Layered, experimental, and fragmented, this novel embraces the strangeness both in and around us.
A woman adrift finds her life upended by a traveling stranger.
The nameless protagonist in Swiss playwright and artist Koch’s debut novel has “come to rest” in her parents’ house in her small hometown, her parents having moved away. A self-described “tomb-keeper,” the protagonist lives among the detritus of her childhood home and memories associated with it. She feels deeply disconnected from her hometown and its inhabitants but is unwilling to leave. The novel opens with her noticing “the visitor,” who seems to have “materialized from the void,” at the local bar. Though she keeps her distance from other townspeople, she is drawn to the stranger and invites him to live with her. Immediately, their relationship is all extremes; the house holds them together as their odd behaviors force them apart. Seemingly, the longer the visitor stays, the more deranged the protagonist becomes. When the down-on-his-luck visitor begins to shed his sadness and flourish, the protagonist realizes she cannot control him or herself anymore: “The visitor has nested in me to such an extent that no matter how hard I try to rebel against him I am in the end only destroying myself.” The plot, if you can call it that, must be excavated from beneath the protagonist’s thoughts, feelings, and memories. Realism gives way to exaggeration that melts into the absurd. Disparate vignettes offer jarring glimpses into the protagonist’s psyche, including her increasingly strange and complicated dynamic with the visitor—as well as her distant relationship with her parents and siblings. It can be easy to miss the moments of humor and beauty that litter Koch’s novel while navigating the meandering and peculiar prose. One such moment is when the protagonist approaches the visitor for the first time: “It’s too bad that we always miss the beginnings of things, while the ends of said things always hammer into our bodies.” The novel’s ending offers a new beginning for the protagonist, which she thankfully does not miss this time around.
Layered, experimental, and fragmented, this novel embraces the strangeness both in and around us.Pub Date: Sept. 3, 2024
ISBN: 9781948980197
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Dorothy
Review Posted Online: July 4, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2024
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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