What Readers Are Saying...
Readers have fallen for Lizzie Millet and her story.
Get your bonnet and hop onto the carriage...
Author, "The Toll Road North"
Get your bonnet and hop onto the carriage, because we are traveling back to the first decade of the 1900s in Francena Hallett's Heart by Robert W. Spencer. If you enjoy historical fiction and love our state of Maine, this book will both entertain and enlighten you. My experience with other Maine historical fiction books is that they often lean too heavily on the history, devoting long passages of it as background. Spencer interweaves historical fact into his story. He manages to give the reader a realistic sense of place of Westbrook, Bridgton, and North Waterford in the early part of last century. Those details were quite fascinating to me, thinking about the transportation, separation of family, professions, and homes. Francena Hallett's Heart, A Novel of Romances and Revenge, goes way beyond painting a picture of life in the early 1900s in Maine. Francena is a multi-faceted woman who faces challenges akin to the modern age: leaving her home to pursue a career in dress designing, being a steadfast friend to the hapless Lottie, and having to choose between two very different suitors. If you consider the original meaning of the literary term romance, you can also follow the theme of the remote wilderness being overtaken by the development of towns. And let's not forget about the revenge piece. Without any spoilers, suffice it to say that the revenge plot line puts the reader into the Thomaston Prison alongside a calculating female prisoner who has some supernatural powers. It may be 1910, but her revenge is aimed at characters with modern-day concerns: one is an older, poverty-stricken gentleman that today we would see as homeless, the other is an aging entrepreneurial woman in a lesbian relationship. This novel is the third and concluding volume to Robert W. Spencer's Lizzie Millett Series. I normally would not read the third part of a series without having read the first and second, but it did work for me. Spencer parcels the perfect amount of background information, skillfully woven into conversations when characters meet again in this novel. The characters in the book are very real, and I did find myself rooting for them. The realistic trials and tribulations of life in this time and place were exacerbated by the supernatural powers imposed on the characters, adding another level of interest for the reader. The journey through this book was as bumpy as a carriage ride in 1910, but I was a satisfied traveler in the end.
"Robert is a master of historical fiction."
Praise for Prospects
Bill Bushnell
Mining for gemstones and minerals began in Maine 200 years ago, driven by dreams of great wealth hidden beneath the earth’s surface. Mining has always been risky, dangerous and economically unpredictable, especially as portrayed in Robert Spencer’s novel “Prospects.” Spencer lives in Waterford and this is his second novel, following “The Spinster’s Hope Chest.” This is an ambitious, complex novel covering the years 1896-1903, split between the mining history of Oxford County and the Victorian-era, soap-opera dramas of working-class families. The story combines mining history, business deals, family relationships, courtship, romance, tragedy, deceit, heartache, suspense and even murder, providing an exciting tale. Spencer also uses clever foreshadowing, so readers must pay attention to catch clues to what might happen next. Canadian miner Clarence Potter shows up in Maine in 1896, full of ideas for getting rich mining for gemstones and rare earth minerals. He is hired to mine for feldspar, mica, quartz and tourmaline, and enjoys some success. But Potter is an enigma, something about him just doesn’t seem right. He is a widower with three children, looking for a new wife, and settles on 20-year-old Lottie, a young woman swept off her feet by this worldly man’s attentions. An abrupt elopement and wedding sets off a bitterly contentious family drama with unpleasant results. Meanwhile, Aphia Stevens, a supposed widow, is nuts, threatening neighbors and a former rival for her husband’s hand. Her farm abuts one of Potter’s mines and escalating trouble ensues, including an accidental shooting death and suspicions of multiple murder. Spencer’s portrayal of southern Maine’s pegmatite mining history is fascinating — the business of mining, investing, financing, products and the frequent risk of failure. The ending, however, is sudden and surprising, capping an entertaining family and business saga.
A lighter but fulfilling book to settle on the porch with this summer
Bookmaineiac, Bookmanieiac.com
Before reading Francena Hallett’s Heart, I did a quick perusal of the book’s Goodreads page. There, a reviewer described the book as “sweet” which is a description I cannot improve upon for the bulk of the novel. No direct spoilers, but the action ratchets up at the end - in a way that readers of the entire trilogy will probably most be able to appreciate. That said, the sweetness of the book isn’t overbearing or overdone - it’s enough to make you like and care about the main character, Francena, as she contends with suitors and with her best friend’s terrifying pregnancy ordeal. Francena is thoughtful and kind, but with an adventurous spirit that shines through. Other characters help create a lovely and lively community that is not without faults and conflicts, but is still a place you’re okay with having your mind settle into as you read. Chapters about the jailed Aphia Stevens are interspersed, shaking the reader from the pleasant reverie of Francena’s experiences as they illustrate a darker side of society. From Oxford County to the streets of Westbrook and out to Thomaston, Spencer effectively shows readers a slice of life in early 20th century Maine. Historical information is woven in, and one piece that was particularly striking to me was the difficulty and complications of travel. Through the descriptions of travel, Spencer creates suspense for the plot while educating the reader about the stark contrast between then and now. Francena would be amazed to learn it’s only an hour or so drive from Waterford to Westbrook now! Illnesses, businesses, and daily chores also help shape the historical setting - as do marriages, proposals, and other relationships. Overall Francena Hallett’s Heart is a look into early 20th-century Maine that is worth the read. I may go back and tackle the first two in the series now, though this book stands well enough on its own. If you need a lighter but fulfilling book to settle on the porch with this summer, try Francena Hallett’s Heart.