After a somewhat decorous launch, the charming characters get themselves a thrilling, moving plot. Crème de la WWII novel.
The dramatically intertwined fates of the residents of a Beaux Arts apartment building in Brussels, 1939-43.
The fiction debut of filmmaker and playwright Austen, this novel opens with a notarized roster of building residents, from the refugee seamstress Masha Balyayeva in the 5th floor maid’s room to the Sauvin and Raphaël families in 4L and 4R, to the building manager and preparer of this list, Jan Everard, on the ground floor. In an impressive display of Austen's storytelling skill, about a dozen of these individuals become point-of-view characters, unfurling an unusually colorful and intelligent, poignant and rich World War II novel, a special treat for the many fans of that genre. “To me, architecture is an idea about how we should live. A good architect creates a system of communication and relationships,” says Francois Sauvin, architect, in conversation with his neighbor, the art dealer Leo Raphaël—an idea that resonates through the novel in many ways. These two are the parents of Charlotte Sauvin, a gifted though colorblind painting student, and Julian Raphaël, aspiring filmmaker doing maths at Cambridge, childhood best friends and would-be lovers, if only Charlotte hadn’t met someone else at art school. In any case, all these lives are about to be derailed by the arrival of the Nazis, and as the novel opens in 1939, the Raphaël family has already disappeared overnight, along with their important painting collection (the mystery of the location of the paintings is one of myriad subplots Austen manages brilliantly). As the novel rotates among its plethora of first-person narrators, each with a distinctive voice, from the wry and cultured Sauvin to the horrible busybody Miss Hobert in 3R, the issue of how to live in terrible times is explored with insight, compassion, and steeliness. Among many ancillary pleasures is the ongoing attempt of the characters to make sense of the philosophy of Wittgenstein, and from his writing arises imagery that gives the novel’s fabric a furbelow of magical realism. Excellent banter also leavens the mix. In an exchange between horrible Hobert and architect Sauvin: “‘If I were you—’ she began. ‘And thank goodness, you’re not. If life has taught me anything, it’s that we need fewer men in this world.’”
After a somewhat decorous launch, the charming characters get themselves a thrilling, moving plot. Crème de la WWII novel.Pub Date: March 11, 2025
ISBN: 9780802164087
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Grove
Review Posted Online: Dec. 11, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2025
PERSPECTIVES
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
SEEN & HEARD
A pleasant if not entirely convincing tribute to the power of art.
A French art historian’s English-language fiction debut combines the story of a loving relationship between a grandfather and granddaughter with an enlightening discussion of art.
One day, when 10-year-old Mona removes the necklace given to her by her now-dead grandmother, she experiences a frightening, hour-long bout of blindness. Her parents take her to the doctor, who gives her a variety of tests and also advises that she see a psychiatrist. Her grandfather Henry tells her parents that he will take care of that assignment, but instead, he takes Mona on weekly visits to either the Louvre, the Musée d’Orsay, or the Centre Pompidou, where each week they study a single work of art, gazing at it deeply and then discussing its impact and history and the biography of its maker. For the reader’s benefit, Schlesser also describes each of the works in scrupulous detail. As the year goes on, Mona faces the usual challenges of elementary school life and the experiences of being an only child, and slowly begins to understand the causes of her temporary blindness. Primarily an amble through a few dozen of Schlesser’s favorite works of art—some well known and others less so, from Botticelli and da Vinci through Basquiat and Bourgeois—the novel would probably benefit from being read at a leisurely pace. While the dialogue between Henry and the preternaturally patient and precocious Mona sometimes strains credulity, readers who don’t have easy access to the museums of Paris may enjoy this vicarious trip in the company of a guide who focuses equally on that which can be seen and the context that can’t be. Come for the novel, stay for the introductory art history course.
A pleasant if not entirely convincing tribute to the power of art.Pub Date: Aug. 26, 2025
ISBN: 9798889661115
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Europa Editions
Review Posted Online: June 7, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2025
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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