In this feisty novel, women’s strength comes from reasserting their role as earth mothers.
An ecofeminist saga.
Anna Frenza is the unhappily married chief executive of a Polish oil company. The problem: Her husband has a secret porn addiction that keeps him too distracted to have sex with her. Medicated to deal with her malaise, she sleepwalks. Her destination is usually a gas station where she steals sweets, until one fateful night when she finds herself inexplicably drawn to a felled tree, which she straddles and makes love to. Caught in the act by a journalist who was tipped off by her neighbor, she’s swiftly abandoned by the government establishment that liked her when she was making money for Poland but embraced by the EcoDivas who applaud her for “the best environmental protest-performance” they’ve ever seen. That’s just the beginning of this sprawling, bawdy comic novel that goes all the way back to 1569 to create a genealogy of women trying to escape the tyranny of men’s rodkins (you can guess which anatomical part this refers to) and discover gentler ways to pleasure themselves and live in harmony with the earth. Over successive centuries, the narrative features lascivious men of the cloth, the discovery of elixirs to make a man’s rodkin wither, witch hunts sponsored by the Catholic church, ointments to protect women from penetration and rape, scenes of intense violence against women, and moments in which women come together to “cleft-spark,” fulfilling themselves and replenishing the earth. Though there’s never a dull moment, the novel does become a bit repetitive in the middle—perhaps for good reason, since the domination of rebellious women has been a constant across centuries. Still, Szpila spins a rich, imaginative alternative to the usual phallocentric history, urging women in the final chapter, a manifesto, to “suspend [their] powers of reason,” trust their “wild, atavistic Cleft,” and celebrate their connection to the natural world.
In this feisty novel, women’s strength comes from reasserting their role as earth mothers.Pub Date: yesterday
ISBN: 9780593700891
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Pantheon
Review Posted Online: Feb. 2, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2026
An affecting portrait of a prickly woman.
A lifetime’s worth of letters combine to portray a singular character.
Sybil Van Antwerp, a cantankerous but exceedingly well-mannered septuagenarian, is the titular correspondent in Evans’ debut novel. Sybil has retired from a beloved job as chief clerk to a judge with whom she had previously been in private legal practice. She is the divorced mother of two living adult children and one who died when he was 8. She is a reader of novels, a gardener, and a keen observer of human nature. But the most distinguishing thing about Sybil is her lifelong practice of letter writing. As advancing vision problems threaten Sybil’s carefully constructed way of life—in which letters take the place of personal contact and engagement—she must reckon with unaddressed issues from her past that threaten the house of cards (letters, really) she has built around herself. Sybil’s relationships are gradually revealed in the series of letters sent to and received from, among others, her brother, sister-in-law, children, former work associates, and, intriguingly, literary icons including Joan Didion and Larry McMurtry. Perhaps most affecting is the series of missives Sybil writes but never mails to a shadowy figure from her past. Thoughtful musings on the value and immortal quality of letters and the written word populate one of Sybil’s notes to a young correspondent while other messages are laugh-out-loud funny, tinged with her characteristic blunt tartness. Evans has created a brusque and quirky yet endearing main character with no shortage of opinions and advice for others but who fails to excavate the knotty difficulties of her own life. As Sybil grows into a delayed self-awareness, her letters serve as a chronicle of fitful growth.
An affecting portrait of a prickly woman.Pub Date: May 6, 2025
ISBN: 9780593798430
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2025
A dark and twisty look at just how far one woman is willing to go to find inspiration.
A struggling writer finds an unexpected muse when a mysterious man shows up at her cabin.
Petra Rose used to pump out a bestselling book every six months, but then the adaptation happened—that is, the disastrous film adaptation of her most famous book. The movie changed the book’s storyline so egregiously that fans couldn’t forgive her, and the ensuing harassment sent Petra into hiding and gave her a serious case of writer’s block. Petra’s one hope is her solo writing retreat at a remote cabin, where she can escape the distractions of real life and focus on her next book, a story about a woman having an affair with a cop. When officer Nathaniel Saint shows up at her cabin door, inspiration comes flooding back. Much like the character from Petra’s book, Saint is married, and he’s willing to be Petra’s muse, helping her get into her characters’ heads. Petra’s book is practically writing itself, but is the game she’s playing a little too dangerous? Does she know when to stop—and, more importantly, is Saint willing to stop? Hoover is no stranger to controversial movie adaptations and internet backlash, but she clarifies in a note to readers that she’s “just a writer writing about a writer” and that no further connections to her own life are contained in these pages—which is a good thing, because the book takes some horrifying twists and turns. Petra finds herself inexplicably attracted to Saint, even as she describes him as “such an asshole,” and her feelings for him veer between love and hate. The novel serves as a meta commentary on the dark romance genre—as Petra puts it, “Even though, as readers, we wouldn’t want to live out some of the fantasies we read about, it doesn’t mean we don’t enjoy reading those things.”
A dark and twisty look at just how far one woman is willing to go to find inspiration.Pub Date: Jan. 13, 2026
ISBN: 9781662539374
Page Count: -
Publisher: Montlake
Review Posted Online: Sept. 27, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2025
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