Burden of Desire (Harvest Book) [Paperback]

Robert MacNeil (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 1998 | Series: Harvest Book

The disastrous 1917 explosion of a munitions ship in Halifax Harbor, Nova Scotia, forms the backdrop to this “rich, abundantly humane love story” (Chicago Tribune)-”a powerful piece of work” (Washington Post Book World) that marks an “auspicious fiction debut for an already accomplished author and award-winning journalist” (Chicago Sun-Times).

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

MacNeil, co-anchor of the MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour on PBS-TV, has always seemed an earnest, traditional sort, and that's the kind of first novel he has written. It is also, however, warm-hearted, has a thoroughly original background and setting, and offers an offbeat romantic triangle focusing on an unusually appealing heroine. The story begins with a bang--literally, as a munitions ship blows up in Halifax, Nova Scotia, in 1917 in what will be the biggest, most destructive man-made explosion until the atomic bomb. Picking up the pieces in the well-evoked ruined city are young parson Peter Wentworth, an ambitious man in an unhappy marriage, and Stewart MacPherson, a psychiatrist just beginning to treat shell-shocked returning soldiers. The two read a diary accidentally lost in the wreckage, belonging to Julia Robertson, a young, unconventional woman whose beauty and self-acknowledged sensuality ensnares each of them in turn. Such narrative suspense as MacNeil provides involves which man she will choose after her husband dies a hero's death at the front. But this leisurely, rather creakily plotted novel does not strive for suspense; it is a portrait of a narrow provincial society in its first stirrings of doubt regarding many previously fixed notions: patriotism, religion, cowardice, honor. As such, it brings Halifax and its anguish sensitively to life, and in Julia Robertson creates the kind of woman who will always set men dreaming.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

From Kirkus Reviews

PBS newsman MacNeil's first novel is about sex and war and love and loyalty and civic calamity in early 20th-century Halifax. It's intelligent, balanced, polished, and reasonable as you might expect; the high artistry is a very pleasant surprise. In the middle of WW I, as the citizens of Halifax, Nova Scotia, struggle to keep faith in King and empire despite disproportionate casualties among Canadian troops, there is a domestic disaster on the scale of the San Francisco earthquake or the Chicago fire: A French ship loaded with munitions and fuel catches fire and explodes, leveling the north end of the city. In the ensuing confusion the diary of Julia Robertson, a beautiful young matron, falls into the hands of Peter Wentworth, an ambitious Anglican clergyman, who reads the book through and becomes obsessed with the writer without, at first, knowing who she is. Julia, whose army officer husband has been two years at the front, has set down explicitly her sexual history and feelings. The diary and the disaster combine to do serious damage to all of Peter's careful constructions of faith and honor. He passes the book to his boyhood friend Stewart MacPherson, a budding Freudian analyst, who becomes every bit as interested in the author as Peter but in a much healthier way. Before things sort themselves out, Stewart has a go at straightening out a shell-shocked soldier; Peter's marriage nearly disintegrates and his career skyrockets; and Julia copes with her husband's heroic death and last disturbing letters. A very sharp examination of a bitter time in a modest place. MacNeil writes wonderfully well and has a great deal to say about intelligent, middle-class people trying to sort things out in the face of calamity. -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 480 pages
• Publisher: Mariner Books (October 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 015600609X
• ISBN-13: 978-0156006095
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #260,506 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars sweeping tale of love, inrigue, history and psychology, July 20, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Burden of Desire (Paperback)

I spent a few weeks of a very hot summer in a hammock absorbed in this fascinating book. It is a sensual love story set in Halifax, Nova Scotia woven into a historical event which is both amazing and overlooked in American history - probably because it happened in Canada! This book explores the beginnings of psychoanalysis as it follows the stories of several compelling characters after a devastating explosion in the harbor of Halafax which left much in its wake. It's epic. It's exciting. It's unique. It's informative. And it's sexy. I highly recommend it

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A big, juicy thoroughly enjoyable story, March 23, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Burden of Desire (Harvest Book) (Paperback)

What a delight to read a story that captivates on so many different levels. The three main characters come to life and you can't help but care what happens to them and the people around them. The history of the Halifax explosion and its aftermath was fascinating. It really is amazing how little Americans know about Canada and Canadian history. Put it all together and you've got a story with sex, mystery, politics and religion that keeps you guessing how its going to turn out right up to the very end. A novel to truly get lost in for hours at a time.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautifully written. Very Sensual., February 5, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Burden of Desire (Harvest Book) (Paperback)

This book was informative and beautifully written. I loved Julia's story. Her dairy entries were so sensual and personal. MacNeil brought a beautiful woman to life for me. He wrote with such a feminine voice. There were times in the book, though, where it was a little too textbook-like in the Freudian discussions. Overall, I loved it and have bought his "Voyage"