An intriguing exploration of art and wealth spearheaded by messy, engrossing characters.
Art, money, and ambition collide, first at a prestigious college and again in New York City.
In 2011, 19-year-old Louisa Arceneaux feels out of place at Wrynn College of Art in the fictional New England town of Stonewater. The Louisiana native is attending Wrynn on scholarship, and most of her wealthy peers initially dismiss her paintings as “Southern Gothic Lite.” Louisa’s roommate is the icy and beautiful Karina Piontek, daughter of rich yet unhappy art collectors, who had a mental breakdown last semester before returning suspiciously quickly to Wrynn. Karina and Louisa, both queer women, are drawn to each other, first as fellow creatives, then as friends, then lovers, and Karina becomes the model for Louisa’s new series of gruesome and beautiful paintings. Karina is also sleeping with senior Preston Utley, a controversial figure who runs a mildly successful blog called The Wart, where he posts provocative photoshopped images designed to maximize internet traffic. Preston desires to “live outside capitalism” and produce truly radical art while at the same time he's desperately seeking a way to free himself from dependence on his toxic father’s wealth. Meanwhile, washed-up painter Robert Berger comes to Wrynn as the artist-in-residence, trying to restart a stalled career that never lived up to the promise of his controversial breakout painting, Dying Man, a portrait of his best friend that Berger painted while Vince was in the hospital dying of AIDS. Preston, Karina, and Louisa push themselves to challenge the boundaries of their art and their abilities until a vicious prank upends all the characters’ lives. In the aftermath, they try to make fresh starts in New York City, where it’s only a matter of time before their paths converge again. Though the novel can at times be heavy-handed in its messaging, it does an admirable job of parsing such difficult issues as the role of capitalism in art, and references to events such as the Occupy movement give the novel real-world context. The main characters have believable flaws and nuances, and the narrative is adept at interrogating the power imbalances in both the characters’ personal relationships and in an art world rife with sexism and classism.
An intriguing exploration of art and wealth spearheaded by messy, engrossing characters.Pub Date: July 12, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-59349-643-5
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: April 26, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2022
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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