Anxious Hearts

May 17, 2010
Shaw's (The Girls) novel recounts two watered-down versions of its inspiration—Longfellow's epic love poem "Evangeline"—one a retelling, the other a modern complement. In a small Maine town, Eva and Gabe are high school juniors whose childhood friendship is rekindled by Gabe's brother's serious illness, which is diagnosed on the anniversary of Eva's mother's death. They lean on each other, but Gabe begins to act strangely after they spend an intimate night together in the woods, and he soon disappears. In a parallel narrative set in the 1700s, newly married Gabriel and Evangeline are separated when the New Colonists invade; Gabriel dedicates his life to reuniting with Evangeline. The mirrored yet divergent plot lines underline the similarities between ancient and contemporary romances, and suspense builds into a slight twist at the end. Romance-lovers will enjoy the flowery and rambling writing ("It was this vision of a happiness, a complete, eternal, soul-encompassing happiness, contained between the two, that gave him energy even as his fever drained him"), but overall neither of the twin stories has the emotional impact of the source material. Ages 12–up.

May 1, 2010
Gr 9 Up-"Evangeline," Longfellow's tale of Acadian lovers separated on the eve of their wedding day only to reunite tragically after years of longing, provides the springboard for Shaw's modern retelling. Chapters narrated by Eva alternate with those told by Gabriel. She tells the contemporary story of her growing awareness of and ensuing impassioned bond with an old childhood friend. Her love, Gabe, who is grappling with a family tragedy, scribbles in a notebook incessantly. It is not until they are separated that Eva reads the notebook, which turns out to be a close retelling of the original tale (Gabriel's words that comprise the alternate chapters). This plot structure is quite seamless in execution. Eva's voice keeps the book grounded in modern sensitivities. Like Longfellow, Shaw gives nature high importance through descriptive passages of his chosen Maine setting and pays homage in many other small ways from incorporating original lines into dialogue and transplanting subtleties of characters' personalities. He is in no way, however, a slave to Longfellow, delivering both a couple of steamier scenes and potential for happiness in the end. The blustery landscapes and their intimate connection to the characters' plight are reminiscent of Helen Frost's "The Braid" (Farrar, 2006) and even, at times, of certain scenes spent in seaside forests by a similarly thwarted vampire/human teen couple. It is this very power to evoke both admired historical fiction and hot teen literature that will prove this novel's success."Jill Heritage Maza, Greenwich High School, CT"

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