The Hawkman

4.5 Stars

The Hawkman is a hybrid retelling of the well-known La Belle et la Bête/ The Beauty and the Beast by French novelist Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve and a lesser-known tale by the Brothers Grimm, Der Bärenhäuter (The Bearskin). (You can read a summary of the Brothers Grimm story below,* or read about it yourself here /link removed/.) These two fairy tales are superimposed upon or interwoven with the story of Michael Evans Sheehan, a traumatized veteran of the Great War (World War I) and Eva William, the angel that saves him. This is a very poignant, quiet story. As you move past the prologue it is easy to somehow forget how things will end. The story of how we get to that prologue is unbearably sad. This is an unusual book of magical realism that will appeal to those who enjoy books that are more literary in tone. By the book’s end, I was in tears.


*In Der Bärenhäuter (The Bearskin) a young man, having served and survived a great war, finds himself without means or purpose at the war's end. Making a bargain with the Devil to become a gentleman of means, by assuming an unpleasant, animal-like appearance by wearing a bearskin for seven years. Midway through his years in the bearskin, he meets a penniless father, depressed over the plight his circumstances have put him and his three daughters in, and gives the old man money in addition to paying his present debts. The man offers the kindly bearskin wearer one of his daughters as a wife. The older two daughters shrink in horror at the thought but the youngest, a gentle and faithful girl, who unlike her older sisters, manages to see the path of righteousness (the Brothers Grimm were devout Calvinists and this was a time when women were chattel) and loyally pledges herself to him. When he returns to the inn after his seven years are finished, he is clean, handsome, and rich. The youngest daughter is rewarded for her loyalty to him with marriage. The two older sisters, kicking themselves for refusing to marry a bearskin wearing man, commit suicide, granting the Devil two souls instead of the single one he held claim to for the seven years the hero wore the bearskin.

4 mesmerizing stars to The Hawkman! ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

I knew in reading the description that this book would be a stretch for me. It combines a genre I love, historical fiction, with fantasy/mythology, and I was intrigued with the two would mesh. I had to open my mind as a reader and relax into this story, and once I did, I found it remarkable.

World War II is a time I read about frequently, and I was pleased that this book actually takes place during World War I. Inspired by the Grimm Brothers’ fairy tale, The Bearskin, as well as experiences of prisoners-of-war in German prison camps, The Hawkman is a completely original and absorbing tale.

At the heart of the story are an American school teacher and an Irish musician, Eva and Michael, who meet in an English village. The peacefulness of their life together is tested, and a “legend” is in the making at the same time.

The author, Jane Rosenberg LaFarge, writes with colorful, beautiful prose. The Hawkman has the mystical-ness one looks for in a fairy tale. As I said above, it took patience on my part to enjoy this book, but I did. Oh, how I did.

Thank you to Jane Rosenberg LaForge, Amberjack Publishing, and Netgalley for the ARC.

This book is all about the writing, the writing, the writing –

“This is a story about a man who thought he was a bird and the woman who helped him find his humanity again.” Set in a small English town which housed a large estate which in turn “hosted a woman’s college which produced…young ladies of use.” The story is slow paced and there are few twists and turns. In many places the narrative is told through a stream of consciousness with punctuation.

Read this book for the story if you choose – But you must read this book for the superb writing.

Thank You NetGalley and Amberjack Publishing for an ARC

The Hawkman is a brutal, elegant, cautionary fairy tale. Set in the period between the wars, the story rides a balancing line between the historic and the surreal. LaForge blends the horrors of the trenches and the ugliness of Britain’s class system with the soaring beauty of nature, birds, and magic.

The Hawkman has all the prerequisites of a fairy tale - the obvious parable, the mix of fantasy and reality that can twist your vision, making the bizarre perfectly acceptable, the consistent personal mistreatment to a depth that would make the break into fairytale completely understood. It is also an excellent case against the atrocities of war, and the mental break entailed when personal acceptance of the same is no longer tenable. Aligning these horrors in this historical novel gives us a glimpse into the world our veterans encounter daily. This is a novel that approaches that pain in a more understandable way for the layperson, in a more empathetic way, than anything else I have read. Thank you Ms. LaForge for sharing this tale with us. This is a story I can happily recommend for friends and family.

I received a free electronic copy of this period novel from Netgalley, Jane Rosenberg LaForge, and Amberjack Publishing in exchange for an honest review. Thank you all for sharing your hard work with me.

The Hawkman is a retelling of a mix of Beauty and the Beast meets Grimm’s Fairy Tales (look up certain title). It’s a fascinating, bewitching tale of a man that’s a beggar on the streets; abused by children and adults alike because of how ugly he is perceived to be, as well as how dangerous. He doesn’t talk, only screams at people-much like a hawk-which is where the name originates from.

It is described as a “fairy tale of the great war”, and it certainly doesn’t flinch from telling the dark stories of how men survived while fighting enemies, and deserting, and struggling just to get by. It’s a harsh look at the war, and at how some soldiers were treated during these times of strife. It wasn’t my favorite part of the book, but it was still lyrical in its own, unique way.

My favorite part of the book is the bit with the swan king and his lake. It was beautiful, yet tremendously sad at the end of it as well, well written, and yet strange. It definitely spoke volumes to me, and this will be one of my favorite books of the year, because of its originality. I don’t recall it being a part of the Brothers Grimm or not (clearly, I need to re-read those stories), but I still loved it regardless.

Miss Williams was easily my favorite character in the whole of the story, though the Hawkman was curiously interesting, she was kind and considerate, and acted like a real human being in taking him in when everyone else just wanted to treat him as some kind of terrible disease that needed to be gotten rid of. He was a strange individual, but as Miss Williams pointed out, he was still human and therefore deserved care and respect as much as anyone else.

There are several more things to talk and think about in regards to this book. While only sixteen chapters, it was a huge story and a well-told one at that. I will likely do a re-read of it in the future, when I’ve the time to do so, because I read this far too quickly, despite trying not too. I just had to know what would happen to poor Miss Williams and her Hawkman.

In this Miss Peregrin’s Home for Peculiar Children meets All the Light We Cannot See, I’m sure fans will adore the beautifully written prose and stories that are told within this gorgeous edition.

Five out of five stars for a splendid job well done!

Book Description
A great war, a great love, and the mythology that unites them; The Hawkman: A Fairy Tale of the Great War is a lyrical adaptation of a beloved classic.

Set against the shattering events of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, at the tale’s heart are an American schoolteacher—dynamic and imaginative—and an Irish musician, homeless and hated—who have survived bloodshed, poverty, and sickness to be thrown together in an English village. Together they quietly hide from the world in a small cottage.

My Thoughts
The Hawkman is just one more reason that I am glad to have 'discovered' Buzz Books. This was featured in the Spring/Summer 2018 edition and if the excerpt hadn't captivated me, it is likely a book I would not have explored( as I seem to be drawn mostly to mysteries and thrillers lately).That would have been my loss since I thoroughly enjoyed this book.
Michael Sheehan survived WW1 but is a much different man than the one who went to war. He suffers physically from the brutality he endured as a prisoner and emotionally from PTSD. He is homeless, a vagabond who offends the residents of Bridgetonne because he is dirty, disheveled, doesn't speak and frankly just makes the villagers uncomfortable. No one seems to care what could have caused this man, they call the Hawkman to become the person he is today. All they see is someone who doesn't belong in their village. Everyone except Eva Williams, a spinster, and schoolteacher who is also an outsider.
Eva sees something in the Hawkman, something that makes her offer kindness and acceptance rather than fear and disdain. Eva invites Michael into her home and her life in an attempt to aid what to her is clearly a wounded man, not a monster. It is a beautifully written story highlighting prejudice, pre-conceived notions and the cruelty that can define any society. There were so many layers in this story, that even though I could have easily raced through it, I found myself slowing down and putting it aside after a chapter or two so I could reflect on the author's words. I won't spoil the story by sharing more details on Eva and Michael's story, you will want to read The Hawkman to find out for yourself.
Thank you Jane Rosenberg LaForge, Amberjack Publishing and NetGalley(and BuzzBooks for the excerpt) for the complimentary digital copy. I won't forget this story anytime soon and I look forward to what the author does next.

The Hawkman: A Fairy Tale of the Great War

Jane Rosenberg LaForge
AmberJack Pub.
ISBN: 978-1944995676 (paperback)
280p
Released: June 5, 2018

The Hawkman: A Fairy Tale of the Great War by Jane Rosenberg LaForge is a re-telling of several Grimm’s fairy tales against the backdrop of World War I. As a fan of World War I literature, this captures the desperation of trench warfare, the aftermath of war, and what it means to live with those nightmares. But it is this reality, this darkness, this desperation that pushes up against how and why people tell stories. This is not merely a war novel, but the war is what triggers much of the action and ideas around this novel. Miss Eva Williams is an American school teacher that comes to a small English school to teach and hide from the world. Among the small and bucolic setting, everyone has been touched by the Great War. And among the edges is a man so damaged and lost that the villagers are afraid of who he is and what he may do. Miss Williams doesn’t commiserate with the villagers and the leaders, she takes him into her life. These two lost souls begin to rebuild a life together.


This novel weaves stories. It is the function of the book, the story, the plot… everything. It is worth mentioning that LaForge brings about a compelling and often beautiful style of storytelling to the page. Her stylistic voice here is what makes this novel so compelling and profound. The style reaches beyond the well-crafted characters, the woven stories, and the stunning pace of this novel. It makes sense that a poet is a better weaver for so many intangible parts and pieces. In Kate Berhnheimer’s introduction to Mirror, Mirror, on the Wall: Women Writers Explore Their Favorite Fairy Tales, she discusses how “fairy tales offer both wildly familiar and familiar wild terrain.” But more importantly, she considers the significance of how these fairy tales reflect back something of ourselves. “It is to look at the act of looking at ourselves inside stories, to regard the tradition and the stereotype of female reflection on self. In this, there is a power for all sorts of readers.” In many ways, LaForge is doing this within the nested stories and concepts of The Hawkman. She is restoring story, frame, morals, and piecing together the shattered ideas that are missing. That is where the innovative, creative, and visionary style does so much of the work. Miss Williams becomes the one who creates change, shifts perceptions of the world, and grounds all the fragments that seem to swirl around this novel. She isn’t the Scheherazade (the teller of the stories), but she is the force that makes all these stories possible. She is the curator of all things possible and impossible in this world.

A possible function of writing a novel is to explain how we might save ourselves with a story. In The Hawkman: A Fairy Tale of the Great War by Jane Rosenberg LaForge, it is clear that these forces of reality, tales, and visionary things are not just important for the art of fiction, but crafted with haunting and beautiful effect. But it takes more than a fabulist, it takes more than a novelist. It takes a poet. The Hawkman is a stunning vision of the blurred lines between the darkest realities and the most beautiful stories, all spinning in a whirlwind of narrative, hope, and loss.

A brief retelling of this book doesn’t shed light on the beauty and the scope of this novel. It is something that you have to accumulate as a reader. The nested stories, the characters, the function of the novel itself, all serve to restore the belief that we are narrative, we need a beginning, a middle, and an end. LaForge does this through poetry, stories, and her lyrical style. Miss Williams in the novel says, “Stories should not have to be cruel.” They can be sad, they can be devastating, and they can be beautiful, but they don’t “have to be cruel.” This novel brings narrative together with a lyrical style to rebuild the lives of people who are separately and desperately fragmented. The result is this beautiful novel that is built on the tradition of fairy tales but refined in poetry and prose in a way that is vivid, inspiring, and human. Excellent, poetic, and literary in story, style, and vision.


Cited in Review
Bernheimer, Kate, ed. Mirror, mirror on the wall: Women writers explore their favorite fairy tales. Anchor, 1998.

What a wonderful book! I was hooked since the first page and cannot put it down.
The style of writing was really good and the characters really interesting.
It's strongly recommended!
Many thanks to Amberjack Publishing and Netgalley

There is really no way to describe The Hawkman other than bittersweet. It is such a sad but sweet story. The two main characters, Miss Eva Williams and Mr. Michael Sheehan/The Hawkman could not be more interesting and I really connected with them and their relationship. This story is just so beautifully written I almost don't have the words to describe it. While it is described as a fairy tale, it doesn't feel like the fairy tales I grew up with. Maybe it's because there's no princesses or witches in it that I normally associate with that label. But the label doesn't really matter. The Hawkman is a brilliant story with a wonderful message. But before I get rambly, let's get to the review!

Synopsis: (from Goodreads);
Set against the shattering events of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, at the tale’s heart are an American schoolteacher—dynamic and imaginative—and an Irish musician, homeless and hated—who have survived bloodshed, poverty, and sickness to be thrown together in an English village. Together they quietly hide from the world in a small cottage. 

Too soon, reality shatters their serenity, and they must face the parochial community. Unbeknownst to all, a legend is in the making—one that will speak of courage and resilience amidst the forces that brought the couple together even as outside forces threaten to tear them apart.

Miss Eva Williams is an American school teacher living in England. She is there to teach in the village of Bridgetonne at the local women's university. She is outspoken but mostly likes to keep to herself in her little cottage. She especially keeps to herself once she takes the local outcast (The Hawkman) into her home one rainy afternoon. She doesn't know what to make of him at the beginning but she knows that he looks like he could use a friend or at least someone to help him out. As she helps him, he starts to turn from the bird-like man that he appeared to be when she first met him into something more human-looking. He doesn't speak for most of the book but they communicate with each other in their own ways. She probably understands him more than anyone else in the world.

The Hawkman or Mr. Michael Sheehan as we come to think of him as we get to know him better starts off as Brigetonne's outcast. People throw things at him and are generally scared to go near him. But one rainy day, he meets Miss Williams and she takes him in. He helps her in the garden and proves that the people of the village are much more a harm to him than he is to them. The book does a great job of showing Mr. Sheehan's past in flashbacks. Sprinkled in between the chapters in the present are chapters showing us his past as a piano player, then a World War I soldier, and ultimately, a prisoner of war. We come to understand why he is the way he is. He truly is an astonishingly well-thought-out and well-written character. And while some of the prisoner of war chapters were hard to read at times, Mr. Sheehan's humanity is what kept me turning the page to find out more. Near the end of the book, or perhaps even before that, Mr. Sheehan falls in love with Miss Williams and while there relationship is not what most people might call "normal", it heals them and allows them to become what they always wanted to be.

One other character I thought was expertly developed was Christopher Thorton. He is the son of the owner of the college that Miss Williams works for and he starts off the story as just another privileged rich boy who's had things handed to him on a silver platter. But as he interacts more with Miss Williams and Mr. Sheehan, he grows so splendidly. He becomes another person who really tries to understand Mr. Sheehan and makes sure he gets everything he needs. While he loves Miss Williams throughout most of the book, he doesn't let that stand in the way when Miss Williams and Mr. Sheehan's relationship develops and they need his help. At first, I thought he might be the villain of this book, but I ended up being happily surprised by him

The Hawkman is a stunning story about how people can heal each other even when it doesn't look like there is any hope left. I cried multiple times while reading, especially at the end (no one should be surprised. I always cry reading lol). I am giving The Hawkman 4 out of 5 stars. Please give this book a read when it comes out. I don't think you'll be disappointed.

The Hawkman by Jane Rosenberg Laforge comes out June 5, 2018.

Thank you, NetGalley and Amberjack Publishing for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

The Hawkman by Jane Rosenberg LaForge is an original and powerfully written reworking of the Grimm's fairy tale Bearskin. The novel departs from the fairy tale in a lot of ways, and not having any prior knowledge of the earlier fable doesn't detract in any way from this novel.

The author is a poet and it shines through in the exquisite use of language. Most of the prose in the book is transcendent and very 'painterly'. It's a fantasy, but grounded in reality. I wouldn't call it magical realism, exactly (with the exception of one passage, which seemed written to indicate that it was metaphorical, not literal).

The book is beautifully written and poignant. I haven't often been touched as deeply or felt as attached as I did to the characters in The Hawkman. It's a book about the casualties (both literal and figurative) of the first world war, so much of the book was brutal and sad. I found the redemptive themes of love and kindness and humanity had even more impact when presented in contrast. It's been several weeks since I finished reading the book and I still find myself thinking about it often.

It's a really beautiful, lush, gorgeously written novel.

Due out 5th June, 2018 from Amberjack publishing. 280 pages in paperback and ebook formats.

Five stars

First, I have to say the cover of this book is just gorgeous, and I can' deny it drew me to it. I thought the writing was really lovely, and the plot intriguing and unique. The story did occasionally wander a bit, but I didn't really mind. I am not usually into magical realism, but the lyrical language made this special. Recommended!

An exquisite jewel of a book - and I don't use that phrase lightly. Yes, there is something of the fairy tale here, but there is also something vaguely magic realist. Yet this book somehow defies description (and thus partially defies reviews): it is also fiercely realist, steeped in the trauma of the trenches of World War 1. This is a very unique tale about love, healing, acceptance, and freedom.

From the first page the book draws you in with its enticing writing and description. The prologue alone invites you straight in to the story of mystery and intrigue. The book then follows a man who seemingly is more scavenger bird than human and it having an unexpected romance alongside it, usually pertains as a typical story, but as this unfurls you see it as a strange and wonderful thing.

The residents of post-WWI Bridgetonne, England, are unnerved by The Hawkman, the town’s most enigmatic indigent. This shabby, filthy recluse is harrassed by the local children and berated by the adults. He doesn’t speak, he bothers no one, and yet, the residents, especially Lord Thornton, want him out.

Miss Eva Williams, an American outsider, has taken a position at the local college under the employ of Lord Thornton. She is challenged by Thornton’s notion that the Hawkman should be gotten rid of in order to ensure the safety of the women of the college; however, her efforts are not what Lord Thornton intended. She shows compassion instead of contempt, and that causes quite an uproar in Bridgetonne.

This book is dreamy and mythical, bordering on magical realism. The backstories of both The Hawkman and Miss Williams are revealed gradually, interwoven with folklore and dark fairy tales to reinforce the motives of the characters.

I enjoyed this book because of its originality and departure from straightforward historical fiction. The atmosphere was believable and yet mysterious. At times the fairy tales arrived unexpectedly, leading to an abrupt change of narrative, and I didn’t understand the purpose or moral of most of them. Regardless, the writing was illusory and fantastical without sacrificing the sober reality of the effects of war.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Amberjack Publishing for an advance copy in exchange for my review.

'Yet it was his eye, or both of them, that attracted the most notice and gossip- their unnerving brilliance. It was hungry and restless; and it earned him his nickname.'

In this fairytale for grownups, an American schoolteacher (spinster, nay old maid) Miss Eva Williams, falls under the spell of the Hawkman, Mr. Michael Evan Sheehan. Sheehan is suffering from the torments of the war, including his time of imprisonment. His vagabond ways have damned him as an outcast, and his yellowing, ‘hungry and restless’ eyes make him more birdlike than human. Mrs. Sheehan knows there is more to the man, tormented by children’s taunts, rocks and even attempts at poisoning. He is more than a scavenger, certainly not a threat when he doesn’t fight back, though the children’s cruelty would deserve a firm punishment in a better world. She herself is a misfit in England, a foreigner, teaching at a lady’s college, horror of all horrors she is on the shelf and unmarrie, progressive (never a welcome trait in a woman bygone times). He becomes her cause.

Lord Thornton wants nothing more than his world to return to the normality of before the war. The Hawkman is a reminder, a constant stench of war and all its horrors. To make his village safe and ‘clean’ for it’s young ladies seems to be his sole purpose, ridding it of such scavengers as Sheehan. The villagers, especially his son Christopher( recovering after his own war wounds) are in compliance to Lord Thornton’s plans, but not Miss Williams. Even Thornton’s wife, Lady Margaret wants nothing more than to be ‘ride’ of the Hawkman. Miss Williams has a far better understanding of the ‘protagonist’ of various countries and sees in the Hawkman no difference. Sifting through the fears and myths, she sees past the ‘filth’ and reclusive behaviors for what they are the reactions of a broken, damaged man.

Eyes wide open, Eva invites Mr. Sheehan into her world with empathy and compassion. She goes gently with him, as one might a wounded animal. She sees the man, not the myth. Hiding him in the cottage won’t last, but she will not be cowed or bullied into giving up on him. When she comes to need him, one wonders just who needs salvation. With war weaved into the story, it is a unique twist on modern fairy tales and the true shame and horror is that people always find ways to invent monsters, to condemn those who need the most help to the shadows.

A quiet, yet moving tale.

Publication Date: June 5, 2018

Amberjack Publishing

From a world of inhumanity the Hawkman is shown humanity by Miss Williams. She alone seems to reocognise his suffering and strives to help him even though her health is declining. Lord Thornton epitomises the entitled and uncaring face of the commanding class in the pursuit of war, and he obviously finds the presence of this damaged vagrant in His village a threat . Perhaps Miss Williams was drawn to Mr Sheehan because of her damaged upbringing, her stories were her way of making sense of the world. She is
Sheehan's champion and eventually Christopher Thornton comes to understand the responsibilties of his class and society to these broken returning men. Beautifully written , one of those books where a second reading would reveal further insight, and though the subject matter , WW1 has been covered many times, the account of the Hawkman's experience is no less harrowing. The book cover would make me want to pick it off the shelf for further investigation.

Golden eyes dulled into silence.

Hounded and ridiculed, he swept up the trailing ends of his long tattered coat attempting to flee from the taunting fever that surrounded him. Scavenging in alleys behind butcher shops. Bruised and battered hands extended in prayerful begging motions. Bird-like scratchings of the earth.

Until she appeared.........

The aftermath of the Great War leaves a pallid and sallow hue blanketing those who have been touched by its worldwide sepsis. The town of Bridgetonne, led by Lord Thorton, attempts to shore up some semblance of normalcy. The women's college prides itself in educating young ladies to enter into a world shattered by war and its uncertainties.

Eva Williams, an American, lives in a small cottage on the edge of Lord Thorton's estate which houses the college. She is the author of several books of fairy tales and poetry and teaches courses in those areas at the college. Hers is a simple life now after leaving behind a most painful life in the states.

What draws us into the inner circles of strangers is a tiny beacon of light that illuminates and recognizes one's pain aligned to another's. Eva is touched by what she experiences in the presence of The Hawkman. She extends her hand and he hesitates before holding it tightly in his. Eva brings him home to the cottage and it is here that simple humanity is revealed.

Jane Rosenberg LaForge creates a vivid spectrum of colors into the inner mechanisms of what drives and motivates the human spirit. This story line is laced with sharp "tellings" of the composites of one's dangling chain of life experiences. She intersperses this story with fables and fairy tales that come to life and draw you in. There is an instant flicker of familiarity as we associate past events happening here to those still lingering in the modern world. You can almost hear your own gasp in its truism.

Although The Hawkman is a work of brilliance, it may not affect everyone in the same light. I was fully and willingly caught up in the backstories of these two main characters. The multi-layering of experiences may prove too maze-like for some readers. But I would say that we are far from simple creatures sharing a combined human nature. The last 50 pages are wrapped in wonder. Simple wonder.

I received a copy of The Hawkman through NetGalley for an honest review. My thanks to Amberjack Publishing and to Jane Rosenberg LaForge for the opportunity.