Customer Reviews

The Wolves of Andover: A Novel

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2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

"The life of man, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short."

Thomas Hobbes, The Leviathan

English political philosopher (1588-1679)

Life in 1673 Massachusetts lived up to Hobbes' expectations. In THE WOLVES OF ANDOVER, Kathleen Kent offers a realistic depiction of survival through the eyes of colonial woman, Martha Allen. With a sharp eye for detail, Kent does not shy away from historical accuracy in order to create a romance full of beauty and lightness. Instead, she depicts rustic settlers living in primitive conditions in close proximity to livestock. Many are hanging on by a thread against Indian attack, disease and poverty.

Martha's strength is that she rises to meet these challenges. Having reached the age of 20 without a husband, her father can no longer afford to care for her. Martha is sent to live with her cousin, Patience and her family as a servant. Patience is suffering through a difficult pregnancy and requires help around the house. Martha takes on the role of housekeeper caring for Patience's children, Will and Joanna; her husband, Daniel and their indentured servants, John and Thomas.

When a pack of wolves starts terrorizing the countryside, Martha forges a bond with Thomas despite his being 30 years her senior. While attempting to ensnare the lupines, his quiet, steady demeanor captures the interest of the sharp-tongued girl. While strong and physically fit, Thomas' fate lies in the hands of Patience and Daniel. His hope rests on their granting him a parcel of land upon completion of his servitude. Martha's future too is uncertain once Patience is delivered of child.

Yet affairs of the heart come second to survival in this inhospitable environment. The yard is full of mud from freezing rain. Food is improperly stored on the damp cellar floor. A chilled bed struggles for warmth from the hearth. A garden is fertilizes with dried fish and manure while a battery of flies hover overhead. A lover's hands are full of rasping and unyielding calluses. A woman's threadbare bodice is stained with sweat. Not exactly the stuff of romance novels.

Even scenes of love are tempered by the harsh setting. Martha comes across Thomas bare-chested in the barn. However, he is at work slaughtering a crippled calf. Thomas steals admiring glances at Martha, while she is submerged in a boggy marsh gathering wild leeks. When the village Casanova makes a play for Martha, Thomas pushes his body to the breaking point in order to beat his much-younger competitor in a harvest-mowing contest. When wooing her, Thomas backhandedly compares Martha to a doe in a fable saying, "You are the deer shot through with arrows whose heart grows cold for want of being taken."

Yet the focus of the book revolves around Thomas' past. Was he the man who swung the blade that beheaded King Charles I? The regent's son, King Charles II is unwavering in his determination to find his father's killer supposedly well hidden in the New World. A group of hired torturers is bidden to bring back the man who took his father's life.

The novel is succinctly split between the story of Martha and Thomas and that of Thomas' pursuers. It jumps between alternating chapters delineating the approaching meeting point of the two plot lines. This weakens the work as a whole. Instead of staying in the Massachusetts Bay Colony throughout the narrative, a plethora of characters and settings is introduced as the hit men make their way from England to Boston Harbor. The progression of the book loses its steam when divided between what amounts to two stories that are better off standing on their own. While attempting to bring more history into the novel such as the royal court, the back alleys of London and life aboard a merchant ship, Kent falters by veering off course instead of concentrating on the plight of her two main characters.

Overall, Kent's WOLVES bites off a bit more than it can chew.

Contentious Martha is sharp-tongued spinster who falls in love with mysterious hired-hand Thomas Carrier after he saves her from a wolf attack. Safety is not, however, prevalent in the 17th century rugged wilderness of colonial Massachusetts. Human wolves cloaked as people living in plain sight in the surrounding area arrive in the New World to hunt the assassins of King Charles I during the Cromwell years in England. The author deftly crafted this intrigue into this historical fiction novel while Martha navigates the difficulty of being a servant her cousin's home.

The author's intention to show the brutality and volatile nature of the early colonies is admirable, but the novel is dark. Depictions of everyday life such as using an injured lamb for bait and detailed descriptions of dog fighting are chilling. I respect the integration of the political ramifications brought on by the assassination of King Charles I, however felt tossed to and fro from scenes which did not exactly hang together set in England and on shipboard to colonial America. A firmer hand in editing would have benefitted the writing. Secondary characters called by various names such as "Duchess," Keeper of the Privy Council" forced me to turn back to previous mentions to determine to whom the author referred. Editing the many sentences beginning with "it" would have been helpful. Most enjoyable and clearly set forth are the scenes at the Massachusetts farm with Martha and Thomas.

Author Kent is a tenth generation descendent of the Carrier family. She grew up listening to stories of the Salem witch trials and reading Poe, which may explain the darkness of her writing. She calls her book a love story to her family and a tribute to those accused as being witches. Ms. Kent plays well with literary genre by mixing and morphing romance, political intrigue and historical fiction. The Wolves of Andover aroused my interest to read Ms. Kent's first novel, the Heretic's Daughter, told from the perspective of a ten-year-old daughter witnessing the witch trial of her mother.

Reviewed by Holly Weiss, author of Crestmont

There is a brutish energy in Kathleen Kent's prequel to her well-received Heretic's Daughter, a comingling of harsh animalistic dangers with politics, power and passion. The howling wolves that come for their prey are both the two-legged and the four-legged kind, and each will stop at nothing to prevail.

The book opens with the introduction of Martha Allen, a resourceful and sharp-tongued young woman who is forced to take the position of glorified servant to her weak-willed cousin Patience, who is expecting her third child in colonial Massachusetts. There she meets a giant of a man, the Welshman Thomas Carrier, a hired worker with an air of mystery. It is rumored that for the love of Oliver Cromwell's cause, he took an axe to the head of King Charles I and now has a bounty on his own head.

For Martha, Patience, Thomas and the other characters, life in the colonies is not easy. They must deal daily with threats of the plague, famished and hostile Indians, hard toil, and of course, the ever-present danger of the wolves. And the dangers lurk not in the community, but from overseas. Unbeknownst to Thomas, King Charles II has ordered a group of brutal Royalist minions to cross the ocean and bring Thomas back to be drawn and quartered for killing his father.

The two stories - that of Martha and Thomas in the colonies and the expertly trained and thuggish killers who are determined to capture Thomas - are juxtaposed, each highlighting the same theme: the courage and independence that are demanded in a time of danger and change.

Kathleen Kent does not shy away from darkness. She depicts everyday life in all its gore: an injured and frightened lamb being used as bait, a horrific recounting of a pit bull dog fight, the impressments of a young lad who is destined to be thrown overboard, the capture and burning of conspirators at the hands of some Indians. Those who have read Heretic's Daughter know that this is not an author who will whitewash the quest for survival or the challenges of day-to-day existence in an often-unfair world.

Even the progression of the love between Martha and Thomas is tempered by harshness dashed with a dollop of sweetness. At one point, Thomas pauses to tell her, "You are the deer shot through with arrows whose heart grows cold for want of being taken." And eventually: "But for this day, we live. So bide with me. Bide with me and take from me what you can, as I will from you. And however long we walk this earth, we can stand for one another..."

The book falters a bit when it takes the reader away from the main action to the back streets of London or the tempestuous times aboard a creaky merchant ship. Knowing that this is a prequel, the suspense of the hunt for Thomas is stunted. But then Wolves of Andover always rights itself and shines, capturing - through Thomas's telling - the turbulent times and battle between Charles I and Cromwell and focusing on life in the plucky colonies and the budding romance of Martha and Thomas.

It bears mentioning that Kathleen Kent is a descendant of the real Martha Allen Carrier, who was hung as a witch during the Salem trials of 1692. She does her ancestor proud with a book that is admittedly not an historical recreation, but rather a page-turning book of historical fiction (emphasis on the fiction) that, once started, is impossible to put down.

As in Kathleen Kent's previously published novel, THE HERETIC'S DAUGHTER, this book also makes it vividly clear that the hardships of nature were the lesser of the difficulties settlers of New England in the seventeenth century faced. The wolf is symbolic of the power and violence of nature; it stands in lesser juxtapostion to the power and violence exhibited from one human to another.

Deep in my psyche somewhere I want to know all I can about those people from which I descend who made the decision to leave England and come to America. Kent's novels bring me right to that time and let me feel what my ancestors felt. Reading her work is a treat of the highest order for me--I fill out any gaps in my yearning for ever more satiated knowledge of this particular slice of history.

This is historical fiction at its finest--shining a light on the past in a way that reflects on today.

In her first novel, The Heretic's Daughter, Kathleen Kent captured the hysteria and darkness of the Salem Witch Trials in a way few other authors could hope to match. Because Kent is writing about her own family history, I got the sense of sharing in a story that has been told and re-told and come alive in her own imagination.

Unfortunately, The Wolves of Andover, takes that family saga a step too far back to tell the story of Martha Allen and Thomas Carrier some 20 years before the events in her first book. Andover was one of my most anticipated reads of 2010-11 - I looked forward to the claustrophobic, gossipy atmosphere of village life from the first book and welcomed the opportunity to revisit deeply flawed but interesting characters once more.

Kent does herself a disservice by setting up a weak structure. One storyline relies on tracking the growing attraction between Martha Allen - a sharp-tongued spinster - and Thomas Carrier - an aging laborer with a secret past. The romance develops slowly and sweetly but yields little suspense for readers of Heretic's Daughter. The second storyline follows a group of bounty hunters and their inevitable confrontation with Thomas. These characters are almost universally vile and I found myself hoping that the chapters detailing their stories would be short.

The alternating chapter structure is meant to generate suspense but fails completely when brought to an oddly understated conclusion. I also noticed a certain self-consciousness creeping into Kent's descriptions as if she felt the need to top her last effort with increasingly flowery prose.

About three-quarters through the novel, a lead character is given the chance to tell of his past life in his own words - this long chapter crackles with the tension of history truly lived and yanked emotions of dread and anticipation out of me.

If only the entire book had maintained this energy, then it truly would have lived up to my expectations and to the precedent set by Kent's fantastic first novel.

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It's 1692 and the United States as we know it does not exist. We were still a group of colonies and young Martha Allen had just arrived at her cousin's home in Billerica, Massachusetts. Martha is not a guest. She's expected to help her cousin Patience through her pregnancy and also do the work of a servant around the house and the farm. Nineteen-year-old Martha is strong willed and has a sharp tongue, and will soon be an "old maid." She knows only too well the fate awaits a single woman with no place to call her own. Also working on the property is Thomas Carrier, a man rumored to be a regicide hiding in plain site in Billerica. Thomas fits the physical description of supposed executioner of Charles I.

In Kathleen Kent's second book, The Wolves of Andover, we meet the young Martha whose later life story was told to us in Kent's first book, The Heretic's Daughter, which follows Martha as she stood trial at the Salem witch hunts.

Author Kathleen Kent is a direct descendant of the real life Martha Allen Carrier and I believe she does her family well. These books are technically described as historical fiction, however I think that is a disservice to Kent's work. She tells a story that pays homage not only to Kent's nine times great grand-mother, Martha, but also to all of our ancestors who lived in those dangerous times and places. They knew no modern conveniences and considered surviving a tough winter or childbirth to be good fortune.

The book's title, The Wolves of Andover, not only refers to the wild wolves that circle the settlements to stalk and prey on whatever they can kill, but to the wolves who walk on two feet who also stalk their unfortunate prey.

Told against the background of the wilderness of "new" England, Kent spins a very readable tale of survival of the fittest, survival of the smartest, and survival of those who will not be beaten.

I highly recommend The Wolves of Andover! I encourage you to get past the idea that you don't like historical fiction. This book won't disappoint. The story of Martha Allen and Thomas Carrier is in many ways the same struggle men and women face with today: how to find a place in the world in which to be happy and safe. I loved this book and these people.

I give this book a very strong 4 ½ stars.

Source: This book was provided to me by the publisher at my request and in no way affected by review.

In the Massachusetts Bay Colony, while both worked on her cousin's farm, twenty-three years old Martha Allen falls in love with hired hand Thomas Carrier. However, she also hears the rumor that circulates about Thomas fleeing England after playing a major role in the beheading of King Charles I.

Thomas saves Martha's life when wolves who stalk the farm attack her. He also learns that kidnappers have crossed the pond preferably to capture and take back to London for public trial or execute the man who killed the former monarch. These outsiders hear the rumors about Thomas living on the coast north of Boston.

Although those who have read The Heretic's Daughter knows what will happen to Martha, Kathleen Kent demonstrates her skill as a great author by engaging the full attention throughout of her fans (and newcomers) in the superb prequel. The story line is action packed as the conflict between people entrenched in the Restoration come across as the status quo and those adapting to a new world order carved in a wilderness makes for a strong historical that looks deep at the darker roots of Colonial America.

Harriet Klausner

Reading historical fiction is like eavesdropping on the next table at a restaurant--it's fun, and if you pay attention, you can learn a few things!

"The Wolves of Andover" is an intriguing story that does invite you to learn a few things--about Oliver Cromwell, the origins of the Restoration period in England, and Puritans in North America. And seriously, if you think your life is a drag now, try being a Puritan. They had nothing to look forward to besides Indian raids and smallpox, or long-winded sermons by ministers who all wanted to be "America's Next Cotton Mather". (I say, bring on the Indians!)

This book is Kathleen Kent's follow-up to "The Heretic's Daughter," the events of which actually come after the story told in "Wolves." Kent's ancestor, on whom the main character of "Wolves" is based, was actually tried, convicted and hanged for practicing witchcraft. Kent's interest was piqued by family stories handed down, and she eventually created a narrative that gives the reader entry to that world.

(The events of "Wolves" have nothing to do with the witchcraft hysteria of "HD"...however, it's important to read "Heretic's Daughter" first, though, not because of any plot spoilers but because of the complex character development.)

Kent lets her characters demonstrate how difficult and uncertain this era was: lots of byzantine political turmoil involving the monarchy and religious conflicts, constant war, grinding poverty, people barely hanging onto their lives. All of the characters are well-rounded and realistic, and more depth is revealed as the book progresses.

A few other reviewers mentioned that the depiction of the literal wolves in the story (as opposed to their human counterparts) was unsettling. I thought this element was handled sensitively. Although the wolves are acknowledged as dangerous predators and must be dealt with, there is nonetheless an admiration, bordering on awe, that the settlers have for wolves. The fact is that wolves were far more prevelant than they are today, and they did have an impact on farmers who were already living on the edge of starvation and could ill afford to lose even one lamb or calf. This doesn't justify the brutal wolf hunts that developed later, which drove the species to the brink of extinction. But even today, there are problems with the restoration of wolf populations that conflict with livestock owners. That's a topic for another day, but that said, Kent's wolf treatment is even-handed and intelligent.

So read this book for a little insight into American history. It's engaging, and it's like eavesdropping on the 17th Century: you'll learn a few things!

The Heretic's Daughter was, in my opinion, a well-crafted tale. My interest in the characters grew with the logical unfolding of the story. This book suffers from either an unfortunate decision made by the author or from poor editing. With the constant split of the narrative between two storylines, it is hard to be drawn in to the story. One chapter, Martha in Billerica; the next, caricatured villains in London. Back and forth, back and forth, until the quality of the New England storyline suffers from its close association with the tale of the doomed henchmen (since this is a prequel, anyone who read THD knows that they don't succeed). Seven chapters in to the book, I stopped caring. Which is a shame, because the first one was truly captivating.

This is a decent piece of historical fiction, with a thread of romance to draw you along. I started it because I Loved the Heretics daughter, the sequel. And though I did enjoy this book, once I got about 2/3 of the way through and could figure out what was going on and who was who, I don't think it was nearly as good as Heretics Daughter. The author is trying to meld two stories into one, and the convergence is not smooth at times. You jump back and forth between Massachusetts Bay Colony and London, following the stories of Martha, a young American woman, and Thomas, a British man of 50 years who fled to the colonies to escape those seeking revenge upon him for participating in the Glorious Revolution and toppling the English King. There are a lot of different characters to keep straight, as you would imagine if you were reading two books at once. And the jumping back in forth in time can be disrupting. Additionally, the story of the Glorious Revolution and Oliver Cromwell will have you turning to Wikipedia to get filled in on the background story. I would recommend Heretics Daughter before this one, though Wolves of Andover is a prequel to that.