Set in the crucible of the stunning 1960s when the quest for love as the supreme panacea was stilled by assassins’ bullets, this is the story of two families whose journey mirrors the times—the volatile Trudeaus, who flee their Louisiana home in the aftermath of a heinous murder, sparked by a secret that will shadow them for the rest of their lives—and the staid Ziemnys, living in the cloistered Polish-American neighborhood of a rugged Indiana steel town, threatened by the changes happening all around them. When Ricky Ziemny, a sensitive artist, falls in love with Noël Trudeau, their two worlds collide.
As the surrounding nation is divided over race, equality, and the escalating war—and her brothers leave for service in Vietnam—Noël is desperate to keep her past secrets hidden from Ricky. But when confronted by his protective, older brother, Leon, she finds herself drawn to him, despite the fact that he’s engaged to be married. As the country is increasingly torn apart at the seams, so are these two families. And when Noël’s long-kept secrets are about to unravel, she questions what it really means to love.
The Moonstoners is a journey into the heartbreaking, life-changing choices we make when we love too much—and the human spirit’s ultimate faith that love will have the last word.
Barbara J. Dzikowski’s The Moonstoners explores love in unsettled, complicated times.
The Trudeau, Ziemny, and Chavis families first collide when Noel Trudeau meets Ricky Ziemny after art class. While Theckla and Freddie Chavis care for Noel’s baby son, Ricky falls for Noel. But then Ricky’s brother, Leon, meets her and relationships turn messy. Tormented by her past, Noel struggles to love and be loved. Meanwhile, the country is torn apart by Vietnam and race riots.
The characters’ respective woes pump out a steady stream of juicy episodes set against an equally dramatic backdrop of world-changing events. Tangled love affairs unfold in chronological order, and free-flowing dialogue and captivating backstories make the narrative easy to follow.
Personal threads are colored by period musical references and steeped in national news stories. Bobby Kennedy makes a live appearance shortly before his death, infusing the novel with real-life pathos. Polish church traditions add metaphysical depth.
Noel Trudeau dominates the book—the attractive linchpin around whom other characters turn, while Leon functions as her foil. Other characters are secondary to the ideas they personify. The Chavises present opportunities for others to change their views, and chiaroscuro—an art term for the light/dark juxtaposition that Ricky and Noel discuss—becomes a theme in character interactions. Pascal’s notion that “When one does not love too much, one does not love enough” is used to judge characters’ actions, though Noel ends up being the only character who transforms because of her love. With refreshing independence, she becomes a heroine and a champion of a new kind of love.
A romantic drama set in the 1960s, The Moonstoners forwards an ideal of love in complex circumstances.
A novel presents a tale of tormented and damaged characters against the backdrop of the turbulent 1960s.
The story revolves—no, churns—around Noël Trudeau, whom readers first meet as a youngster while her family is fleeing north from Hyssop, Louisiana, in the dead of night. Something truly horrible has happened, something that will remain secret for some 200 pages (this is a book of secrets). Then readers find Noël in Langston, Indiana, where she and her toddler son, Adam, have escaped a marriage to a brutal abuser and where young Ricky Ziemny is hopelessly in love with her. She begins timorously to allow the possibility of romance, but it is Ricky’s brother, Leon, whom she falls in love with and marries. The union is tempestuous: The Trudeaus are leery of Leon, the Ziemnys of Noël. Meanwhile—these are just the high (or low) points—her oldest brother is killed in Vietnam and her younger brother, Adam, who dreamed of becoming a surgeon, returns minus an arm. There are suicides, a mental breakdown, and screaming confrontations (especially as the long-held secrets come spilling out). An apothegm from Pascal sets the tone: “When one does not love too much, one does not love enough.” This sets the stage for Noël’s final musing on two kinds of love: “The love you could live with, and the love you couldn’t live without.” Given these truths, the characters are whipsawed big-time. Dzikowski (Searching for Lincoln’s Ghost, 2011) is a passionate writer and her background in counseling has likely contributed much to her prose and outlook. But one needn’t be a Pollyanna to sometimes shout: “Enough already! Enough trauma, enough heartbreak!” On the other hand, one cannot deny the real power of the book. Readers will be drawn into caring deeply about these terribly tortured characters and bracing for the next inevitable tragic turn. This is the first volume of a trilogy; may the sequels bring a measure of relief.
A gripping family story for those strong enough for the emotional journey
Many novels attempt to capture the turbulent times and social sentiments of 1960s America, but The Moonstoners goes a notch above most in exploring an individual's quest for love in the shadow of changing social relationships. As a child of this era, Noël is only too aware of these dangerous forces, from a murder that sparked her family to flee their Louisiana home to her marriage to the man who raped her and made her pregnant.
Noël's individual tumult mirrors the world around her as everything from racial relationships to Vietnam's impact takes hold, changing her life and everyone she interacts with. Perhaps the biggest eye-opener here is Noël's struggle to maintain her identity, which holds a dangerous secret at its core even as love threatens everything, including the stability and interrelationships of two families.
As Barbara J. Dzikowski's story deftly navigates both matters of the heart and questions of madness and redemption, the 1960s come to life in a manner that integrates romance with life choices and values. The Moonstoners excels in marrying a sense of the times with a family's dire circumstances. It should also be noted that this is the first book in a projected trilogy: as such, it crafts the idea of 'moonstoners' and their hidden depths and then sets the stage for more revelations in future books.
Readers who enjoy blends of romance and social inspection will appreciate this story's realistic atmosphere and thoroughly engrossing approach to capturing not just one girl's dreams, but two family nightmares as they intersect in the arena of social change.
