Seven Siblings. Seven Years. Seven Spellbinding Novels.1972. New Orleans. The remaining six Deschanel siblings live with their long-suffering mother outside New Orleans, in the historic family plantation. Each of them unique. Each of them born with a gift. In some cases, a gift they wish they could give back.Two years have passed since the tragic loss of one of the seven. Life goes on, but no one … goes on, but no one is the same. Charles, the playboy, spirals further into the comfort of depravity. Augustus, the fixer, buries his heartache in business. Colleen, the adherent, falls deeper into her own escape, her education. Evangeline, the genius, discovers a life outside her studies, but at a dark cost. And Maureen, the haunted, takes back her power, only to find her autonomy is a false promise, like so many other things in the lives of a Deschanel.
And Elizabeth, the anguished, knows what the others do not. She carries the burden of this knowledge, as she carries all the family’s bleakest moments.
If they thought 1970 was the last of their heartache, they were dead wrong.
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Another one where I get to step into a blast from the past so to speak. Having read the first one in this I did not want to miss this one. New Orleans too one of my favorite settings for one. We get to go deeper into this family and what is exposed along with what goes on. It will also get alittle dark also but one that will keep us fixed on them. Each sibling has a trial but each has their own way rather we would do the same or not keeps us a step further-transfixed on them. It pulls many emotions from us that twist us up. Being this author knows how to wrap us up with them we will kinda disappear into them as we read. This will also leave you ready for the next one.
Man the ending sentence sent a chill thru me when Elizabeth says, “Tell me again in a few yearsif you still believe He loves any of us.”This sums up the entire lives of this family. We wanted to know more about them and their beginnings after reading the House of Crimson Tide series and this author is giving it to us in spades. Finding out the things that scarred them, but made them stronger. Reading of their pain and yes suffering even 2 years after Mad’s death they are finding unhealthy ways of dealing with it. The young Deschanels are under as much pressure as young adults/teens as they are in later life but now we see how young they were when it all started. Charles and the drugs and women, when he finally sets his eyes on some one and how he takes on the job of avenger and protector. Colleen and the trials of relationships and her siblings. There’s so much here to digest as each deals with their issues in secret only to have it explode. There is a lot going on but it is easy to follow as we get to know the family even better. I loved House of Crimson Tide series and loving the view of this family prior to the series. It’s like getting the down and dirty, the pain and sorrow, the emotions and an insight into what made them into who they become. It isn’t pretty, but then very little of their story is.
The story of Irish Colleen and her six remaining children continues in Sarah Cradit’s 1972: The Seven. Two years after the loss of Madeline, the siblings struggle with her absence in their own unhealthy ways. The story is at times painful and sorrowful, but the Deschanel sibling bond only grows as they struggle through their fated existence.
In this second book, there was a little less focus on the history of the 1970s, and there was even more dedication to the Deschanel backstory. Through this character driven story, fans of the House of Crimson and Clover saga get a deep understanding of what drives the “current day” Deschanels and Sullivans. It is not necessary to have read the House of Crimson and Clover series, and I would say The Seven series is a great place to start reading Ms. Cradit’s epic saga.