Creative confirmation of Shelley’s position as the mother of all goth girls.
A moody and evocative reveal of the backstory (behind the backstory) of Mary Shelley’s masterpiece, Frankenstein.
Shelley’s writing of the now-classic gothic novel—featuring a scientist whose experiments unwittingly create a monstrous life form—occurred, remarkably, while she was still a teenager. Eekhout explores the 18-year-old author’s actions during the summer of 1816, when she and Percy Bysshe Shelley, her poet husband, traveled to Switzerland with a coterie of fellow authors and family members. Spurred to write a ghost story by an impromptu contest among members of the group (which also included Lord Byron) to enliven the dreary and stormy summer, Shelley began the work that is often considered the first English-language science-fiction novel. Interwoven with the story of the summer of 1816 are Shelley’s imagined recollections of time spent in 1812 with family acquaintances in Dundee, Scotland, during a sojourn to restore her ailing health. There, the imaginative and sensitive girl forms an intimate friendship with Isabella Baxter, another restive and motherless teen, and the two embark on a monthslong intense and mercurial relationship. Encouraged by the Baxter family’s love of storytelling, and with access to more sources of creepy fables, folklore, and myth than she enjoyed at home in London, Shelley entertains (with the companionship and encouragement of Isabella) more and more of her fervid imaginings. The girls’ fever dream of a summer together is marked by sexual longing and exploration as well as Mary’s growing awareness of the roles of reality and unreality in narrative. Translated from the Dutch by Watkinson, this novel includes a translator’s note with a nod to the role of imagination in filling the gaps left by history books.
Creative confirmation of Shelley’s position as the mother of all goth girls.Pub Date: Oct. 3, 2023
ISBN: 9780063256743
Page Count: 384
Publisher: HarperVia
Review Posted Online: July 13, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2023
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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