Seven Siblings. Seven Years. Seven Spellbinding Novels.1974. New Orleans. The seven Deschanel siblings live with their long-suffering mother in an historic Garden District mansion. Each of them unique. Each of them born with a gift. In some cases, a gift they wish they could give back.Charles- The PlayboyAugustus- The FixerColleen- The AdherentMadeline- The AltruistEvangeline- The GeniusMaureen- … Altruist
Evangeline- The Genius
Maureen- The Haunted
Elizabeth- The Anguished
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I loved 1974. It may be my favorite in The Seven series so far. I love the Deschanels. I love the history and beauty that Sarah M. Cradit weaves into her stories. I can’t wait for 1975!
Having to continue on in this series to see where this author takes us was a must. I could really relate too since I was in high school in this year. This one has Maureen alot with us following her. This series is becoming more fuller with each one. This one is also deep and at times delves into the dark a bit with us having our emotions played. You just can not give this up though having to continue on with this family.
1974: The Seven is book four of Sarah M. Cradit’s continuing exploration of how her beloved characters grew up during the turbulent 1970s. Each book gets better and better as the tie-ins to future events (in the House of Crimson and Clover saga) are woven into the story. As each comes up, ardent fans of the HOCC series will delight in remembering the link to “future” events.
As expected, Ms. Cradit has carefully researched the era as well as the setting of her novel. Like the prior three books, 1974 is a trip through a time machine. If you didn’t live through the 1970s, you’ll definitely have a good feeling for the era defined by muscle cars, drugs and protests.
Maureen’s story is featured in this installment, and some of her story felt very much like the 2002 movie, Secretary; however, the movie is a dark comedy, while Maureen’s story is just creepy and dark. The concept of the complete authority of the family patriarch is very much evident. Meanwhile, her siblings are branching out on their own, and it would seem that each has some hard lessons to learn in their future. Each choice leads to a little happiness along with some loss.
This well-written, engaging character exploration is an emotional rollercoaster. The featured political and social changes that define the era are interesting (hopefully inspiring younger readers to do a little research), and getting a well-crafted backstory to the characters and their offspring is fun. I truly enjoyed how well Ms. Cradit tied in a multitude of details to her prior books.
I walked away from this with such mixed feelings and so emotional I had to keep remind myself it was just a book. While reading is to escape Ms Cradit does such an amazing job putting you smack dab in the middle of it, making you feel each decision, each miss-step, each betrayal, and yeah of course there really is some joy in there. If you have read the Crimson series connecting this past just makes it all the more. If you haven’t read it you must see what happens next to understand the light bulb that that has turned on in this book of the series. I all just makes so much sense and that just makes it all the more real. This step into the past reminds you of the stereo types and labels and the victims. All I can say is wonderfully done Ms Cradit with master results.
These keep getting better and more details of each of the 7. Life continues as they each near or accept adult responsibility. But thry find its not always a happy experience to be the responsible adult. This one did not focus so much on their acceptance of their abilities bit more the avoidance of them. That’s good to see as well because if this series would be not as good if it was all happy all the time.