Kathleen Eschenburg

THE NIGHTINGALE'S SONG

Kathleen Eschenburg. 

HarperTorch, 6.99 (384 p)

ISBN 0-380-81569-9

Against the evocatively drawn backdrop of Baltimore and Virginia ten years after the Civil War, first-time author Eschenburg spins a gentle romance rich with emotion and vivid detail.  Haunted by his inadequacies as a father, Dr. Gordon Kincaid, a hardened war veteran and widower from the South, is determined to find a mother for his son, Gordy, and his recently discovered illegitimate daughter, Clara.  Gordon has his sights set on a frivolous, high society miss, but when he meets Maggie Quinn, Clara's Irish schoolteacher at St. Columba's orphanage, he begins to believe in second chances.  Maggie soon finds herself torn between the safety of a future in the convent and the terrifying exhilaration of her attraction to Gordon.  At the same time, Maggie's socially unacceptable Irish-Catholic heritage and Gordon's hardheaded search for an instant mother threaten to tear the two apart.  Brimming with historical details, sensitive prose and a wealth of poignant scenes, Eschenburg's love story easily escapes the sometimes confining predictability of the romance genre and breathes a fuller life into it.

FORECAST:  The novels bland cover won't boost any sales, but strong word-of mouth will motivate those who are tired of gorging on light romantic bon-bons to seek out this stirring story.

From Compuserve Romance Reviews:

THE NIGHTINGALE'S SONG
By Kathleen Eschenburg
Historical (Post-Civil War America)
November 2001
Harper Torch
ISBN: 0-380-81569-9

Once every generation or so, a sweeping saga of love, loss and glory redeemed comes along that will be remembered long after its first publication. Such a story is that of THE NIGHTINGALE'S SONG, the debut novel of Kathleen Eschenburg.

Maggie Quinn has been fortunate enough and strong-willed enough to make a life for herself in post-Civil War Baltimore, even as a poor Irish immigrant. Orphaned at twelve on the voyage over, she was taken in by a fisherman's family and befriended by a priest with close family ties. She teaches and cares for orphans, especially conveying to them her deep love of music.

Gordon Kincaid, wounded physically in the war and spiritually ever since, comes to the orphanage seeking a lost treasure. It is soon obvious to Maggie that her favorite orphan, Clare, is the daughter Gordon didn't know he had until recently. He has come to take her home, if he wins the approval of Mother Bernadette, the nun who runs the orphanage and who nursed him back to life in the war.

Gordon believes his chances of winning Clare will improve if he can provide a mother for the child. Whether this mother will be the society beauty he squires around Baltimore, Clare's real mother or possibly the woman who has loved her for years is but one thread in this layered novel.

Maggie's quiet pride and determination to do what is best for Clare soon draw Gordon's attention and admiration. When it is apparent he notices heras a woman, Maggie draws back. She plans to become a nun. She is immigrant Irish while Gordon Kincaid is aristocratic and rich. She is Catholic while he is Protestant. As Maggie is told early on by another Irish immigrant: "He's the landlord we left behind us in Ireland and the slaveholder who shot my father in the Americans' war."  They are far too different to share anything.

Except that they do. Foremost is their concern for Clare. When they realize that they are the ones who can make a family for the child they both adore, the story is far from finished.

Because Maggie and Gordon have to learn not only how to live with each other, they also have to contend with society's prejudices. Some of the problems of the carpetbagging/Reconstruction era are brought to vivid life as these two extraordinary people struggle to overcome the obstacles thrown in their path by various factions.

The comparisons between the Ireland that Maggie was forced to leave behind and the South which is only beginning to recover from the devastation of war are emotionally enriching and passionately compelling in the way they are encapsulated in the main characters.

In addition to the outside conflicts threatening them, Maggie and Gordon also must contend with secrets Gordon has kept from her and with the pain both have suffered, pain which makes both reluctant to give their hearts although that is exactly what they need to do. While Maggie fears making the same mistake that ensured her mother's doom, Gordon shies from opening his heart.

Kathleen Eschenburg draws these finely crafted characters, ideas and situations together to make a dazzling story that enchants with its ability to touch a reader's heart. As Maggie herself says, "In Ireland we have a saying. The things that cannot be explained are either miracles or mysteries, and they both have to be taken on faith."

Take it on faith to discover the magic in THE NIGHTINGALE'S SONG.

-- Reviewed by Lynne Perednia
CompuServe Romance Reviews

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