Review for Wintour’s Leap by Morton Ross
Memories long since buried resurface in the present, along with a treasure that might be the answer to so many problems.
The last of my makeshift trilogy for Around the Year in 52, Wintour’s Leap helped create a second positive bookend. Almost creating a sandwich for what was probably my least enjoyable read for the prompts for 2023 so far. If you are curious, that would be The Pomegranate, which just didn’t really hit the mark with me. I will say that I expected a bit more time travel from this novel given the blurb, but I truly did enjoy the overall work.
Starting in the 17th century, the pacing and expository character chosen ended up being more in line with a murder mystery novel than a drama. Especially one where the main characters, at least in the modern contingents of the story, are all in their early teens. This is one of the only weaknesses of the book. The reader’s feelings toward characters or their overall connection to the story is finite not infinite. A type of emotional capital. Don’t use a large amount of that capital toward the beginning on characters who will not be a large part of the story after. Because if you do that, you’ve used up so much of the pool with little to no gain from it.
The majority of the story happens in more modern times after the period opening. It plays into one of my favorite tropes in young adult stories: budding friendship between two seemingly opposite characters. The jock whose drive is to perfect themselves physically, competing with others on a pitch or field or court. And, the academic focusing more on the cerebral pursuits to push their mind to its limits. Even though Wintour’s Leap did have one of my favorites, it contained one of my pet peeves. Having a photographic memory is impossible and even a eidetic one is extremely rare, yet so, so many novels have their smarter characters almost magically possess this gift. At least here it was useful and a part of the story, but I always do question how often it crops up in stories.
Although pacing made the novel drag a little in the middle, I was invested enough in the characters to keep going. I recommend this title to readers who enjoy learning a little bit of history in their young adult mysteries. I personally found a few of the details fascinating and had never really given much thought to what happens after you find treasure. Maybe that in itself makes Wintour’s Leap its own sort of treasure.
Wintour’s Leap is available to buy on Amazon.