Christine Wade

I must admit before I get into this review that for the first chapter I was ready to put this book down and bemoan my decision to take it. There is a definite rhythm to Ms. Wade's writing that takes a bit of getting used to - GET USED TO IT. It's worth it. Once I got into that rhythm I was entranced. The narrator of the story is a young wife married to a rather carefree man. They life in upstate New York in what we now know at the Catskill Mountains in the period just before the American Revolution. After their marriage he sold off her dowry and bought a farm for that was his wish and this being a time when women had no rights, his wish was well, law. Problem was he wanted all that farming life was but did not want to do the work that brought it about. So in her efforts to get everything done she became a "scold." Admittedly the protagonist in the tale is not a pleasant woman for most of the story. Her husband does not support her - he wanders off in his daydreamy world. Her children don't want to work either. But if no one will work how will anyone be fed or clothed? How does the cow get milked, the sheep shorn? She asks these questions but gets no answers.

One day her husband wanders off to not come back. She is left to care for the farm and the children. Her worries multiply. She pushes her children more to make up for the loss of her husband and they rebel against her. The town is against her. Her children see fit to escape her nagging. She really has no one. And then the war that was suddenly so far away comes knocking to the very door of her farm taking everything she thought she had put by to survive.

The story in enhanced by occasional chapters written by the mother's daughter who IS named - Judith. These chapters are written from when she is a child through her becoming a mother and the style changes accordingly. The different voice adds a perspective to the times and the mother as Judith turns from a selfish child into a compassionate adult.

The writing in this book is - once you settle down into it as I mentioned above - something special. It weaves its way into your head and you find yourself walking beside this nagging, nameless mother as tries so hard to keep things afloat. Ms. Wade has a very descriptive pen, that is for sure. Her way with characters is magical too; this woman is certainly not likable and yet I found myself feeling sorry for her at intervals. But then just as I was she would do something to turn me back to disliking her. Ms. Wade also knows how to shake up her reader. But this nameless mother, at least to me is a heroine in the vein of Scarlet O'Hara; all of her worst characteristics are brought out in her drive to survive. She has no support, she has no one to help her. She just knows that if SHE doesn't do it, it will not get done. If she doesn't nag at the people she loves for help, there will be no help. She knows no other way and because of that the reader's sympathies are awakened. A powerful writer indeed to be able to take a miserable character and engender such feelings.

The story is based on a famous American folk tale - I'm sure some of you can guess but I'm not going to spill the beans. It was a true delight to read and I'm keeping this one to read again. I'm sure that it will be even better on that second go 'round. This is one special book.… (mehr)

The disappearance/leaving of a husband was the ultimate betrayal and shame at this time in history. Watching your husband turn around as he always did and walk away from you and expecting him to return at the end of the day but not returning is what the "wife" has to endure in SEVEN LOCKS.

SEVEN LOCKS is a heart wrenching story of a wife and her two children trying to survive the hardships of living on a farm in the Catskill Mountains in the 1700's with the Revolutionary War on the horizon and with no help and no support of the townspeople. The townspeople wanted nothing to do with the wife, whom I never heard a name mentioned, because they believe she killed her husband. Having no name is in itself a sad story.

The descriptions are detailed and intriguing...you will feel the terror and the pain of the characters and the emotional struggle of the children and their mother. You will be able to see through the author's vivid descriptions their mud-drenched yard, their mud-drenched clothes, their crowded barn with animals in it, the fields and valleys, and the frightened, lost children as they live out their meager days and years.

The characters are very well developed along with the story. You will hate some of the characters, be curious about them, and wonder about their lives and motives. You will mostly feel their despair in their difficult lives but the willingness to move on.

The book shares the amazing courage of a woman left to do her work as well as a man's work. It sends a message about struggle and survival at the basest level and a struggle fought alone. It isn't a light book, but your interest will not wane because of the subject matter and because of the author's storytelling skills and elegant, effective prose.

You will want to find the mystery of the title of the book and interpret a sentence from page 60: "But the future is a book with seven locks." BTW, I never did figure it out. Help if you can. :)

SEVEN LOCKS is a book you will have to dissect and read slowly because it will make you ponder. 5/5

This book was given to me by the publisher with no compensation in exchange for an honest review.… (mehr)

This is a novel about the hardships, especially of women, before the revolutionary war. A Dutch immigrant, after the disappearance of her husband, a woman is left alone with her two children, to try to survive on a farm in the Catskill writing. The writing was wonderful, the narration between the woman and her young daughter was also quite informative. The difference between the hardness of the woman and th3e confused musings of a young girl had somewhat if a jarring quality. Definitely pointed home how differently the young see adult actions. This is a novel about the hardship of the frontier and of trying to keep a family together under trying circumstance. Enjoyed the time period and the setting of the mountains as well. Will definitely read more by this author. ARC by publisher.… (mehr)