A fictional family tale that flows like a biography narrated with energy and optimism.
In this novel, a rebellious teen conducts soul-searching with the help of her great-grandmother’s diary.
Seventeen-year-old Delia Elliot of Rochester, New York, has ended her junior year of high school with her social life in shambles. After Greg Ashworth, her ex-boyfriend, shared private photographs of her with their classmates, Delia began a run of delinquent behavior. Now she’s been fired from her restaurant job and her mom, Heather, has decided to make her clean the attic of their dilapidated family home. In the midst of this task, Delia finds the diary of her great-grandmother Didi Diamond, dating from 1932. The teen reads about life during the Depression and Didi’s courtship with a young man called Paul. Delia is immediately stirred by the mystery of Paul’s presence since her great-grandfather’s name was Ron. Meanwhile, Heather feels invisible and craves a midlife boost in both her romantic situation and career. It doesn’t help that her ex-husband, Johnston, is happily remarried. She turns to Brian Napier, an occasional fling with whom she’s afraid to get too serious, for extra courage. Seeing progress with the attic, Heather loosens Delia’s house arrest. The teen begins falling for her neighbor Jake Freimuth, who’s nothing like the abusive Greg. As the rift between Delia and Heather starts to heal, with help from Didi’s diary, the pair feel ready to face anything. Barker knows this is the perfect moment to upend her characters’ lives. For the opening two-thirds of the dynamic story, chapters narrated by Delia and Heather alternate, with portions of Didi’s diary included. Events proceed loosely, and those of greatest import are interior to the mother’s and daughter’s lives. Heather decides to take on the challenge of becoming a real estate agent, for example. When Delia learns that her mother had a troubled childhood and spent time in foster homes, she realizes that Heather is “separate and distinct from me” and “lived an entire life before I came along.” When tragedy strikes toward the engaging novel’s end, the author toys with readers’ expectations since real life sometimes doesn’t provide closure. Ultimately, the tender finale will comfort audiences.
A fictional family tale that flows like a biography narrated with energy and optimism.Pub Date: Jan. 6, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-73535-811-6
Page Count: 278
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: March 5, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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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