Certainty is fantastic. It’s set in the time of America’s entry into World War I (a historical period I feel needs to be covered more in fiction anyway), and concerns an attorney agreeing to defend a clergyman in the midst of the backdrop of the Naval Training Station at Newport, RI.One of the toughest things for me — especially when I’m reading anything that can be considered historical fiction — is the beginning. I constantly feel like I’m being told all of the historical information in a ham-...

I am an amateur military historian and never realized this type of activity happened. Bevine wraps fiction around a difficult subject and his characters are incredibly believable, vivid and well developed. The plot was well paced and the character and story arcs meshed well together. This would make an incredibly timely movie. Highly recommend

Years ago (cause of many years ago) when I was near to joining the Navy, my boss was brutal regarding teasing me about the Navy being a bunch of queers. (Yes, he was definitely way ahead of time in showing is political incorrectness.) Anyway I had never heard this about the Navy and so asked where he got this information. He told me it was from the end of WWII when a bunch of sailors were imprisoned because of diddling each other. (I had no idea what diddling meant, but it seemed to have a sexua...

I'm about 2/3 of the way through this book, so by now I have a good idea what it's about, and I must say - it's not a book I would recommend to my friends, despite the four-star rating. I gave it that many stars because the writing is nearly impeccable, and because of the author's ability to sketch his subjects in such a manner as to make them sympathetic - his characters are completely three-dimensional. It's also a good read if you like courtroom drama, which I do. That said - I'm reading this...

The plot being nothing extraordinary, the book had to hit home on the historical context, which, for me, it didn't. It started off well, but then felt like a retelling of a story from a modern perspective.

Finely described characters and compelling storytelling make this fictionalized story of an actual operation by the Navy to ruin the lives of people at the end of World War I, an intriguing book. Though the story is tense at times, it is a book I didn't want to put down.

4.5 stars, great characters, compelling story based on actual events. The author did a great job narrating this book. I had to pay attention because it seemed like the narrative changed pov's abruptly, but it did not detract.

This is a book that doesn't seem to be garnering much buzz, which is a shame because not only is it exceptionally well written but it is based on fact. A sex scandal involving the Navy, a well loved clergyman and eventually even Roosevelt himself.There are a few graphic sex acts and more described but that is what the basis of the novel covers. The character development was phenomenal and that is what I loved about this book. William, the lawyer who defends the clergyman, sees things in black an...

This is a book received from First Reads - thank you.This is based on a true story - happening right at the close of WWI. It is the sensational trial of a well loved minister. The story of a young lawyer, trying to make a name for himself, just as his career starts. A cast of navy sailors doing what they thought was the right thing to do under silent orders from a command that tolerated little. Remembering that this story took place in 1919, sets you in a totally different state of accountabilit...

I can't wait to dive into this one. I remember reading an earlier draft of this one years ago, Victor was kind enough to let me read it and I was so haunted by the story. Even then, it was as crisp in it's text with incredibly well drawn characters and the flow with an absolutely brilliant climatic payoff. For years I kept thinking about it and just couldn't fathom that as fictional as sounded on paper that it was based on actual events and yet somehow it resonated even today even while it was s...

Reading CERTAINTY, by Victor Bevine, is like coming across a window in your house that you never knew was there, looking out on a city full of stories that for a thousand reasons have gone untold. CERTAINTY is about a Navy scandal in 1919, in Newport, Rhode Island, which was suddenly overrun with tens of thousands of soldiers, who had dodged bullets, and escaped epidemics, whose youth had been devoured by a conflict that began the day Kaiser Wilhelm was born with a fucked-up, withered arm (reduc...

Ten and one half hours of listening, read by the author. Audiobooks narrated by the author are always a treat. The interpretation of words written is not speculated upon in the audio performance. You will hear a more exacting rendition of the author intent. Little is left to the imagination in the pages of Certainty. This is an adult-themed story. Certainty is not appropriate for anyone too young to understand alternate sexual preferences or lifestyles. Certainty is a fictional representation of...

A novelized version depicting a murky chapter in U.S. naval history. An insidious and pointless task to recruit and train a special force to lure other sailors and in this case, a Newport R.I. clergyman in an effort to instigate charges of homosexual "perversion" against their victims.Presumably a forgotten episode in gay history (it did get three lengthy paragraphs in the Randy Shilts mammoth history of gays and lesbians in the U.S. military: 'Conduct Unbecoming') until the author chanced upon

An absolutely first rate historical novel about a gay witch hunt at the end of World War I in Newport, Rhode Island. This is a real page turner. I read it one sitting because I couldn't put it down! Bevine has done the almost impossible - he's managed to translate the social perspectives of 100 years ago in a way that is accurate but also manages to converge with our modern values. Don't miss this one!

Newport, Rhode Island, transformed during World War I. Always a training center for the Navy, the sailor population exploded topping twenty-five thousand men, up from the normal five thousand. As the war came to a close, those men who had escaped death in the war had to face the pandemic Spanish flu and many died. Then there was the boredom of demobilization, waiting to be discharged and trying to find ways to occupy the time. With so many unattached men, crime exploded. Prostitution and drinkin...

Bell, Book & Candle | Certainty Spotlight, Review & GiveawayMy mood was anything but jovial after finishing this novel. Perhaps it's due to my empathetic nature and the fact that I'm a "thinker". Whatever the case, many questions arose in my mind during my reading, many of them without a right answer: Is there only good and bad, or are there many shades of gray in between? Are justice and the law synonymous? If you were only taking orders, does it absolve you from the crime? Is being homosexual

Certainty is a fictional account of the true “Newport Navy Vice Scandal of 1919.” As WWI drew to a close, there were twenty-five thousand Navy recruits in Newport, RI (Naval Training Center). The former upscale town was being overrun with drinking, prostitution, and moral depravity. It turned out to be a legal nightmare for junior attorney William Bartlett as he prepared to defend Reverend Samuel Neal Kent, an Episcopal military chaplain who was charged with ‘lewd and scandalous’ behavior. On a

“God. Justice. The rule of law. And do you never find those to be in conflict?” As World War I closes, sailors at the Naval Training Station in Newport, Rhode Island accuse a beloved clergyman of “sexual impropriety”, ensuing a controversial trial. Based on the true event Newport Navy Vice Scandal of 1919Social injustices infuriate me, I know this event occurred in the early 1900’s nonetheless, I found the ignorance, and lack of acceptance of diversity difficult to bear and comprehend. This e

historical event fictionalized for easy consumption. at the end of WWII the navy determined it needed to weed out the depraved from newport, a waystation for sailors. the ensuing trial details the lengths to which the navy went to find and prosecute the deviants. a wonderful telling of a terrible event.

Our culture has evolved so much in one century. Just one hundred years ago, women couldn't vote, alcohol was illegal, inter racial marriage was against the law, and people could be sentenced to prison for being gay. This story is important for our generation to know.