Title: The Secret of the Oak
Author: Bernadette Crespin
Publisher: iUniverse
ISBN: 9781532023576
Pages: 464
Genre: Fiction
Reviewed by: Susan Milam
Pacific Book Review
The Secret of the Oak tells multiple love stories against a backdrop of families and a country struggling to deal with the Vietnam War. The conflicts and tragedies faced by the lovers and their families mirror the conflicts and tragedies faced by the United States during those years. Author Bernadette Crespin renders the book’s characters, settings and situations with a deft hand, and the result is a saga that captures the reader intellectually and emotionally.
Jamie Donnelly and Nick Devon consummate their love beneath a lone oak tree, and Nick proposes marriage. The young couple think that the most difficult task they now face is convincing both sets of parents to support their marriage. Meanwhile, Tony – Jamie’s brother – announces that he has joined the Marines, leaving Jamie aghast. On a quick getaway to the ranch owned by Jamie and Tony’s father, Tony asks Maggie – Jamie’s best friend – to marry him. Overjoyed by Tony and Maggie’s happiness, Jamie puts aside her anger at Tony’s decision to join the Marines. However, her joy is short- lived; soon, Nick announces that he, too has signed up to go to Vietnam. Charlie King, the good friend of both young couples and one of the few African Americans in their small town, relays the news that he has no choice: He has been drafted into the service. So, young and idealistic Tony, Nick and Charlie head to war and the tumult of events that will change their lives and the lives of all those who love them.
Numerous romances have been written about men heading off to war and the women they leave behind to get on with their lives while coping with fear and heartache. The Vietnam conflict spawned several such books. However, the author of The Secret of the Oak doesn’t content herself with writing a romance novel. Author Bernadette Crespin intertwines history and social commentary with the stories of her young couples. In so doing, she moves her story out of the purely romance genre and turns it into a powerful saga about the entire era. Jamie is a strong, independent woman who embodies many of the young women who come of age during the turbulent sixties and seventies. Indeed, all the book’s characters work both as people and as voices of the viewpoints that clashed during those tempestuous years. The plight of returning war veterans is portrayed with particular poignancy and empathy.
In The Secret of the Oak Bernadette Crespin tackles a formidable task. She strives to tell the painful stories of lovers, families and a country pulled apart by war. The book brings all its characters fully to life, and then uses those very personal storylines to illustrate the universal storylines that continue to haunt the country to this day. Readers looking for an involving romance will be more than satisfied with The Secret of the Oak, as will readers wanting to engage with the book on a deeper level.
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