SINS OF THE YOUNGER SONS
by
JAN REID
Genre: Literary Fiction / Romance / Spy / Thriller
Publisher: Texas Christian University Press
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Publication Date: February 28, 2018
Number of Pages: 296 pages
Sins of the Younger Sons has received the Jesse H. Jones Award for Fiction from the Texas Institute of Letters! Luke Burgoa is an ex-Marine on a solitary covert mission to infiltrate the Basque separatist organization ETA in Spain and help bring down its military commander, Peru Madariaga. Luke hails from a Basque ancestry that came with the Spanish empire to Cuba, Argentina, Mexico, and, seventy-five years ago, to a Texas ranch. Neighbors consider the Burgoas Mexican immigrants and exiles of that nation’s revolution, but the matriarch of the family speaks the ancient language Euskera and honors traditions of the old country. Luke’s orders are to sell guns to the ETA and lure Peru into a trap. Instead he falls in love with Peru’s estranged wife, Ysolina, who lives in Paris and pursues a doctorate about an Inquisition-driven witchcraft frenzy in her native land. From the day they cross the border into the Basque Pyrenees, their love affair on the run conveys the beauty, sensuality, exoticism, and violence of an ancient homeland cut in two by Spain and France. Their trajectory puts Luke, Ysolina, and Peru on a collision course with each other and the famed American architect Frank Gehry, whose construction of a Guggenheim art museum seeks to transform the Basque city of Bilbao, a decrepit industrial backwater haunted by the Spanish Civil War—and a hotbed of ETA extremism. Ranging from the Amazon rain forest to a deadly prison in Madrid, Sins of the Younger Sons is a love story exposed to dire risk at every turn.
PRAISE FOR SINS OF THE YOUNGER SONS:
“Reid’s story is a fascinating blend of page-turning thriller and vivid tableau of Basque culture and the movement that battled the Spanish establishment for many decades. A reader can’t ask for more—a book that’s engaging, entertaining, educative, and unique.”
—Thomas Zigal, author of Many Rivers to Cross and The White League
“What a fine book Jan Reid has written! At once history—both cultural and political—and sensual love story, it reaches beyond genre to make for a magical and profound reading experience. Don’t start reading it at night unless you want to stay up until dawn and then some.” —Beverly Lowry, author of Who Killed These Girls? and Harriet Tubman: Imagining a Life
“Page by page, Sins of the Younger Sons invites the reader to dwell for a while within its unique world, to suffer and celebrate with its unforgettable characters. It’s a trip that, if taken, is well worth the effort.” —Ed Conroy, San Antonio Express-News
“Sins of the Younger Sons vividly takes us into a world few of us have seen and into a bitter conflict most of us have never considered nor understood.” —Si Dunn, Dallas Morning News
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“You never know when you might need to be someone else.”
Sins of the Younger Sons by Jan Reid starts off at a simmer as the fictional story slowly emerges amidst a heavy load of violent historical turmoil, jumping back and forth between the 1970s and 1990s.
The main characters, Luke, Ysolina, and Peru, are enigmatic in their reactions to and relationships with each other. As the story unfolds, the roles of these three shift but remain murky and puzzling. As with many spy thrillers, no one can be trusted, and secrets and death lurk around every corner. Everyone has an agenda. For Luke and Ysolina, their agendas eventually merge and become one of domesticity and forced normalcy. But well-laid plans and agendas are often destined to go awry.
While Sins of the Younger Sons is heavy on the history of the ETA’s (Basque separatist group) ferocious actions and motives, the fictional story, especially between Luke and Ysolina, hits high gear close to the halfway mark. Those history lessons and that scene setting early on provide the much-needed backdrop to the events that explode off the page as Luke and Ysolina struggle to find their places in each other’s lives and unravel their identities apart from the covert and violent groups that refuse to let them go.
What I love most about this story is its broad international spectrum (especially in terms of language), with the Basque culture at its nexus. I can never get enough of history and all of humankind’s mishaps, foibles, and misguided loyalties throughout the ages, and Jan Reid has carved a touching and brutal story out of a small slab of history. While many readers might find the sheer volume of facts a bit overwhelming, discovering the fictional story that rises out of that historical quagmire is well worth the effort.
I love good character development, but I believe Sins of the Younger Sons purposely leaves the main characters in the shadows and under the cloak of mistrust, lies, disguises, and fear. The people living on these pages must protect their identities at all costs, so much so that even we (the readers) are kept wondering who these people really are and why we must keep our distance.
The real story of architect Frank Gehry and the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, provides an interesting juxtaposition to the main fictional story. As Luke and Ysolina claw their way out of their web of secrets and lies to form a new life, the museum breathes new life into Bilbao, bringing the city out of the ashes of poverty and the ravages of war and extremism. I love how these two stories undulate and flow together in spectacular fashion. And if you are like me, Sins of the Younger Sons will have you hitting the Internet to find out more about Bilbao, the Basque culture, the ETA, and all the other historical details that are dropped into your lap as you make your way through the story.
The tears are real as the story eventually implodes and succumbs to the steady stream of terrorism and uncertainties that never seem to cease in the world. Luke remains an enigma as he searches for normalcy and stability. Read Sins of the Younger Sons by Jan Reid for yourself to find out just how far Luke must travel, both figuratively and literally, to find his truth and his peace.
“But here we’re isolated. We’re reduced. We’re vagabonds, and for us, language is everything. Language is memory.”
Jan Reid’s highly praised books include his novel Comanche Sundown, his biography of Texas governor Ann Richards, Let the People In, his memoir of Mexico, The Bullet Meant for Me, and The Improbable Rise of Redneck Rock. Making his home in Austin, Reid has been a leading contributor to Texas Monthly for over forty years.
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VISIT THE OTHER GREAT BLOGS ON THE TOUR:
| 5/17/18 | Promo | The Page Unbound |
| 5/18/18 | Review | Hall Ways Blog |
| 5/19/18 | Excerpt | Texas Book Lover |
| 5/20/18 | Author Interview | The Librarian Talks |
| 5/21/18 | Review | Books in the Garden |
| 5/22/18 | Promo | Book Fidelity |
| 5/23/18 | Playlist | The Clueless Gent |
| 5/24/18 | Review | The Love of a Bibliophile |
| 5/25/18 | Promo | Forgotten Winds |
| 5/26/18 | Review | Reading by Moonlight |
FANTASTIC review – you really encapsulated everything! It makes me want to re-read it!
Thank you! The overall story is great!