Fallam's Secret: A Novel

by Denise Giardina

Overview

A master storyteller delivers an historical novel with a twist-what will become of a modern American woman in Cromwell's England?

Returning home to West Virginia after her beloved Uncle John's death, Lydde finds that he has left her an odd legacy: a note with instructions that lead her to a remote mountain cave. When she falls into a crevasse, she finds she has followed her uncle farther than she thought-to Norchester, England, in 1657. Times are dark: the ruling Puritans have beheaded the king and prohibited song, dance, and even Christmas. Though she passes as a boy with her short hair and pants, local official Noah Fallam is still suspicious of her strange clothing and outspokenness. Luckily, she soon finds her uncle, and another man: the Raven, a bandit who provides for the poor through smuggling and robbery. The unlikely couple fall in love, and Lydde must decide where-and when-she belongs. This captivating story brings us close to Denise Giardina's signature concerns of faith and the way we treat the earth.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780393336955
Publisher:	Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
Publication date:	12/01/2008
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	332
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 8.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Denise Giardina is the author of Storming Heaven, Emily's Ghost, and Saints and Villains, which won the Boston Book Review Prize. She is an ordained deacon in the Episcopal Church and lives in Charleston, West Virginia.

Editorial Reviews

Giardina (Storming Heaven) constructs an intriguing time-travel narrative steeped in the history of West Virginia. After her family died in a fire in 1948, two-year-old Lydde Falcone was taken in by her Uncle John and Aunt Lavinia and grew up with them in West Virginia. Now a middle-aged actress living in Norchester, England, Lydde returns to West Virginia to take care of her aunt after John's death. There, she learns that John, a physicist, believed he had discovered a hole in the time/space continuum. She follows his map to some caves near her aunt's house, pokes around and suddenly finds herself back in England-England of 1657, that is, where she finds her uncle alive and well. Passing as a man thanks to her outlandish clothes and forward manner, Lydde attracts the suspicion of Noah Fallam, a local Puritan official who upholds Oliver Cromwell's ban on music and art and turns out to be an ancestor of hers (his brother becomes one of the first Englishmen to come to Appalachia in 1671). She also falls for the Raven, a sort of Robin Hood who steals from rich Puritans to give to the poor. Lydde's rapid adjustment to her 17th-century surroundings is hard to swallow, as is her instant love for the Raven. Yet Giardina is an accomplished storyteller, and the narrative is rich in detail. The despoliation of West Virginia's mountains by mining companies, a familiar theme of Giardina's, adds complexity to the plot. While this book doesn't carry the literary weight of some of her previous work, it's a captivating read. 6-city author tour. (Mar.) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

Giardina (Storming Heaven) has created a fun time-travel adventure that will please fans of time travel/romance writer Diana Gabaldon. Lydde, an actor, returns from England to her childhood home in West Virginia when her beloved uncle dies. She follows his written instructions to a cave, where she falls into a crevasse that drops her into Norchester, England, in 1657. Fortunately, she quickly finds her uncle and manages to pass for a boy with her short hair and pants, despite the suspicions of Noah Fallam, a local official. Fallam has a larger problem than an unusual stranger in town; he is unable to stop an unknown bandit called the Raven, who provides for the town's poor through smuggling and robbery. Lydde and the Raven soon meet and fall in love but must struggle to keep their true identities hidden and, ultimately, decide where-and when-they belong. Despite occasionally stilted dialog, the swift plot and imaginative descriptions of Cromwell's England keep the reader involved in this generally engaging narrative. Recommended for public libraries.-Karen T. Bilton, Somerset Cty. Lib., Bridgewater, NJ Copyright 2003 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

Giardina (Saints and Villains, 1998, etc.) time-travels to Puritan England. Lydde Falcone, alone of her large family, lived through the fire that burned down her father’s house when she was two. Raised by her Aunt Lavinia and Uncle John, Lydde had a happy childhood in West Virginia, then moved to England and became a London stage actress. When Uncle John died, Lydde returned for his funeral and stayed on to comfort Lavinia. It was then that Lavinia gave her some papers John had left: maps, it turned out, of caves in the region that John (a physicist) believed stood over a fault line in the time/space continuum. Lydde investigates—and finds herself transported to Norchester, England, in 1657. Weird enough, but she also discovers Uncle John there, alive and well. It’s not the best place for a family reunion, however, for England is in turmoil after the civil war that overthrew the monarchy and established Oliver Cromwell as supreme Dictator of the realm. Cromwell and his Puritan lieutenants have banned music, art, dancing, and even Christmas in their Taliban-like efforts to advance the purest form of religion they can concoct, and the local commander of the Puritans, Noah Fallam, turns out to be Lydde’s direct ancestor. Although there is little direct resistance, most people in the region resent the restrictions and admire the dashing bandit named Raven who preys on wealthy Puritan travelers and distributes their money to the poor. When Raven accosts Lydde, however, he is the one who is robbed—of his heart. Madly in love, he reveals his true identity to Lydde, thereby making her an accessory to his crimes. They’re secretly wed, but how long can you stay married to a man with aprice on his head? If only there were some way to get back to West Virginia .

Kirkus Reviews