Our Verdict</p> <span class="verdict-get-it" id="book-verdict-btn-text">GET IT</span> </span> </div> </div> <div class="kr-slick-item align-bottom list-inline-item kirkus-star " data-verdict="1"> <div class="image-container mx-auto d-block"> <a href="/book-reviews/isabel-ibanez/where-the-library-hides/" data-href="https://d1fd687oe6a92y.cloudfront.net/img/user-media/titles/title/cover/094cd6969eb648cdac47a473bdb55216/68a03a02f66c42cdbe08dcc35dc46fee.jpg.260x0_q85_autocrop.jpg" class="progressive replace"> <img class="book-shadow img-fluid mx-auto d-block bottom-img preview" src="https://d1fd687oe6a92y.cloudfront.net/img/user-media/titles/title/cover/094cd6969eb648cdac47a473bdb55216/68a03a02f66c42cdbe08dcc35dc46fee.jpg.72x0_q85_autocrop.jpg" alt="WHERE THE LIBRARY HIDES"/> </a> </div> <div class="bestseller-status-text"> <span class="buy-it-text"> <p class="book-verdict-text">Our Verdict</p> <span class="verdict-get-it" id="book-verdict-btn-text">GET IT</span> </span> </div> </div> <div class="kr-slick-item align-bottom list-inline-item " data-verdict="1"> <div class="image-container mx-auto d-block"> <a href="/book-reviews/alice-hemming/the-snow-thief/" data-href="https://d1fd687oe6a92y.cloudfront.net/img/user-media/titles/title/cover/a73f3d87fcf64995abb88960bf543e88/4dc5c68bea3f43878e5368ecd2752ac9.jpg.260x0_q85_autocrop.jpg" class="progressive replace"> <img class="book-shadow img-fluid mx-auto d-block bottom-img preview" src="https://d1fd687oe6a92y.cloudfront.net/img/user-media/titles/title/cover/a73f3d87fcf64995abb88960bf543e88/4dc5c68bea3f43878e5368ecd2752ac9.jpg.72x0_q85_autocrop.jpg" alt="THE SNOW THIEF"/> </a> </div> <div class="bestseller-status-text"> <span class="buy-it-text"> <p class="book-verdict-text">Our Verdict</p> <span class="verdict-get-it" id="book-verdict-btn-text">GET IT</span> </span> </div> </div> <div class="kr-slick-item align-bottom list-inline-item kirkus-star " data-verdict="1"> <div class="image-container mx-auto d-block"> <a href="/book-reviews/claire-keegan/small-things-like-these/" data-href="https://d1fd687oe6a92y.cloudfront.net/img/user-media/titles/title/cover/110d86de420740f3b759de245501f838/9780802158741.jpg.260x0_q85_autocrop.jpg" class="progressive replace"> <img class="book-shadow img-fluid mx-auto d-block bottom-img preview" 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Alice McDermott | Kirkus Reviews