The Booklover’s Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
Bradstreet Gate is a Harvard Yard gate that commemorates the puritan poet Anne Bradstreet and the 25th anniversary of women living in the Yard. It is also the site of the murder of Julie Patel, a young woman on the eve of her graduation from the illustrious Ivy League school and a subsequent memorial to the young woman.
Kirman’s novel begins ten years after the murder, when a young reporter, Nat Krauss, contacts Georgia Reese (née Calvin) regarding her recollection of events surrounding the murder. It is through this beginning that Kirman takes us back to 1997 and Reese’s interrogation by police. From there we are introduced to the other players in the drama: Charles Flournoy, a young man from a blue-collar family who worked hard to get to Harvard; Alice Kovac, a Serbian immigrant who despises her family; and Professor Rufus Storrow, Jr., who teaches a controversial course on ‘Law and the Colonial State.’
The novel moves quickly and is a fast-paced and easy read. At 320 pages, it just plotted intricately enough to keep you engaged and waiting to see what happens next. These are certainly assets enough to recommend Bradstreet Gate. The ending though may leave you wanting and that is the drawback.
Book Details: Published by Crown (July 7, 2015), 320 Pages, ISBN: 978-0804139311.