Peter Loon - Hardcover

Reid, Van

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 067003052X ISBN 13: 9780670030521

Publisher: Viking Adult, 2002

Synopsis

Post-American Revolution teen Peter Loon is charged by his mother to find her long-lost love and along the way teams up with former-seafaring parson Zachariah, with whom he is swept up in a fierce territorial battle between wealthy landowners and hardscrabble homesteaders. 10,000 first printing.

About this title

About the Author

Van Reid is the author of Cordelia Underwood (a New York Times Notable Book), Mollie Peer, and Daniel Plainway.

Reviews

Reid slips a bit in the first installment of his latest historical series, following the well-regarded Moosepath League novels with a tepid, unfocused book that chronicles the adventures of Peter Loon, a 17-year-old boy from backwoods Maine whose mother, Rosemund, sends him on an odd quest after the Revolutionary War. When she was a girl, Rosemund had two suitors: Silas Loon and Obed Winslow. She married Silas, but never really loved him, and when he dies in an accident in the 18th year of her marriage, she sends Peter to find Obed. The initial chapters display the same country charm that made Reid's prior books so endearing, but problems start when the author introduces several romantic subplots. Peter's first distraction is the beautiful Nora Tillage, who has been "sold" into virtual slavery by a corrupt preacher named Nathan Barrow. Peter joins a rival preacher, Zachariah Leach, to liberate the girl, but he soon finds himself disturbed by Nora's skittishness. After Peter gets mixed up with a local militia group in a muddled plot twist that includes a village uprising after several unjust arrests, Nora is replaced in his affections by the fiery Elspeth Gray. Peter is a likable if somewhat underdeveloped character, and Reid does a nice job of capturing the tone of the era with his flowing, laid-back prose style. But the murky plotting never really settles into any kind of narrative rhythm, and Reid will need to be a bit more consistent in subsequent volumes to exploit the potential of his unusual setting and situation.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Reid's latest novel sends a young protagonist, Peter Loon, on a journey to find his long-lost "uncle," Obed Winslow. Just after the death of Peter's father, his mother insists that he find the man whom she loved long ago. With very little information to go on, Peter is quickly immersed in the post-Revolutionary politics and danger of New England. Luckily, he falls into the company of Zachariah Leach, a charming and well-read traveling parson who looks out for Peter and sends him in the right direction. These new explorations are exciting for the naive Peter, who has never left the family farm before. But homesickness, the loss of his father, and learning how to converse with pretty girls challenge Peter to grow up and become his own man. This adventurous journey will entertain historical fiction readers looking for colorful characters. Michelle Kaske
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Reid's fourth novel (and the first book in a new series) draws a vivid picture of the disheartening conditions in Maine after the Revolutionary War, when homesteaders and backwoodsmen were forced to do battle with prosperous, long-established families who laid claim to vast tracts of land by virtue of privilege and loyalty to the crown. Into this dispute steps na ve 17-year-old Peter Loon. Dispatched by his widowed mother on the seemingly innocent mission of trying to find an uncle by marriage, he soon takes up with an itinerant saddle preacher. In the course of their travels, they encounter an assortment of characters, some good and some evil, and finally get involved in a territorial conflict. Reid has an excellent sense of dramatic situation, draws shrewd characters, and makes good use of suspense. Writing with power, restraint, and a light comic touch, he keeps a surprise till the last. The book is bound to appeal strongly to many new readers in addition to the large class of initiates for whom the ground has been prepared by the author's "Moosepath League" adventures (e.g., Cordelia Underwood, Mollie Peer). Highly recommended. A.J. Anderson, GSLIS, Simmons Coll., Boston
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Viking Adult
• Publication date: 2002
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 067003052X
• ISBN 13: 9780670030521
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 320