In the Fire of Spring

The arrival of an escaped mulatto slave girl named Rose in the town of Pequott Landing, Connecticut, sets off an internecine struggle over the abolition of slavery

Set, like its predecessor, in pre-Civil War New England, this sequel to The Wings of the Morning matches both the verbosity and the compulsive readability of the earlier novel, as Tryon continues to focus on the lives of the citizens of Pequot Landing. In the wake of the ill-fated romance between roguish sea captain Sinjin Grimes and well-bred Aurora Talcott, daughter of the Connecticut town's leading citizen, the bitter feud between the proslavery Grimes family and the fiercely abolitionist Talcotts still simmers. The catalyst of the action here is patriarch Bobby Talcott, who attempts to found a free school for Negro and Indian girls under the direction of Georgianna Ross, a Talcott protege. Her first pupil is Rose Mills, a fugitive slave who proves surprisingly truculent and devious. The small school faces immediate danger from town rowdies, and more permanent damage from a restrictive state law sponsored by the Grimes faction. Subplots abound, splintering into distracting miniplots, as an almost overwhelming number of archtypal figures (the indomitable Talcott matriarch; the hypocritical deacon Grimes; the doomed lovers) weave their way in and out of countless overwritten episodes. Despite Tryon's excesses, uncontrolled verbiage, fans of the genre will enjoy this literate romantic saga and will lament the fact that the author passed away before seeing to completion the third volume of the projected trilogy. BOMC alternate.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Old-fashioned in style and structure, flowery (to the point of near-parody) in language, and soap opera-ish in plot and character, the late Tryon's sequel to The Wings of Morning (1991) is the second in a planned quartet of novels set in Connecticut in mid- 19th century and continues the two overriding themes of its predecessor: the decades-old feud between the powerful Talcott and Grimes families, and the great moral and economic debate over abolition in the years prior to the Civil War. Returning to Pequot Landing from New York while bearing his abolitionist daughter Electra home for a visit, Appleton Talcott saves a runaway mulatto slave girl, Rose Mills, from slave catchers and introduces her into the family home, Kingdom Come. The arrival of Rose precipitates the founding of a controversial Free School by Georgiana Ross, the illegitimate Grimes daughter who was the focus of the first book, set some ten years earlier. That starts trouble, and the subsequent return to Pequot Landing of Georgiana's half- brother, sea captain Sinjin Grimes (fresh from opium smuggling in the China seas), compounds matters. Almost from the moment of his arrival, Sinjin becomes involved (literally) with Rose, whose beauty of face and form have already begun leading her into trouble, as has her tart personality and often mean-spirited independence. Then the long-absent and now-widowed Aurora Talcott Sheffield, the only woman Sinjin ever loved, also comes home, carrying a horrifying secret. As the various relationships play out and the battle over the Free School becomes more intense, the tempest always simmering just beneath the town's surface boils over. Tryon's death last year will most likely leave this magnum opus incomplete, sad news for those who can overlook its weaknesses (slow pacing and excessive length among them). For such readers, the ``Kingdom Come'' novels are a pleasant and engrossing diversion. -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Star-crossed lovers, longstanding feuds, tragic accidents, and other adventures befalling the Talcott family keep the plot whizzing along at a good clip in this sequel to The Wings of the Morning ( LJ 9/1/90). The time is the 1840s. The Talcotts rescue runaway slave Rose and recruit Georgie Ross (who remains a compelling main character) to run a school for "colored misses." The school violently divides Pequot Landing, with some citizens opposing education for blacks, and Rose's conniving further complicates several lives. The Talcotts and their rivals in the Grimes family, predictably, find this a splendid opportunity for further feuding. Overall, this juicy family saga with its well-drawn historical details is sure to please those who like the genre and is a must for those who enjoyed the first volume. BOMC alternate; previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 12/91.
- Beth Ann Mills, New Rochelle P.L., N.Y.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.