Memoirs of a Shape-Shifter [Hardcover]

Thomas Kaplan-Maxfield (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 2005

A work of fiction with Gothic undertones shifting between present-day and colonial New England, "Memoirs of a Shape-Shifter" contains within the third-person narrative of Nikki Helmik the found journal of her ancestor, Anne Cleves, written strikingly in first-person. A dramatic story of love, loss, and Druid magic, Anne's journal strangely echoes Nikki's own struggle to resolve the crises in her life. Haunted and inspired by her ancestor, Nikki becomes a Druid magician, resolving for herself the deadly attraction between power and love. This psychological exploration of a woman's all-too-contemporary personal upheaval oscillates between realism and romance, contemplative drama and adventure story, replete with Druid magicians, centuries-old curses, wolves, ravens, and the mystery of a broken brooch. Down Gloucester's narrow streets, deep into Dogtown woods, teetering on granite cliffs and plunged into stormy North Atlantic seas, the reader is drawn into a labyrinth in which the age-old war of the sexes is given a new twist.

Editorial Reviews

Review

In a tale rich with Gothic underpinnings, Kaplan-Maxfield has created a psychologically convincing female lead character [like] Jane Eyre. --George O'Har, author of "Psychic Fair," April 2005

About the Author

Thomas Kaplan-Maxfield is the author of four novels—"Black Forest Love," "The Scarab Chase," "Hide & Seek," and "Memoirs of a Shape-Shifter". A PhD, he has taught both writing and literature at Tufts University and Boston College for the past fifteen years. Lawrence Durrell, Kaplan-Maxfield’s friend and correspondent, once told the author, “You have the new book in you.” Kaplan-Maxfield lives in Boston, and in his other life builds houses. He has this to say about "Memoirs of a Shapeshifter": "If there ever was a new book in me, this is it: a story that attempts to overcome what is often considered a literary curse in America: our inability to write a novel that concerns mature love. My attempt in writing 'Memoirs' is to try to move us beyond the war of the sexes, into a way of seeing one another, not as opponents in love and relationships, but rather as friends and partners."

Product Details

• Hardcover: 440 pages
• Publisher: Kepler Press; 1st edition (October 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0971377030
• ISBN-13: 978-0971377035
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,262,547 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Novelist Thomas Kaplan-Maxfield (www.tkaplanmaxfield.com) is an English professor at Boston College, where for over twenty years he has taught courses in Detective Fiction and in Love, among others. In addition, in 2005 he published "Memoirs of a Shape-Shifter" to wide acclaim (see reviews on www.keplerpress.com), which is in part a historical novel set in New England during the Salem witch trials; it is available in both print and e-book versions. A friend of the late writer Lawrence Durrell, his writing was referred to by Durrell as "direct messages from the script." He is currently at work on a novel that is a cross between "Harry Potter" and "The Da Vinci Code," set on the B.C. campus. He is also a green residential builder in Greater Boston.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating!, October 14, 2005

By 

Armchair Interviews (Minneapolis, MN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Memoirs of a Shape-Shifter (Hardcover)

Kaplan-Maxfield is the author of four novels and has taught writing and literature.

This book is a fascinating study of a woman's return to her roots, of her discoveries about her past and her feelings about love and power. Nikki Helmik, age 40, returned to her home town, Gloucester, after her verbally abusive drunken father's death. She ends up staying in the family home and leaving her life as an attorney.

Nikki has been close to the powerful, wealthy, and beautiful Rose Eveless, probably even closer than to her mother, who she felt was weak for not standing up to her father. At the funeral of Ernest Eveless, Rose's husband, Nikki meets Phillip Eveless, their son, who had been sent to school in Europe after growing up in Gloucester.

Philip stays in Gloucester, drawn to Nikki. Nikki cannot decide if she is really in love with Philip, and she is angry with herself and him because he is married. Nikki has always kept the power in her relations with men by keeping her relationships short and never caring too much. Their stormy affair is ended when Philip suffers a horrible fall off a cliff, after Nikki had sensed his life was in danger on his sailboat, and runs to the cove where his boat is floundering during a storm.

Ernest had left a note for his son, asking him to go to Clarissa Barrow for information. It turns out that Clarissa is a "witch" who lives in the forest and hunts, with wolves as companions, to support herself. Rose has threatened to develop the old ruined part of Gloucester, called Dogtown, and the surrounding forests, unless Nikki provides her with the historic journal of Ann Cleves, Nikki's ancestor. Nikki searches for the journal, all the while having visions where she "sees" Ernest, and senses a presence in her house.

The journal is the story of Ann Cleve's life; and with the help of Guy, her dog, Nikki finds it and is eventually able to translate it. A scary confrontation on All Hallow's Eve finally completes Nikki's healing.

Armchair Interviews says: An absorbing read, with fascinating information on Druids and the history of Salem.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a Harry Potter for adults, October 11, 2005

By 

Eliza Daniels - See all my reviews

This review is from: Memoirs of a Shape-Shifter (Hardcover)

Nikki is a disillusioned lawyer from Boston who quits her job and buys out her siblings' interests in their parental homestead. She discovers her heritage includes witches and Druids, a part of the Salem witch trials and more! The treasure of this book is chapters 9-11, a book within a book. Read them first -- it is the long lost writings of Nikki's ancestor -- a druid priestess shape shifter animal spirt friend of the fairies. Like a Fellini movie or a Dali vision, these chapters whirl by with incredible visuals and visceral descriptions that take the reader on a tour de force of the entire nature of being told in the metaphors of myth and fantasy, mysticism and metaphyics. Absolutely delicious and remarkable as well.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mists of Avalon in Massachusetts, February 6, 2006

By 

Deborah DeNicola "Dream Image Worker" (Pompano Beach, FL, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Memoirs of a Shape-Shifter (Hardcover)

Memoirs of a Shapeshifter brought me back to a book I lived with for a long time, The Mists of Avalaon. Not since 1987 have I been transported so fully into another world. Kaplan-Maxfield's story within a story follows the contemporary woman, Nikki, back into her childhood, up to the present and then into her heritage as a Priestesse/witch through her ancestor Anne Cleves. Anne's story returns us to early America and The northern shores of Massachusetts, the forests, the indians and back to ancient Irelanc. Nikki, who has had a long rocky road in her relationships with men, learns from her ancestor, how to open herself to love. It's a gripping, action-packed, heart-breaking and soul-making tale which I would love to see on the silver screen someday. Kaplan-Maxxfied's descriptions are exquisitely vivid. A big book with a big message, ancient wisdom for contemporary times